Board closes boat ramps

Posted on April 3, 2020

Reversing its decision from last week, the Taylor County Commission voted unanimously Wednesday evening to close all county-controlled public boat ramps indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The closure began at midnight Thursday, April 2, coinciding with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order calling for Floridians to stay at home during the crisis (see related story).

The board did agree to keep the Keaton Beach boat ramp open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. daily for commercial anglers only. The county will have a law enforcement officer at the ramp to check the commercial licenses of those wishing to use the ramp.

The board further limited the use of the ramp to those who had an existing commercial fishing license as of Wednesday, April 1.

Members of the public were able to watch the meeting live on Facebook or call into a conference call to listen and request a chance to speak directly to the commissioners. During the course of the meeting, roughly 300 people were watching at any given time, and around 1,000 people in total watched at least a part of the meeting.

Some 40 people addressed the commission via conference call during the meeting, with opinions split between those wishing to see the boat ramps closed and those who want them to remain open.

Roughly 20 of those who spoke wanted the ramps to stay open, while another 15 urged the commission to close the ramps. About five people spoke but did not specifically argue one side or the other.

“Why close the boat ramps when the only thing at this point in time you can actually enjoy with your family is fishing?” one caller asked. “There is no social gathering at the boat ramps.”

Another argued that keeping the ramps open would be good for people’s “mental health” during the crisis.

Several people who were in favor of keeping the ramps open noted that in DeSantis’ order, the list of “essential activities” includes “participating in recreational activities (consistent with social distancing guidelines) such as walking, biking, hiking, fishing, hunting, running or swimming.”

Another caller said closing the ramps would limit Gulf access to “wealthy individuals” who have waterfront property and don’t need ramps, or those who have access to private ramps, such as in Dekle Beach.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the debate, one caller who stated she was in favor of closing the ramp said, “It’s about limiting exposure,” while another said, “We need to put lives before profit.”

A common concern raised by those in favor of closing the ramps was the number of people from outside the county coming to utilize the ramps and who live in potential “hot spots” where the virus is more prevalent. Additionally, several Steinhatchee residents said they were worried about people from outside the community purchasing necessary grocery store items and bringing them back home.

A number of people urged the commissioners to close the ramps to those who do not live in Taylor County but keep them open for local residents. However, after two speakers in a row recommended this action, Commission Chair Pam Feagle interjected that the county “cannot legally do that.”

“The reason being is that the boat ramps were built with federal funds by way of a grant,” Feagle said. “So, that means people in Georgia or people anywhere in the county or anywhere else, their tax money was spent to help build the boat ramp, so therefore we cannot exclude them no more than we can charge people a different (boat ramp permit) price who don’t live here. That’s why we cannot close it to out-of-town people.”

The public comment portion of the meeting ran for nearly two hours, after which the commissioners took turns stating their views on the issue.

Last week, the commission voted 4-1 to keep the ramps open, with Feagle providing the sole vote in favor of closing them.

One week later, at Wednesday’s meeting, it quickly became apparent that several of the commissioners had changed their minds.

First to speak was Commissioner Thomas Demps, who said he had heard from more people who were in favor keeping the ramps open rather than closing them. However, he felt the governor’s stay-at-home order should be taken into account, adding that he was confused by its wording, especially considering the number of exceptions it listed.

He asked for clarification from County Attorney Conrad Bishop, who also criticized the way in which the order had been written.

“I think this thing left it up to the locales (individual counties),” Bishop said, referencing the commission’s decision on whether to keep the ramps open or closed.

“One and one is always two in my book,” Demps said. “Maybe it’s four now, because if my momma told me to stay home or my daddy told me stay home, and I left home, I got a whippin’. Stay at home means stay at home to me.”

Commissioner Sean Murphy noted the increasing number of cases of coronavirus in the United States and Florida.

“We already have 250 deaths a day in this country,” Murphy said. “Florida is ranked #5. I don’t want to add Taylor County to any of these statistics. What I feel the governor should have done two weeks ago is shut down interstate commerce. Shut it down. Unfortunately, he didn’t, and here we are now.”

Murphy said he was in favor of closing the ramps to the public but keeping the Keaton Beach and Steinhatchee ramps open for commercial fishermen. He added that he was not sure on the length of the closure, whether it be two weeks or a month.

Feagle said she felt the ramps should be closed “until further notice.”

“I called for this meeting because I was not proud of the decision I made at our prior meeting,” Commissioner Malcolm Page said. “It has bothered me since then.”

Page said it “came to a head” when he received a number of calls from friends who said they were worried about people coming into Taylor County “from hot spot areas.”

“I reached out to the governor’s office on Monday,” he said. “I left a voice mail and asked to have anyone from his staff call me. I wanted to discuss with the governor, ‘What can you do to shut down the highways that come into Taylor County?’ Because we can’t do that. The Taylor County Commission cannot stop Hwy. 19 and send [a deputy] down there to check all the tag numbers, and if you’re coming in from Georgia or wherever, [tell you], ‘Don’t come and go back the other way.’ I haven’t heard from the governor yet.”

Page said his phone had been ringing all day with people calling about the boat ramp issue, adding that he was “physically threatened” by one caller (see related story).

“It’s not my purpose to hurt anybody’s business at all, but there comes a time when life is more important than a dollar,” Page said. “You can’t please everybody, so the only option we have is what Sean is suggesting, close the boat ramps to everybody but commercial.

“I am committed before we leave this meeting to get my heart straight and vote to close the boat ramps if that’s all we can do,” Page said. “We’ve got to try to stop the spread of this virus.”

Commissioner Jim Moody was next, stating, “Where I’m at, it’s like Mr. Demps said, the number I’ve counted of the people who’ve called were more for keeping it open than closed.”

Page said he’s experienced the opposite.

“The commercial people that are making a living, it would put them out of business if they had to [shut down],” Moody said. “They’ve got thousands of traps out there they need to work, and they should be allowed to use them. Right now, the way it sounds to me, ya’ll want to close the boat ramps, but I do not want to close it for commercial people.”

“I’m with you 100%,” Page said.

Page acknowledged that securing the ramps and allowing commercial anglers to use them would require security, and would come at a cost.

County Administrator LaWanda Pemberton said to man both ramps with deputies for 12 hours a day would cost $5,880 a week.

“I am solid, steadfast in wanting to close all of the county boat ramps,” Feagle said.

She added that she was in favor of keeping one of the ramps open for commercial anglers, but not both Keaton and Steinhatchee.

“You need to put boulders up at all the other boat ramps, because people have said they’ll go anyway,” Feagle said.

“I heard from a lot of people over the last week,” she said. “I know that they’ve got crab traps out, and time is of the essence. I understand that. I want these people who do this for a living to be able to do it.

“I think other people on the recreation part of it, they can hold off. I’ve had people say, ‘You need sunshine.’ Well, I’ve got sunshine in my yard. Don’t ya’ll? You can get sunshine. You don’t have to go on the water. As for the governor’s order, he says you can go fishing and swimming. He doesn’t say keep the boat ramps open to ensure that happens. You don’t have to have a boat ramp to fish or swim.”

Once each commissioner had their say, the discussion centered on which boat ramp would be left open for commercial anglers and what the hours would be, ultimately settling on Keaton Beach and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. open hours.

When asked Thursday, Pemberton said the ramps included in the closure are Keaton Beach, the main Steinhatchee ramp, the smaller ramp at 1st Avenue in Steinhatchee, Dark Island and the Bowden ramp on the Aucilla River.

Wednesday’s discussion also included public boat ramps outside the direct control of the county, including the Hick’s Landing Boat Ramp on the Fenholloway River and the Manadalay Boat Ramp on the Aucilla River. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has already closed the Econfina boat ramp along with all state parks across Florida.

As for Hicks Landing, Georgia-Pacific, which owns the ramp, has agreed to close the ramp (see related story).

When questioned about the Mandalay ramp, which is owned by the federal government, Pemberton told the commissioners, “When I spoke with the representative last week, she said as of then, the federal government had not made a decision to close federal lands. However, if that became an attractive nuisance, if the board took action to close the boat ramps, that if I reach out to her, then she will take it back to her superiors to ask them to close it as well.”

‘I would like for you to do that,” Feagle said.

At the end of the discussion, Murphy made a motion to close the ramps indefinitely, but keep the Keaton Beach ramp open for commercial anglers. The closure would begin Thursday, April 2, at midnight, and those wishing to use the ramp afterward would be required to show their commercial license. Additionally, this would only apply to those whose license was issued on April 1 or earlier.

Page seconded, and the measure passed unanimously. Shortly after the vote, the commission agreed to amend the motion to include the 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours for the Keaton Beach ramp, and the measure was passed unanimously a second time.

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