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Reducing noise PDF Print E-mail
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Saturday, 17 April 2010 00:00
As always, there are at least two sides to any story, as is the case with commercial airboat tour operators wanting to use Kissimmee’s lakefront for loading and unloading passengers amid complaints from residents about airboat noise.
City commissioners in a 3-2 vote Tuesday decided that the city over the next 30 days would accept bids from these operators and, at the same time, look at compromises that might help reduce the noise. That’s a good move. Commissioners also – at the urging of tour operators – will consider the sales and lodging taxes these tours generate.
In their applications, operators will have to include a business plan outlining their airboat equipment and operation as well as methods for attracting customers and loading them on and off the airboat. Also, the operators will have to meet insurance requirements, must be financially stable and must have a noise abatement plan in place. That's reasonable.
The issue of airboat noise is a recurring one – whether it is in Kissimmee or in the county. Even if an airboat meets state noise reduction standards, airboats by their very nature are noisy when revved up. And given certain weather conditions, that noise can travel long distances.
So, it would be in the best interests of the airboat operations, in the words of Mayor Jim Swan (who voted to begin accepting operator applications), to “get as far away from homes” as possible before throttling up.
Commissioners Art Otero and Carlos Irizarry voted against the airboat proposal and their reasons for doing so are solid. They were looking out for residents, who have rights, too.
Airboat tours do bring some tourists downtown, but the bottom line is that these operations pay no property taxes to the city, unlike other businesses. Therefore, operators paying docking fees would be reasonable.
To us, tour operators who have said they are willing “to comply with any reasonable request” have the wrong idea. It is the city that now controls the lakefront, which is public property, and being allowed to operate a business there is a privilege granted by the city, not a right.
Tour operators have offered reasonable compromises, which should be adopted by the city if the tour operations are allowed, such as docking air boats away from heavily populated areas and having an idle zone extended to Little Grassy Island to reduce the noise reaching residents.
We agree that airboat tour operators are good stewards of the lake, helping to clean up trash. Plus, these same operators, on occasion, rescue other boaters.
 

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