HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015 07 29 Florida Trend Article�> ArA&M)% ITS
AROUND THE STATE
Securing
aterf ront
A small city mores to keep
the waterfront open to
commercial fishermen.
Marina redevelop-
ments catering to the
rowing demand for
boat slips and waterside
amenities have blos-
somed since the reces-
sion. In Sebastian, a
city of 23,500 in Indian
River County that start-
ed as a fishing village,
one unusual redevelop-
ment harks back to the
old Florida origins of
many marinas.
22
I
Southeast
By Mike Vogel
mvogel6floridatren d.com
In 2008, former state
Rep. Charlie Sembler
led the creation of the
Stan Mayfield Working
Waterfronts Florida
Forever program, which
buys property to safe-
guard waterfront access
for commercial fisher-
men. The program is
named in honor of the
late state representa-
tive who sponsored
the legislation.
AUGUST 2015 FLORIOATRENO.COM
Former state
Rep. Charlie
Sembler led the
creation of the
Stan Mayfield
Working
Waterfronts
Florida Forever
program.
Sembler says he was
concerned that com-
mercial fishermen were
being forced off the
waterside by a combina-
tion of the 1994 Florida
constitutional net ban, a
demand for waterfront
residences and tax bills
that valued docks as
future condo sites. "The
old ways were dying
out;, says Sembler, a
ninth -generation Flo-
ridian whose family was
among the early farm-
ingand fishing families
in Sebastian.
He pressed the city
to pursue a Working
Waterfronts grant. The
result: The city used
$3.7 million in state,
Florida Inland Naviga-
tor District and private-
ly raised funds to buy an
old bar and an adjacent
marina on the Indian
Working
Waterfront Grants
$1.9 million
Blue Crab Cove,
Brevard County
$2.6 million
Sebastian Working
Waterfront, Sebastian
$324,239
Fastpoint Working
Waterfront,
Franklin County
$814,703
Apalachicola
Boatworks,
Apalachicola
Pending
Mayfield -Stock Island
Maritime Facility,
Monroe County
River Lagoon. It then
rehabilitated them to
house a working com-
mercial fishing dock, an
exhibit on Sebastian's
fishing past and a fresh
fish market and seafood
eatery. Next up: Re-
building a fish house.
Sembler says the
project has secured the
waterfront for com-
mercial fishermen and
serves as a destination
for locals and tourists.
Visitors can learn histo-
ry, buy fresh fish and see
how the industry works,
right down to watch-
ing the fish blood fly as
catches are landed. "It
doesn't get any more
real than that," Sembler
says. "It's not theme
park y Florida. There's
nothing faux. The true
old Florida is what
you'll be able to see,"
photos: Vero Beath 32443 M.M. top; An. Adan bottom