County Commissioners will consider an ordinance that would reduce boating speeds on some waterways.
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OKEECHOBEE — At their Thursday, May 25 meeting, Okeechobee County Commissioners will consider an ordinance that would reduce boating speeds on some waterways.
The proposed ordinance, if approved, would establish additional boating-restricted areas within portions of Taylor Creek and the Lake Okeechobee Rim Canal, to close certain gaps in previously established boating-restricted areas surrounding the intersection of Taylor Creek and the Rim Canal. The ordinance would establish slow speed minimum wake boating-restricted areas between the markers labeled 14 and 15, and between 15 and 12.
The board previously adopted Ordinance 2017-0007, which revised Chapter 74 of the Okeechobee County Code of Ordinances to establish boating-restricted areas which limit speed and wake, in order to provide for the public safety of the users of the waterways of Okeechobee County. The boating-restricted areas established by Ordinance 2017-0007 were adopted pursuant to the authority of Section 327.46(b), Florida Statutes, which authorizes local governments to establish boating-restricted areas within specified features or hazards, or within certain specified distances.
A different subsection, Section 327.46(c), Florida Statutes, authorizes local governments to establish additional boating-restricted areas, in excess of those permitted under Section 327.46(b), Florida Statutes, based on certain specified criteria, and subject to review and approval of an ordinance establishing such additional boating-restricted areas by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission ("FWC").
County staff has worked with FWC staff in preliminary evaluation of the proposed boating-restricted areas. FWC staff has advised that they believe that such small gaps between existing boating-restricted areas, absent regulation, would pose a safety risk to the public from rapid acceleration and deceleration over very short distances, and that such small gaps should be closed to protect public safety.
After adoption, the ordinance will still be required to go through FWC's formal process for approval.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. and will be held in the Historic Okeechobee County Courthouse, 304 N.W. Second St.
