There appears to be a bonus for residents in a $1 million-plus grant that reimburses Ocean Ridge for much of the purchase price of the submerged Priest property behind Town Hall.
The Florida Conservation Trust, as a condition of the grant, requires some type of public recreation, said Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy. The county owns the other submerged lands next to the Priest property — all of which is a pristine mangrove swamp teeming with marine life.
“We have been talking to the county, because the county owns several of those parcels, and they’re going to work with us in kind of creating and marking a kayak trail,” Cassidy said. “We’re just in the beginning stages of talking about that.”
One of the decisions that needs to be made is where the kayaks will be rented and launched. When established, the kayak trail will give residents access to marine life.
“There’s a lot of wildlife back there,” Cassidy said. “I talked to some people that have been at Ocean Cay (just north of Town Hall) for a while and they’ve seen manatees. It’s really kind of a nice place.”
— John Pacenti
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