The meeting concerned Canal Dredging and Clearing
As expected in a meeting of this nature, there was a three-deep standing-room-only crowd. Mayor Jeff Collier explained that the purpose of the meeting was to hear comments regarding the assessments on the proposed canal dredging and cleaning project as required by law before the levy is affected.
The following are some points brought out at the meeting regarding the details of the project and the pros and cons expressed by property owners. These are based on comments made by those leading the meeting or in attendance.
The expected time frame: 3-5 months to start, 60-90 days to complete once started. The project work has not yet gone out to bid.
How many properties would be involved? Joyce Allen, project leader, said that while she did not have the numbers with her of actual property owners involved, the project would include approximately 8800 linear feet (a number used to determine the eventual assessment).
Initially, there was some confusion amongst several property owners in attendance as they initially received letters saying that they were included in the project, then they got letters saying that it was a mapping error, then they got registered letters indicating that they were to be included.
Several owners questioned why they were included and felt they shouldn’t be for various reasons (either geographically or not needing the work done) and others who weren’t included, requested that they be included. Ms. Allen indicated that she was not the decision-maker on the project and that this would be a decision for the engineers and Natural Resources and Conservation people.
It was also not determined how the money would be collected and what would happen if people did not pay. The Mayor indicated that a lien could be put on the property.
On the subject of work to be done, there were two trains of thought. In a nutshell, there are two areas involved in the project, Silver Cay and Royal Lagoons. There was tension between the two groups as the scope of work in each area seems to be vastly different.
The people in Silver Cay, more in general numbers, and with a tremendous amount of sand in their canals, expressed the opinion that this was being done for the good of the community as a whole and all should share equally. Some of the folks from that area accused the Royal Lagoon property owners of not being community minded. They felt that when canals are not navigable, property values drop and that in fact, the Royal Lagoons people may suffer the same fate in the next hurricane.
The people from Royal Lagoons are fewer in number submitted a petition (the Mayor indicated that 22 property owners signed but it was actually 36 of the 40-something property owners) saying that they felt that a more equitable (two-tier) system of assessments be considered as their canals have nowhere near the amount of work involved and in fact are navigable except for the southernmost couple of lots. The one or two people from the Royal Lagoons subdivision who indicated that they were in favor of the project being assessed as proposed, (as indicated by the addresses they provided) fall within the southernmost area of the canals.
Other comments
The whole island benefits from the waterways and should share in the assessments.
Whose responsibility is it to maintain the bottom lands, especially if the bottom lands abutting the property are not even owned by the property owner?
Individuals have always had to take on the burden of repairing the bulkhead that runs along their property at great expense without benefit of aide from any other source and likewise, each property owner should responsible for his own dredging and should not be mandated to be included in an island wide/community wide project.
A question was asked concerning debris wedged under boat lifts and the engineer in attendance, Ferdinand Williams, said that it would be looked at case by case.
The question of the Salt Creek area came up and Ms. Allen indicated that because of the differences in environmental situations, that area would be treated separately through another grant.
After the discussion, Mayor Collier asked the attendees to raise their hands if they were in favor of the project. The vast majority did so.
As the meeting was drawing to an end, almost all of the people started to leave. Most did not hear the conversation that Mr. Williams was engaging in with Carol Standish, one of the block captains for the Royal lagoons area. She showed him the photos of the two proposed work areas. He was apparently surprised and said that he would look into this further.