Coastal Community Association Reports Good Year

By Marie Logan

Star Staff Writer

About 50 people attended the annual meeting of the Coastal Community Association last Saturday in Port St. Joe.

The association is comprised of property owners from C.R./S.R. 30-A southward in Gulf County. Included in the south Gulf area are Simmons Bayou, Indian Pass, Cape San Blas and St. Joseph Peninsula.

Some of the achievements the association reported over the past year were:

- working with the county and state to give property owners in south Gulf County more time to prepare for the movement of the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) and the 30-year erosion control line.

The group did obtain credit for the beach re-nourishment in terms of the placement of the line, and continue to work on the issue.

- got the county to re-stripe C.R. 30-A from Dead Man's Curve east to the Franklin County line.

- galvanized south Gulf property owners to oppose increasing the density of the Ovation development on St. Joseph Peninsula.

Gulf County Property Appraiser Kesley Colbert talked to the group about property values and the current real estate market.

"The problem is, we can't sell anything," he said, telling the group he was not allowed to use foreclosures or bank-repossessed property sales as qualified sales prices to set valuations.

He said the state Property Appraisers Association was asking the state to allow them to use a certain number of foreclosure sales in their valuation process after a county reached a certain level in foreclosures.

He reminded people that his assessments were required by law to be based on the prior year's values and he was required to assess values on Jan. 1.

Michael Aiken, Gulf County code enforcement officer, showed the turtle-friendly lighting covers available to all beach residents. They are free of charge to beach residents, who are expected to maintain the covers for 10 years.

Aiken reviewed parts of the county beach lighting ordinance, which requires all beachfront lighting to be recessed, to shine down, and to be a 25-watt or less bug light.

"If you can see the lights on your house, the glow of a swimming pool, or any cumulative lighting from the beach, it's all in violation of the county ordinance," Aiken told the crowd.

Garbage and garbage receptacles were another issue for south Gulf property owners, as were the black bears that are now routinely raiding all the garbage cans lined up along S.R./C.R. 30E.

Both the lighting and garbage ordinances are on the county website, Aiken said, at www.gulfcountygovernment.com.

Gulf County Sheriff Joe Nugent informed the group that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would not relocate the large black bear that has been frequently seen around Cape San Blas houses and capturing tourists' attention.

Instead, FWC wanted residents and tourists to keep their garbage away from the bears and become educated about living with bears, he said.

Nugent assured association members that even with cutbacks in his office his officers would continue to patrol the Cape and beach areas and had one officer dedicated to their area.

When questioned about the legality of people spending the night on the area's beaches, Nugent said that county ordinances allowed people to camp overnight on the beach, but no vehicles with toilets in them (such as campers and recreational vehicles) were allowed on the beach.

Association president Dr. Patricia Hardman suggested the association members approach the county commission to require campers to stay overnight near camping facilities with public restrooms.

Aiken also discussed the 23-page county sign ordinance that is currently being reviewed by the state. The delay in passing the final version of the ordinance, he said, was the agreed-upon location of rental signs on properties in south Gulf - whether to place them on the property or actually on the houses.

Jim Caughey, the new fire chief for the South Gulf Volunteer Fire Department, reported that 15 of the 26 fire department members had completed the state-required 160-hour Firefighter I course, allowing them to work within a fire perimeter. Thirteen of them were already certified and the remaining two would receive certification after taking the next test. "They are the backbone and strength of this department," Caughey said.