By Mary Thurwachter
While support to bring a natural gas line to Hypoluxo Island has gained momentum, the men spearheading the effort are concerned that getting the required 60 percent of the voters to agree may fall short by a few votes.
Rod Tennyson and Robert Barfknecht said they have taken the campaign door-to-door to educate voters and have turned “no” votes into “yes” votes.
The deadline to collect votes was the end of January, but the Lantana Town Council, at its Jan. 13 meeting, voted to extend that deadline until Feb. 15, at the request of Tennyson and Barfknecht.
“Right now we’re going after people that are hard to get a hold of,” Tennyson said. “We could be 15 votes short and it would be a shame to see it die at 15 votes. “We need 186 yes votes (from 300 property owners),” Tennyson said, “so we need 59 more. We’re real close. The extra 15 days will help.”
The town sent letters to Hypoluxo Island residents asking for their vote on the gas line. The town will create a special assessment to provide financing.
A preliminary survey in June 2012 showed that 71 percent of 84 respondents were in favor of converting to natural gas and were willing to pay for it.
“I think this will be a great enhancement to our island,” Tennyson said. “There would be both energy and cost savings. Natural gas costs about half the price of LP gas.”
Property owners would pay about $260 a year for 10 years to pay for the line.
A new natural gas line could connect to the one that already extends to the Carlisle, a senior living facilty at Ocean Avenue and A1A.
Florida Public Utility will assume ownership, operation and maintenance.
Mayor Dave Stewart, who lives on Hypoluxo Island, recognized that there are opponents to the line and didn’t want to push either way. But he said if it wasn’t approved this year, the matter wouldn’t likely return for a long time.
“I don’t want to ruin the process,” he said.
In other Lantana news, the qualifying period for the March 11 election ends Feb. 11. Council members Phil Aridas (Group 4) and Tom Deringer (Group 3) are both seeking re-election. So far, no opponents have surfaced.
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