The boat ramp at Boca Raton's Silver Palm Park had been closed to commercial and recreational boaters alike since March 22. It is still off-limits to non-commercial fishermen. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Mary Hladky
The Silver Palm Park public boat ramp opened for use by commercial fishermen today, April 22, but will remain closed to recreational boaters.
City Council members took the action as part of a lengthy April 21 workshop meeting held to discuss matters related to the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision came one week after commercial fishermen asked for relief so they can get out on the water and pursue their livelihoods.
But council members opted not to enforce who is using the boat ramp after City Manager Leif Ahnell said it would cost the city as much as $12,000 a week to staff the ramp 24/7 to make sure no recreational boaters launched their vessels from it.
“That becomes very expensive,” Ahnell said. “It is also onerous.”
City staff will monitor boat ramp usage for the remainder of the week. The ramp will be closed on Sunday, when the rowdy Boca Bash boat party was scheduled to be held on Lake Boca. One organizer has urged boaters not to participate in the annual event because of the coronavirus, but it is not clear what impact that will have.
Ahnell will report to council members on Monday on whether residents are taking advantage of the lack of enforcement to launch recreational boats.
“If we see it is out of control with a lot of people who are non-commercial fishing people, we would shut it down before Sunday,” Ahnell said.
“If we see too many recreational boaters, they will have ruined it for everybody and we will have to close it down,” said council member Monica Mayotte.
The decision is certain to upset recreational boaters, who have wanted to use the ramp to get out on the water as relief from COVID-19 emergency orders that prevent many outside activities.
The ramp opening is the city’s first small step toward reopening beaches, parks, marinas and golf courses.
While other openings are fraught with difficulties, opening the ramp to commercial fishermen was an easy step because Palm Beach County allowed this in March.
Council members want to do more as soon as possible, but cannot act until the county changes or eliminates restrictions to keep people from congregating and potentially being exposed to the virus. County officials are working on that now.
Since council members want to be able to act as soon as they can, they agreed that they need to start planning now.
But they sidestepped a resolution proposed by council member Andy Thomson that urged the county to reopen beaches, passive public and private parks, tennis courts and private golf courses “as soon as prudently possible” and in a way that does not expose city employees and residents to the coronavirus.
Instead, they opted for a wide ranging discussion of what should be opened and how to do that.
A majority of residents who commented on the issue urged the council to act.
“We have been living with this for about a month and a half and it is getting really old,” said Brad Bowman.
“We can’t remain quarantined forever,” said another speaker. “The parks, beaches and boat ramps must open.”
But the speakers did not reflect the sentiments of a majority of residents who sent emails or left voicemails on the subject.
While 12 emails and one voicemail supported opening parks and businesses, 126 emails and one voicemail expressed opposition to the openings out of concern that lifting restrictions too soon could result in city residents contracting COVID-19.
While all council members favored loosening restrictions in a careful and deliberate way to safeguard residents, Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers was most emphatic about acting soon.
“It is time to return sanity to our world,” he said.
Projections about how many people will be sickened or die have so far not been accurate, he said. While the virus is dangerous, lockdowns also are hazardous to health, he said.
“It is time to stop living in fear and it is time to start living,” he said.
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