News-Gazette Photo/Andrew Sullivan Boats from Boggy Creek Airboat Rides ferried groups attending Osceola County's Hydrilla Field Day around Lake Tohopekaliga recently, launching from the marina at Kissimmee Lakefront Park.

By Juliana A. Torres
Staff Writer

On Tuesday, five proposals for commercial airboat tours on the Kissimmee lakefront will be considered in detail as commissioners decide whether to allow one or several commercial operations to launch from the city's shores.

The issue has become a point of contention between airboat operators, some of whom have already been launching tours from the lakefront, and city residents who live along or near Lake Tohopekaliga and complain that the noise from the boats' propellers disrupts their lives.

City commissioners agreed to advertise a request for proposals for a possible contract to see how the airboat tour companies might address the noise issue. The issue was to be discussed earlier this week, but given the detail involved in the proposals and the controversy inherent in the decision, commissioners agreed to interview the principals of each company in a workshop setting.

“I did not have a chance to see even how thick the stack of proposals were until this morning,” Mayor Jim Swan said Tuesday, explaining that he was fishing in the Florida Keys last week. “I don't feel as though I could make a decision or recommendation this evening. I don't feel it would be fair to those who applied.”

His fellow commissioners agreed.

“I did a lot of reading over the weekend. There is an awful lot of information that I picked up. I didn't realize how involved this situation is — very complex, very expensive,” Commissioner Jerry Gemskie said. “It's going to take a little longer to do this because it is in-depth more than I realized.”

Swan did say he would only accept a maximum of 10 commercial airboat trips per day, no matter if the commission decided to accept one or two operations from the lakeshore.

Gemskie said Thursday that he felt the issue was controversial enough to put off until after the election, when the city would elect a new commissioner for seat 2. Suspended Commissioner Carlos Irizarry, arrested on assault charges last week, stated that he was adamantly against any airboat operations on the lakeshore, in agreement with Commissioner Art Otero, while the three other members were undecided.

Though they can't keep anyone out of a public meeting, commissioners will request the applicants to stay outside the commission chambers while they interview each vendor. Each vendor is scheduled to have about 20 minutes of questions from the commissioners, during which they can explain and advocate their proposal. Of the six vendors who submitted proposals, an Orlando-based vendor has already dropped out of the running, having not submitted enough information required by the city.

Even as the commissioners consider the proposals, they still could decide to allow no commercial airboats to launch from Kissimmee's shores.

The proposals

A lottery at City Hall Thursday determined the order the vendors will be interviewed during the workshop this Tuesday.

The first to be interviewed, Big Toho Air Boat Rides, is the oldest airboat company to operate from Kissimmee lakefront. Owner Brent Sloan started the company as a fishing guide in 1991 and in 2004, decided to start launching airboat tours from Kissimmee, according to the company's proposal documentation.

The company operates two airboats: a six-passenger, 18-foot boat and a newer 15-passenger, 23-foot boat. As a noise reduction effort, the company will only operate one-hour tours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will modify the route. The company has made several modifications to the airboats, the proposal states.

Shingle Creek Airboat Rides, which currently operates tours from Boggy Creek, is the second company to be interviewed. The 17-employee operation would purchase two 26-foot airboats with an 18-passenger maximum to expand its operations to Kissimmee's shores. It would operate one-hour tours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Osprey Eco Tours also does not currently operate from Kissimmee. The company owns Cypress Lakes Airboat Tours, which launches from the Cypress Lake Fish Camp and RV Park in Kenansville. The company proposed one-hour tours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Kissimmee, utilizing two airboats. Osprey Eco Tours also boasts a new “top secret quiet design” for its airboats, which it promised to outline during contract negotiations.

Airboat Adventures and More is the newest company on Kissimmee lakefront. Owner Donna Glancey and her sons, the captains of the company's single 14-passenger airboat, began tours in 2008. So far, 2010 is the first year the company is making money. The proposal outlines one and a half-hour tours from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The final vendor to be interviewed will be Tom and Jerry's Airboat Rides, co-owned by Brent Sloan's father and fellow fishing guide, Jerry Sloan, who joined in the airboat tour venture on Kissimmee lakeshore in 2009. The joint companies market airboat tours together and have similar tour times.

Tom and Jerry's operates with two 15-passenger airboats. Jerry Sloan claims in his proposal to have spearheaded efforts to reduce commercial airboat noise in Kissimmee, rerouting airboats away from houses and adding different props and mufflers to the airboats.

Some of the companies also submitted plans for permanent kiosks or other infrastructure on the Kissimmee lakefront in their proposals.