By Jessica Solis
Staff Writer

Local business owners are worried a new ordinance aimed at tightening regulations on Osceola County’s public boat ramps will put them out of business, and have asked county officials to modify the new law.

The ordinance, which county commissioners ap-proved Dec. 21, prohibits the use of boat ramps and county-owned facilities for commercial purposes.

The law applies to all 18 county boat ramps, and commercial watercraft launching off the ramps.

The new rule limits the number of passengers on commercial motorboats launching off the boat ramps to four or less. It also reduces the number of trips being made on the commercial motorboats from the public ramps to two per day.

In addition, the ordinance prohibits users from taking longer than 15 minutes to load and unload passengers.
Now, small airboat ride and fishing guide companies taking visitors on sightseeing tours on county lakes are angry with the new ordinance, saying it restricts them to the point where they will not be able to operate their businesses.

"That isn’t enough if you’re an airboat business trying to make a living,” Debbie Clark, owner of Spirit of the Swamp airboat rides, said.

Officials enacted the ordinance after it was discovered some businesses providing airboat rides were listing the address and phone numbers of the boat ramps as contact information in their marketing material, such as brochures and Web sites.

As a result, the county has fielded phone calls from tourists filing customer service complaints, believing they were calling the business, Commission Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr. said.
The ordinance gives the county legal protection, he said, should someone get hurt, or file a lawsuit against the business using the county’s address.

“If someone (passenger) could get hurt and (a business) used the county’s address as their main office, the county would be responsible,” Hawkins said. “The lakes are public, but it’s the boat facilities that the businesses are operating out of.”
Clark’s airboat tours begin at the Whaley’s Landing boat ramp near St. Cloud. On average, Spirit of the Swamp gives about five tours per day, Clark said.

Because the dock site is located in a rural, residential street, the business is reservation-based, with visitors scheduling tours ahead of time, she said.

The Whaley’s Landing boat ramp was selected by Clark and her husband after being told they couldn’t operate Spirit of the Swamp from larger docking points, such as Overstreet Landing near St. Cloud or the Southport boat ramp near Kissimmee, both of which are currently being used by larger airboat tour companies that have contract agreements with the county.

At the Jan. 4 commission meeting, owners of small airboat tour businesses and fishing excursion guides asked commissioners to lift some restrictions and amend the ordinance.
They said larger airboat companies lobbied on behalf of the new law in an attempt to put smaller companies using public boat ramps out of business.

"All of a sudden this is an issue because someone came and brought it to the commissioner’s point of view, and it wasn’t before. Why is this suddenly an issue?” asked resident Jeff Williams.

But that’s not the case, say the large airboat tour companies. The larger companies carry more liability insurance, and pay rent to base their businesses at the lakes.

"I’m just asking for the same playing field,” Margie Long, who owns Boggy Creek Airboat Rides, said.
Her business, the largest of its type in the county, operates from the Southport dock site with permission from the county. She pays workman’s compensation, stormwater maintenance fees and extra liability insurance to ensure her company’s use of the public boat ramp frees the county of responsibility.
 

She said if other businesses want the same treatment, they should be willing to pay so they don’t hold taxpayers accountable should a legal issue arise.
Doug Brown, who owns Cypress Lake Airboat Tours, agreed.

"The ordinance they passed is to protect the public, and protect the county,” he said. “Everybody should get to operate, but everybody should play by the rules.”
Long said she was willing to do the same with her business if it would allow her to launch her airboats off the boat ramps without limitations.

County officials will discuss the ordinance at their Feb. 1 meeting, and hear from owners of large and small-scale airboat tour businesses.
"Amending the ordinance is a possibility,” Hawkins said.