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Highlands Today

LAKE DENTON COMMITTEE To Review Reopening Of Public Access

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: August 5, 2008

SEBRING - The Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee, appointed by the county commissioners in September 2006, will meet for the first time in four months on Aug. 19.

Highlands County Commissioner Don Bates, who chairs the committee as a non-voting member, called for the meeting to review how the reopening of public access to the lake in late spring has been working out.

Jack Richie, one of the nine citizen members, said he would also like see to a "complete cost analysis" of the county's work in opening limited public access to this lake, widely considered one of the clearest and best scuba-diving sites in Florida.

Richie said he would like to see that analysis either ready in time for the meeting or soon afterward.

"I requested the meeting," Bates said, "because I think we need to address what we really want to see the county do there in the long run."

In mid-August 2006, the county commissioners voted 3-to-2 to close public access to this lake due to lakefront homeowners' complaints about overcrowding and sometimes rowdy and offensive behavior by some divers, swimmers and others just hanging around the lakeshore.

Most of the problems resulted from large numbers of people coming to enjoy this lake because of its exceptionally clear water while there was little room for public access and virtually no facilities.

Public access to the lake is by the county's shell-road ramp which runs about 40 yards from Lake Denton Drive to the water's edge. Except for a portable toilet facility and limited parking, the county provided no other facilities.

As a result, vehicles often overflowed the county's parking lot and clogged the street, making it difficult for residents to get into and out of their homes.

Commissioners re opened the lake in early summer after the committee, which met monthly for six months, recommended limited public access with a user-fee charge for divers on weekends and holidays and no charge on weekdays.

Public access to the lake is controlled by a gate that is opened at 8 a.m. and closed at 4 p.m. every day.

As soon public access was closed in mid-September 2006, scuba divers started getting access to the lake by paying $5 to a Christian camp next to the county's public access road/ramp to the lake.

Most divers continue to use the church camp, because it provides amenities such as restrooms, changing rooms, close by and secure parking, picnic tables and lake access from a long, white-sand beach.

At their last meeting earlier this year, citizens advisory committee members said that after limited public access to this lake was in place, they would discuss possible long-term plans for Lake Denton.

Long-term plans for the lake discussed by the committee late last year and early this year run the gamut from acquiring a lakefront lot next to the county's lake access ramp to create a swimming area and park, to simply continuing the limited lake access with no park and no facilities except the gate and a portable toilet.

Richie said committee members can not make recommendations to the county commission until they know how many people have been using the public access to Lake Denton and how much it is costing to provide that public access.

"I think we need talk about how the county should address the main issues there," Richie said. Those issues, he said, are: "How far does the county go? And how much monetarily do we expect the county do at Lake Denton?"

An audit or cost analysis would provide the necessary information to begin discussing those issues, Richie said.

Bates said the county's weekend user-fee charges for divers were never intended to produce revenue or even cover the cost of restoring public access. He said that at least limited public access should be maintained to Lake Denton, and the cost of doing that is a routine "cost of doing the business of the county."

"I don't ever expect the county to generate a positive revenue flow there," Bates said. Based on the minimal charge for access to the lake at the church camp, at a fee now at $10 per diver per day, there is little reason for divers to pay to use the county's access on weekends, Bates said.

While the county provides virtually no amenities except the portable toilet facility, Bates said, the neighboring church camp provides what divers consider first-class facilities run by a Christian group in a very pleasing and family-friendly atmosphere.

No matter what the future holds for the county's operations at Lake Denton, Bates said, the committee should start discussing any potential long-term plans.

Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or by e-mail at jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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