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UPDATE! 
 

4/12/05:

The Citrus County Board of County Commission voted tonight to NOT ADOPT the Vessel Noise Ordinance, opting instead to wait until the FWC has finished its study, and the state has passed better legislation than the current F.S. 327.65 on which the proposed county ordinance was based.

One of the five commissioners had been called away on an emergency earlier in the afternoon. Of the remaining commissioners, Chairwoman Vicki Phillips, Commissioner Gary Bartell, and Commissioner Dennis Damato voted against the Vessel Noise Ordinance, while Commissioner Joyce Valentino remained in favor of the Vessel Noise Ordinance.

The main Noise Ordinance was passed unanimously, once the Vessel Noise Ordinance had been removed from it.

Tonight was an excellent example of the power of unity in the airboating community. We were SO PROUD of the dozens of airboaters, both local and statewide, who spoke out with logical, fact-based arguments against this proposed law. I believe we impressed at least 3 of those commissioners with our cool-headed, reasoned approach.

A great big THANK YOU to all of you who wrote letters and emails, made phone calls and personal visits, and who supported the Citrus County Airboat Alliance throughout this fight. The commissioners who voted against this ordinance made it very clear that they were convinced by all of the information they received from airboaters.

We won this battle, but the war is just beginning -- and it must be fought statewide! The Florida Airboat Association has developed draft legislation to be introduced during the next (2006) Legislative Session to revise F.S. 327.65. But we'll need your help. Contact your delegate to the FAA, or any officer of FAA, to find out what you can do to make a difference. If you don't know a delegate or officer of FAA, let me know, and I'll make the introduction.

Thanks again!
Bob Hoover, president    -- Email:  swampjet@yahoo.com
Citrus County Airboat Alliance
 

4/4/05:

Got a copy of the Final Draft of the proposed Noise and Vessel ordinances from the County Attorney's office today.  It has not yet been posted on their own website, but is linked from this website (click here).

Also added a couple of new links to the Current Issues page, marked as NEW. 

And if you want to see photos of the Airboat that sunk just offshore near Armante's Restaurant on Sunday, along with pictures of the Rescue effort, go to the Photo Gallery page!

 

3/25/05:

Still waiting on the newly-revised drafts of the Noise Ordinance and Section 106 of the County Code...

Meanwhile, a Citrus County Chronicle article in last Sunday's paper reiterated a point we've been making about the technological difficulty of compliance with the 90/50 rule even by the county's own airboats, and the complications of enforcement with such a vaguely-written vessel ordinance. 

The upcoming Public Hearing on April 12th is critical.  Please attend, if possible.  But also recognize the importance of continuing to connect with individual commissioners with letters, emails, phone calls, and personal visits.

We believe that the commissioners will recognize the wisdom of waiting until FWC completes its study, and the state statute is corrected, to enact a fair, appropriately effective, and enforceable ordinance with regard to water vessel sound levels.

If you plan to attend the Public Hearing, please review these guidelines from the Citrus County Code first! 

And please make sure you are dressed and behave in a way which will reflect well on the Airboating Community. 

We face negative stereotypes already, due to the fact that those 2% of "outlaws" with airboats generally get 98% of the publicity.

Let's make sure the public recognizes that airboating is a family recreation enjoyed by good people from all backgrounds who respect the law and work hard to be excellent citizens, considerate neighbors, and conservation-minded stewards of our precious environment.

 

3/17/05:

At the March 15th Public Workshop / Informational Session it was announced that Section 21-20 Regulation of Vessels has been moved from the proposed Noise Ordinance to Section 106 of the County Code.  This is being done to reduce confusion, since the Regulation of Vessels section is not subject to the same exclusions and testing standards as everything else in the Noise Ordinance.  The newly-revised drafts of the Noise Ordinance and Section 106 of the County Code should be available through the BOCC website by Monday, March 21st.  We'll provide a link to it from this website when it is available.

3/11/05:

Thursday night's Public Workshop / Informational Session was attended by approximately 180 people (that's a guess - somebody correct me if you got a count), of whom approximately 150 were airboaters and the others were County Staffers and other interested citizens.  Assistant County Attorney Michelle Slingerland, who drafted the proposed Noise and Nuisance Ordinances, chaired the meeting.  

A second similar Informational Session will be held on Tuesday, March 15th, at 2 pm in Room 100 of the Citrus County Courthouse in Inverness.

As Ms. Slingerland pointed out during the meeting, the County Commissioners have only two options regarding the Regulation of Vessels portion of the proposed ordinance:  Adopt or Don't Adopt.  Modifications of any sort are not allowed and will not be considered. Our goal is to convince the BOCC to delete Section 21-20 Regulation of Vessels from the proposed ordinance -- and that will be accomplished by appeals to logic and reasoned alternatives which are better solutions to the problems.

The key time for public input to the County Commissioners is on Tuesday, April 12th, beginning at 4:30 pm.  This will be during the regular County Commission meeting, and could possibly be followed by a vote on the ordinance that same day or at some subsequent meeting.

If you plan to participate in either the Public Workshop / Informational Session or the Public Hearing, please review these guidelines from the Citrus County Code first!

 

 

 

3/9/05:

Janis attended Tuesday's (March 8, 2005) Citrus County Board of County Commission meeting, and learned the following, which greatly impacts our actions at this Thursday's Public Workshop in Lecanto:

BOCC Chairwoman Vicki Phillips made the announcement today that the Public Workshop regarding the proposed Noise Ordinance is not so much a "workshop" as it is an informational meeting designed to answer the public's questions about not only the 27-page proposed Noise Ordinance, but also the 20-page proposed Nuisance Ordinance. 

 

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WILL NOT BE ATTENDING THURSDAY'S WORKSHOP -- nor do they plan to attend the second Public Workshop scheduled for Tuesday, March 15th, at the Courthouse in Inverness. 

 

ONLY COUNTY STAFF WILL BE PRESENT AT THE WORKSHOPS, and they will be available basically just to answer questions.  They will take input from the public, but "STAFF HAS NO INTENTION OF CHANGING ANYTHING BASED ON THESE WORKSHOPS.  ANY CHANGES MUST BE ADDRESSED BY THE BOARD MEMBERS (COMMISSIONERS) THEMSELVES." 

 

The actual PUBLIC HEARING will be held on April 12th, at 4:30 pm, during the regularly scheduled County Commission meeting.  A vote by the Commissioners on the proposed Noise Ordinance cannot take place until after that Public Hearing, but that vote could happen just after, or weeks later.

 

Chairwoman Phillips apologized for apparently misleading citizens by calling Thursday's meeting a "Workshop" and giving the public the wrong impression that they could influence the Commissioners by speaking out at this and next Tuesday's events. 

 

She also acknowledged that she has been surprised to learn that so many people are interested in this, especially as it affects airboats, and believes that the airboat portion of the Noise Ordinance discussion will be just a very small portion of the meeting.  She pointed out that the Workshop will address not only the Noise ordinance but also the proposed Nuisance ordinance.

Based on this new information, I'd like to suggest that those of us who can attend Thursday night or next Tuesday afternoon should still do so.  Our focus should be on asking questions that cause County Staffers to re-think their own positions, but realize that these are NOT the people who will vote on the ordinance. 

 

THE CRITICAL MEETING FOR ALL OF US WILL BE TUESDAY, APRIL 12TH, AT 5:00 PM, IN ROOM 100 OF THE CITRUS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 110 N. Apopka Avenue, Inverness. 

 

Meanwhile, keep the letters and emails flowing to the individual commissioners themselves. Phone calls and PERSONAL VISITS TO THE COMMISSIONERS would help even more!  Some EXCELLENT points are being made in the letters I've been seeing, and I'm PROUD to be aligned with such a great group of positive, responsible airboaters!

 

Thursday night will be our first chance to come together to strategize.  I look forward to seeing many of you there.  I just don't want you to push yourselves to make it to this meeting if it means decreasing your chance of attending the April 12th Public Hearing.

 

We will also give this matter our full attention at the annual CCAA meeting on Saturday, March 19th, just before the cookout at Armante's.  Please bring every airboater you know!

 

Thanks to all of you for helping get the word out!  This is not going to be over quickly -- please continue to stand with us!

 

Bob Hoover, President

Citrus County Airboat Alliance