It used to be a prime place for boaters to seek refuge. Now it’s a haven for birds.
Bird Island, formerly known as Beer Can Island, has been off-limits to boaters since it became a National Audubon Society-operated bird sanctuary.
Now the boaters want another island to call their own.
“There is no place for anybody to get off their boat between Peanut Island [in Riviera Beach) and Boca Raton,” said County Commissioner Warren Newell, an avid boater. “It was great for families to get out of boats and recreate. There were families using it, and that’s been lost.”
Newell and the South Lake Worth Inlet advisory committee have asked the county staff to investigate building another spoil island to replace Bird Island along the Intracoastal Waterway in southern Palm Beach County.
The island is just north of the Boynton Inlet and was a popular spot for family cookouts. But it also got its nickname, Beer Can Island, from the litter left behind by some.
The island’s owner donated the 7-acre spoil island three years ago to the National Audubon Society so it could create a sanctuary.
Since Bird Island became off-limits in April, boaters have no place to stop and relax in the south part of the county, Newell said.
In the northern stretch of the county, Peanut Island offers a sandy strip of beach and a place to stretch the legs. Soon Munyon Island in North Palm Beach will join Peanut as a boater refuge.
That’s hurting business for Boynton Beach and Lantana marinas, owners say. Some boaters are taking their vessels north so they can take advantage of Peanut Island.
“If we can create some of these islands, it adds a little atmosphere,” said Stan Gundlach, owner of Gundlach’s Marina. “You can designate some of them bird-friendly and some boater-friendly. It doesn’t have to be big, just somewhere where the people can pull up.”
“The county has been involved in a couple of projects up in the northern county,” said Charles Frederick, South Lake Worth Inlet advisory committee chairman and Boynton Beach parks and recreation director. “There’s a lot of issues that have to be looked at, and that’s what we’re suggesting.”
The county’s Environmental Resources Management department will look into building another spoil island. County environmental officials warned in a memo to County Administrator Bob Weisman that there are a lot of challenges.
In his memo, ERM Director Richard Walesky pointed out that a spoil island has not been built in Florida in at least 40 years. The state probably would have to approve the use of submerged lands. To get the clear water that Bird Island enjoys, the island would be have to be built near the inlet – but locations are limited.
The department will research the proposal during the next two months, said Deputy Director Jon Van Arnam. “Permitting for creating an island may be difficult, but not impossible,” he said.
An island also could be used to plant mangroves and grow sea grasses, Van Arnam said.
“The focus wouldn’t solely be on recreation,” he said. “Planting mangroves, riprap that would create habitat, deep areas made shallower so there is additional opportunities for sea grasses where you didn’t before because the water was too deep.”
National Audubon Society Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Manager Richard Paul expressed concern about developing another spoil island in the portion of the Intracoastal known as the Lake Worth lagoon.
“That kind of thing has to be looked at carefully,” Paul said.
