Orange County Government Weighs Bird Island Boat Ban

An Audubon-owned island, once a sanctuary for eagles and egrets in the Butler Chain of Lakes, is known now for flocks of party animals, whose antics and loud music have driven away wading birds and led Orange County to propose banning boats from the shallows.

If adopted, the rules would push vessels further from the island’s shore and designate the area in between for swimmers only.

But lakefront residents who have called attention to rowdiness around Bird Island aren’t happy with the suggested solution.

“This is not addressing the root cause of the problem,” said Mary Oakes, who frequently uses the lakes and favors a crackdown on lawless boaters. “The problem is the overwhelming gatherings of boats and personal watercraft, most demonstrating a complete disregard of boating safety laws, basic respect and conservation decency combined with copious amounts of alcohol. This has resulted in an ongoing spectacle of public drunkenness, blaring music, filth and trash and unsafe and frequently obscene behavior.”

Orange County commissioners will be asked to approve the restrictions at a future as yet unscheduled date.

Melissa Lavigne of the county’s environmental protection division, in a presentation last week to commissioners, said the changes are part of a broader code revision that eventually could affect other waterways. She said the update is needed to bring county boating and water safety rules in line with state code.

Current county code allows boats and personal watercraft like a Jet Ski to anchor in the sandy shallows of Bird Island’s shore, where revelers sometimes plant pop-up shade canopies, tie vessels to cypress trees, crank up the music and spend sunny days floating with friends.

Shoreline residents complain about incessant noise, reckless riding and trash left behind — on the island and in the water.

The proposed changes don’t directly address any of those issues.

Instead, they would create an “exclusion zone,” forbidding vessels from creeping closer than 45 feet off shore, as far away as 80 feet in spots. The zone will be marked with orange buoys and the presence of a vessel inside the forbidden area would be a violation.

The proposed rule does not spell out penalties.

“It’s not going to be a silver bullet,” said Nicole Wilson, whose west Orange commission district includes Windermere, the Butler Chain of Lakes and Bird Island. “I do fully agree that this is not going to solve all the issues but I do think there has been a lot of thought put into bringing this forward. Hopefully, we can identify those things we all agree on and try to make them work.” Boaters argued the restrictions would force swimmers into deeper water, making it more dangerous, especially for children.

“There’s really no safe way to bring a child off the back of the boat into the water as the water will physically be over our heads,” boater Jeff Reining said, appealing to county commissioners. “The broad majority of the people out there respect the island.”

Others said the clash comes down to noise.

“If there’s a way to tamp down the music, that would probably solve a lot of the issues,” said Rick Taylor, a Bird Island regular.

Liz Andert, a former member of Windermere Town Council, described the proposal as an “enforceable tool” for marine patrols.

“It is imperfect as policy almost always is, but it is a start,” she said.

Andert also said noise ordinances are all but impossible to enforce in a flotilla as an officer must not only measure decibel levels but identify the source. Frequent complaints “suggest many recreationists are aware of these enforcement challenges, too,” she said.

Charles Lee, advocacy director for Florida Audubon, endorsed the exclusion-zone idea, too, but suggested enlarging it.

He said a 200- or 300-foot zone might keep “uncontrolled masses” from abusing the island, a nesting area for wading birds.