By Brian McBride

Associate Editor

Airboat operators and members of the downtown Kissimmee business community flocked to the Kissimmee City Commission meeting Tuesday to try to persuade municipal leaders to reverse their recent decision on banning commercial watercraft activity at the lakefront, saying it would hurt area commerce.

Commissioners heard the pleas under the “Hear the Audience” section on the meeting agenda, but took no action nor made any comments. The commission Jan. 18 voted to bar all airboat activity from city-controlled areas on Lake Tohopekaliga and that all commercially-run airboat activity must cease by May 31.

“I’m begging you to look further into this issue,” Kissimmee Downtown Business Association President John Daniel Fields said.

Fields said downtown merchants depend on airboaters because it brings tourists to the antique shops, restaurants and other commerce along Broadway. And the area needs the business more than ever because of the weakened economy, he added.

“Right now, every business downtown is on its knees,” Fields said.

The City Commission, for some time, had tried to enter a contract with airboat companies that bid to run a commercial service from the city dock, but an agreement was never reached. Plus, noise complaints and whether airboats would be a good fit with the future of Lakefront Park were some of the commission’s concerns.

But Mayor Jim Swan said the “game-changer” at the Jan. 18 meeting was when the city was notified by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Agency that if it wanted to enter a business contract with an airboat company, then it would have to pay 16 cents per square-foot – or more than $42,000 a year – to the agency because the shore area is state-owned and designated for public use.

But Capt. Donna Glancy, owner of Airboat Adventures and More, said the city could ask the airboat vendors to help pay agency fees through a marina rental agreement. And as far as the noise, Glancy said it was only the same select few who continue to complain, but airboats have never broken noise code laws. Moreover, the downtown area has more than 100 businesses that would be affected without the airboat operations, she said.

“I think you should all go down to the lake and have a noise meter with you. I think you would be very, very surprised,” she said.

Airboats are part of Kissimmee’s history and they promote eco-tourism, Ray Parsons, who was behind the development of the downtown City Centre, said.

“I think the airboat people are doing a great job bringing people to the downtown area,” he said. “We need the business downtown.”

But some applauded the commission’s move because of the noise.

Bonnie Maness, who lives along Neptune Road, even questioned why the commission was giving airboat operators up to May 31 to stop business.

“We, the people, around the affected areas have been complaining over and over and we’ve had no relief,” she said.

But Fields said there are boats on the lake that are much louder and wondered if the city’s next step would be removing all watercraft from the lake. He believed some kind of compromise could be made.

“We don’t want to sit there and ban everything from the lake,” he said. “I think we can find a happy medium.”

The city plans to send out cease and desist letters to the airboat vendors and then any infractions would be handled by the code enforcement department.

In other city business, the commission approved the first reading of an ordinance of prohibiting  all commercial activities at city parks unless prior approval from the commission is granted. The commission still has to approve the ordinance on the second and final readings before it would be adopted.