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Highlands Today

County Commissioners Keep Lake Denton Open To Public

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: October 8, 2008

SEBRING - Highlands County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday not to permanently close public access to Lake Denton.

In doing so, the commissioners rejected the recommendation of the citizens advisory committee they appointed to study problems at this exceptionally clear and popular lake between Sebring and Avon Park.

The commissioners also instructed the advisory committee, with the volunteer help of a consulting firm, to develop a long-range master plan for recreational and environmental management of Lake Denton.

The commissioners specifically said the Lake Denton management plan will be developed as a "template" or example of management plans to be developed in the future for other Highlands County lakes.

"I'll volunteer, pro bono, my environmental and recreational consulting services, and my company's services, to develop the first long-term management plan for Lake Denton," county resident Russell K. Danser told the commissioners.

The commissioners immediately accepted his offer.

Danser retired from the Florida State Parks System after managing more than 75 state parks, recreational areas and aquatic resource areas throughout the state, and developed management plans for many of them.

He currently is the senior consultant to The Phoenix Environmental Group, an environmental and recreational consulting firm he founded. One of his current projects is working with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to identify and re-establish traditional home sites of the tribe in the Everglades.

Danser attended most of the Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee meetings over the past year and frequently advised the committee.

Also, the commissioners agreed to rejuvenate and possibly expand the Lake Denton citizens committee.

Two seats on the seven-member committee are vacant. Vicki Pontius, county parks and recreation director, is seeking applications for the vacant seats. Appointments would be made by the county commissioners following a recommendation from Pontius.
Pontius asked people interested in serving on the committee to contact her by phone, 863-402-6812, or e-mail: vpontius@hcbcc.org.

One member of the committee, Ray Napper, resigned, and another member, Ken Melvin, has not been attending meetings. Besides filling the two vacant seats, commissioners said they would consider adding more seats on the committee.

While the management plan is being developed, limited access to Lake Denton on the county's shell road will be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Allowing only eight parking spaces near the public access site and having it open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the summer on a trial basis effectively stopped illegal parking, overcrowding and rowdy behavior, Commissioner Don Bates said.

While the county has only a 40-foot strip on the shoreline which limits recreational uses, Bates said, "I will be opposed to permanently closing the lake."

"I don't agree with closing or giving away a right of way that the county has," said Commissioner Edgar Stokes. Public access might have to be limited, he said, but should not be given up.

"I'm always opposed to giving away public access to that lake," said Commissioner Andy Jackson. "I don't think we need to restrict public access to that lake or any other lake" because some people using the lake were misbehaving.

If that happened, Jackson said, "I think certainly we'd be sending the wrong message."

Commissioner Barbara Stewart said safety issues were the biggest factor in closing public access to Lake Denton in mid-September 2007, and then reopening it on a limited, trial basis this past summer.

"This was not just a law enforcement issue at all," she said. "It was a serious safety issue, and a multitude of safety issues."

Highlands County Attorney Ross Macbeth said permanently closing public access to Lake Denton would set a bad precedent that could affect other lakes in the county.
Lake Denton may be one of the county's most beautiful and popular lakes, Macbeth said, but having only a 40-foot wide road for public access to a lake "is not an unusual circumstance in our county."

If public access to Lake Denton was cut off permanently, he said, the county would "risk the loss of all access to all our lakes." Public access to lakes is already an issue throughout the county and will become a bigger issue as population increases, he said.

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