Punta Gorda Isles boaters eyeing Alligator
Creek
From the Charlotte Sun newspaper - 04/12/08
PUNTA GORDA -- The city's Waterfront Development Advisory
Committee heard standing-room support Thursday for the city
to cut a new channel for the Punta Gorda Isles canal system
into the mouth of Alligator Creek.Dorothea Zysko, an
environmental consultant, presented the results of Team
Punta Gorda's analysis of what will be involved to create a
new inlet for PGI at the western end of Almar Drive.
Alligator Creek
already provides access to the Gulf of Mexico for Burnt
Store Isles and Charlotte Park boaters.
The City Council is scheduled to discuss Wednesday Team
Punta Gorda's Alligator Creek report. Team Punta Gorda,
Zysko said, plans to make similar presentations to other
Punta Gorda and Charlotte County boards and stakeholder
groups. For more information, call Team Punta Gorda at
941-637-8326.
While the northern end of PGI provides boaters with seven
inlets to access Charlotte Harbor, PGI boaters on the
southern end of PGI have only the Ponce de Leon Inlet. Some
boaters have as much as a 45-minute to an hour-long boat
ride just to get to the Ponce inlet. Among the advantages
for an Alligator Creek inlet, Zysko cited boater safety,
since it would lessen congestion on the Ponce inlet;
reducing erosion in the Ponce inlet, due to a lowering of
boat traffic; and better water circulation and water quality
within the canal system and Charlotte Harbor, which is
deemed by the state as an aquatic preserve.
Costs But such
an inlet doesn't come without a price tag. Team Punta Gorda
estimates to permit, design and construct the inlet could
cost $2 million or more. The channel would need 2.5
acres of a 10-acre privately owned property. Zysko
characterized the property owner as "favorable" to the
project. The goal would be to dredge a 927-foot-long,
100-foot-wide channel to a maximum depth of 8 feet.
An
important part of the permitting, Zysko said, will be water
flow and quality studies to ensure that the inlet will not
degrade Charlotte Harbor's water quality. "The largest
costs will be the dredging," she said. The dredging alone
could cost $985,000. "These are just ball-park estimates."
And the bottom-line question is how to pay for the project
and who pays for it.
The funding could come from the PGI
Canal District, which pays for maintenance and other PGI
canal projects, or from a special municipal service benefit
unit. To pay for a bond on the project, Team Punta Gorda
estimated PGI waterfront property owners might have to pay a
special $100 annual assessment for five years.
PGI property owners now pay a $400 annual canal
assessment.Waterfront committee member Bill Dixon also
serves on the city's PGI Canal Advisory Committee. Dixon
warned funding an Alligator Creek inlet could see a
community backlash from some PGI property owners.Mayor Larry
Friedman said he saw no problem getting the City Council or
people in general to agree "conceptually" with the
AlligatorCreek inlet. However, he did question whether
people would be willing to "belly-up" and pay for the
project. "I don't feel all warm and fuzzy ... if this
comes up to any plebiscite ... that folks will belly-up with
a $100 (canal assessment) for five years," Friedman said,
adding that no one should expect city property taxes to fund
the project.
Friedman also suggested if county residents supported the
extension of Charlotte County's one-cent infrastructure
sales tax, which is now due to expire in December, that a
portion of the Alligator Creek project could be paid with
sales taxes. "If we don't convince our neighbors, then
this won't be done," he said. "But I think we are off to a
great start." You can e-mail Steve Reilly at
reilly@sun-herald.com
.
By STEVE REILLY
Staff Writer
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