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Highlands Today

City Pier Beach Remains Closed

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

Charles Roux fishes for shellcracker fish off the Sebring City Pier on Friday. Roux says that the beach being closed to swimmers doesn't bother him because "it's better for the fishermen, no one is disturbing the fish."

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: September 13, 2008

SEBRING - Unless another tropical storm visits Highlands County, City Pier Beach may remain closed for the rest of the summer.

Bobby Clark, 23, got a cramp and drowned June 11 in a dredge hole as big as a football field, which was probably created in the 1960s to fill a parking area behind the library and civic center park, then-City Manager Bob Hoffman told the Sebring City Council.

A few days later, Hoffman met with Fire Chief Brad Batz, diver Preston Colby, Highlands County Lakes Manager Clell Ford and Lucianne Blair, environmental administrator for submerged lands and environmental resource permitting for the Department of Environmental Protection. DEP was unwilling to allow sand from outside the lake to fill the dredge hole.

Until the lake shrank due to the drought, the oval-shaped hole was more than 100 feet out in the lake, Batz estimated.

Due to summer rains and runoff from Tropical Storm Fay, Lake Jackson has risen only three feet since the accident happened in June, Ford said Friday.

That's not enough to reopen the beach, said City Manager Scott Noetlich.

"I was just out there checking," Noetlich said. "I have a public meeting scheduled next week with Ron Sandler, and we'll go out there and confirm, probably what I just said."

Sandler is the acting environmental supervisor for the Highlands County Health Department, which permits swimming at city and county beaches.

Sandler's predecessor, Frank Krupa, closed the beach in June because there was little water between the sandy beach and the dredge hole.

"There's not a whole lot of water to swim in right now," Noetlich said.

The sandy beach itself is not closed, Noetlich said, only the area marked "No Swimming At This Time," or "No Nadar" in Spanish.

The dredge hole is dangerous, Noetlich said, because there is about two feet of water in front and to the sides of it, but one step too far, the swimmer can be over his head in 10-15 feet of water.

In June, the council didn't vote on whether to fill the dredge hole in Lake Jackson, and they didn't table the matter. Instead, the council simply didn't act.

Noetlich and councilman John Griffin said there are still no plans to fill in the dredge hole. Ford estimated it would cost from $167,000 to $226,000.

Three other beaches on Lake Jackson remain open for public swimming.

•Veteran's Beach, on the west side, on Lakeview Drive between Vicki and Bayview streets.

•Hidden Beach, on the northeast side, on Lakeview Drive at Valencia.

•Crescent Beach, on the southeast side, on Lakeview Drive at Crescent.

There is little or no parking at Hidden and Cresent beaches, Noetlich said, but swimmers can walk or ride bikes there.

The South Florida Water Management District said Thursday that the 16 counties in its system have received an average of 22.53 inches of rainfall in July and August.

Another tropical storm or hurricane could bring enough water to the lake to reopen Pier Beach, Noetlich and Ford said.

LAKE JACKSON

Feet above sea level

June 2008 96.2

Sept. 2008 99.2

Source: Clell Ford, Highlands County Lakes Manager Gary Pinnell can be reached at gpinnell@highlandstoday.com or 863 386-5828 Source: Clell Ford, Highlands County Lakes Manager

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