News

Price could reach up to $3.5 million for two projects

Highland Beach Officer James Thornton (at wheel) and Officer Stephen Salach patrol the Intracoastal Waterway. Residents say the number of speeding boats has diminished since the patrol launched in 2022. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

For decades Highland Beach residents had been complaining about boats speeding as they navigated the town’s 3.5 miles of the Intracoastal Waterway. 

State officials who oversee navigation on the waterway listened, but little was done to assuage residents’ concerns. 

Then in early 2022 — following three serious boating accidents, including two with fatalities — town commissioners took matters into their own hands, launching a 28-foot police boat that residents say has slowed speeding boaters down simply by being visible. 

“Three serious accidents occurred within just a few months,” Police Chief Craig Hartmann said. “Since the launch of the police boat and our increased presence, there have been no boating accidents on the Intracoastal in Highland Beach.”

Highland Beach marine patrol Officer James Thornton, with Officer Stephen Salach, uses a radar detector to gauge a boat’s speed.

Now the Police Department is hoping to take that presence to the next level with a dock on the Intracoastal — behind the town’s library — that will also make it easier for Highland Beach’s marine officers and fire rescue personnel to respond to emergencies on the water. 

This month, residents will be asked to give town leaders permission to spend up to $3.5 million on the dock and on renovations to the town’s old fire station, should the money be needed. The single ballot item covers both projects. Already the town has received a $50,000 grant from the Florida Inland Navigation District for design and engineering work, and a request for additional funding is pending.

Town officials say they only want the authority to make the expenditure if the money is needed. 

The price of the dock project is estimated to be between $1.5 million and $2 million, and town leaders hope that FIND will cover half the cost. Should that not happen, the town’s expense could be over $900,000, the current spending limit before voter approval is required. By putting the issue on the March 11 ballot, the town is in essence hedging its bets so it can move forward without delays regardless of the outcome of the grant request. 

“We hope we don’t have to spend over $900,000,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said. 

The town is considering this area behind the Highland Beach Library as the location of a proposed dock.

Hartmann says that the police boat will be on a lift at the dock when it is not in use, improving the marine unit’s presence even when the boat is not in the water. Since its launch in March 2022, the boat has been docked on private property at the Boca Highland Beach Club Marina at a location that is set back from the Intracoastal and not readily visible to boaters. 

Since the launch of the marine unit, Hartmann and state Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman said, there have been visible improvements in compliance with speeds on the waterway and with other boating safety measures. 

“We have written hundreds of warnings and citations and have had thousands of boater contacts with the focus on educating the boating public about safe speeds and safe boating practices,” Hartmann said. “Boaters have told our marine officers they have seen a difference now that the boating community knows there is a constant law enforcement presence on the Intracoastal Waterway when there wasn’t one in the past.” 

Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach, whose home is on the east side of the waterway, said the marine unit keeps the blue light on the boat lighted when in the water, thus increasing visibility. 

“It’s like a police car parked at an intersection,” she said. “You tend to be more cautious when you know it’s out there.”

Gossett-Seidman said she sees the police boat out almost every day and thinks that slower speeds will benefit people using kayaks and jet skis. Jet skis, according to Hartmann, account for about 50% of the citations and warnings written by the marine unit. 

Labadie said that the new dock will also be a benefit to the town’s Fire Rescue Department, which will be able to reach injured boaters more rapidly.

“It’s a little more mission-critical now that we have our own fire department,” he said, adding that the dock could be in place sometime next year. 

Labadie said the town is also hoping to demolish a part of the old fire station, just north of Town Hall, and upgrade the bay area where the town now keeps a backup rescue unit and a backup fire truck.

Last year Highland Beach built a new fire station to replace the longtime station that Labadie said was too old, too small and below the flood plain. 

While there were discussions about possibly keeping the entire building, Labadie said that the living quarters section would need too much work. Instead, the town is getting cost estimates for work to fix the bay area and electrical storage areas and replace the roof. 

“We’re using the building for storage of $2 million worth of equipment,” he said.