Lake Denton To Reopen In March?

SEBRING -- On March 1, public access should be restored, on a limited basis, to popular Lake Denton.

The special seven-member Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to send that recommendation to the Highlands County commissioners.

Commissioners appointed the committee in mid-September after voting 3-2 to close public access to this lake -- widely considered one of the best scuba diving lakes in the state -- for up to a year.

Problems cited by commissioners in closing the county boat ramp, the only public access to this exceptionally clear, 65-acre lake, included:

Potentially dangerous overcrowding by scuba divers, swimmers and boaters; illegal parking that sometimes clogged or blocked road access to lakefront homes; and occasional crude, lewd, rude and rowdy behavior by some lake users.

Vicki Pontius, county parks and recreation director, said Ross Macbeth, the county's attorney, ruled there are no legal problems with the committee's recommendations to restrict access through limited parking, charging weekend user's fees, and closing the county boat ramp at 4 p.m. every day.

Through summer weekends, many dozens of vehicles carrying scuba divers, swimmers, sunbathers and a few boaters often overflowed the county's parking lot at Lake Denton.

After five meetings over the past two months, the committee is recommending parking be limited to only eight spaces, with illegally parked cars at least ticketed and possibly towed, too.

Other restrictions, which the board of county commissioners will consider at their Jan. 2 meeting, are:

u Charging a $25 per day fee for scuba divers, and $25 to launch a boat, on Saturdays and Sundays, while there would be no fees Monday through Friday;

u Locking the gate to the county boat ramp at 4 p.m. and opening it at 8 a.m. every day; and

u Staffing the boat ramp with an attendant, on Saturdays and Sundays only, who would collect user's fees, monitor the parking, and call the sheriff's office if any trouble breaks out.

County County Commissioner Don Bates, who with Commissioner Andy Jackson voted against closing public access to the lake, chaired the committee as a non-voting member. He said the short-term plan addresses the committee's No. 1 concern, public safety.

"This is just a plan, this is just a trial," Bates said. "If it doesn't work, we'll come back and change it . . .

"Clearly," Bates added, "our work is not done."

He was referring both to expected changes in the short-term plan once the lake is re-opened to public use, as well as future work on a long-term plan for expanded recreation at Lake Denton.

Dave Simpson, one of two Lake Denton lakefront residents on the committee, was the lead spokesman for lake residents who asked the commissioners to close public access to the lake in August.

Simpson said the short-term plan isn't perfect but he accepts it as the best possible, short-term measure. He described it as "going baby steps first. You've got to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run."

Speaking on behalf of lakefront residents, he added, "We'll do everything in our power to make this thing work."

Committee member Jack Richie, president of the Highlands County Homeowners Association and a member of Highlands County Lakes Association, endorsed the short-term plan, even though he added that it's "obviously not going to solve every problem."

Long-term solutions to long-standing problems with overcrowding at this popular lake will take more work by the committee, Richie said. In the meantime, he said, public access should be restored "as soon as possible."

Boaters, fishermen and scuba divers, and all county residents interested in lakes in particular as well as outdoor recreation in general, he said, "are adamant about this lake being opened, and I agree with them. We cannot just close lakes in Highlands County."