Hotelier and local at loggerheads over lighting issue
BY ANTHONY CORMIER FLORIDA FREEDOM NEWS
PANAMA CITY BEACH ? A professor calls it the ?height of arrogance,? the embodiment of development?s continuing clash with nature. But will his students draw a line in the sand?
Nick Macahan, a sociology professor at Ivy Tech Community College, is urging students to boycott three beachfront properties during Spring Break in response to a long-running battle between a hotel magnate and conservationists over lights, laws and baby sea turtles.
The great turtle debate has been simmering since November, when Bay County officials hedged against a new light ordinance. The issue reignited, at least in some part, with the announcement this week of a campaign to keep spring breakers out of hotels owned by one of the Panhandle?s most powerful men.
Charlie Hilton has long argued against a countywide ordinance to slash ?light pollution,? or the nonnatural light that lures disoriented turtles away from the gulf, and has repeatedly asked officials to relocate nests rather than force hoteliers to turn off beachside lights.
?That, to me, is just the height of arrogance,? Macahan said in a phone interview on Tuesday. ?I find it appalling that this particular hotel owner cannot adjust his lighting. When I first heard about it, I absolutely could not believe it.?
Hilton?s three beachfront hotels ? a Holiday Inn SunSpree, Day?s Inn and Ramada Inn ? are not in the area currently regulated by a pilot project launched in May 2003 that restricts light for five miles of unincorporated beach between Panama City Beach?s western border and the Walton County line.
However, as a businessman and multimillionaire who looms large over local politics, Hilton has worn a target labeling him antienvironment and anti-turtle, two tags he bristles against. Hilton said Tuesday the boycott is less about the environment and more about ?shutting us down.?
?That?s what they want to do,? Hilton said. ?They have always said that the turtles have a right to exist, but what they don?t consider is man?s right to exist. ? They can do what they want, they can boycott us, but what they don?t realize is that we are trying to do everything we can to make the situation right.?
The issue might be raised again in mid-2006, when a light survey is due back to the Bay County Tourist Development Council. The study is expected to tally light pollution and ?urban glow? effects across the county and could play a vital role in a reconfigured ordinance.
The survey, undertaken to meet permitting requirements for a beach renourishment project, must be done by May 15. County commissioners likely will take another look at the lighting ordinance once the study is in hand.
The pilot program has been lauded by conservationists, who point to a steady decline in disorientation among the loggerheads that nest along Panhandle shores between May and October. In fact, proponents say the program has been so successful that it should be expanded across the county.
Currently, only Mexico Beach and the west-end beaches have restrictions on specific light. But according to Kennard Watson, director of Turtle Watch, disorientation has dropped 24 percent in the past three years.
Bay County code enforcement officials estimate that 90 percent of homeowners and hoteliers in the pilot program?s zone have complied with the lighting regulations.
Turtle Watch, a St. Andrew Bay group under contract with Bay County to monitor nesting and female turtle tracks, found that three of 21 nests saw successful births last year - 170 turtles in all. The nests were largely overwhelmed by hurricanes, a natural phenomenon that ?turtles have been dealing with for millennia,? Watson said.
While a relatively small number emerges from the Panhandle every year, scientists say these turtles are distinct genetically in comparison to the larger South Florida populations. For Kennard, an expansion to the light ordinance should be based on disorientation - perhaps the most significant long-term threat the species faces.
?I think there is a very vocal minority of people who have held up the expansion of the ordinance,? Watson said Tuesday. ?The majority of people have been supportive. I think this small pilot program has proven to skeptics that implementing lighting laws protects sea turtles.?
Lorna Patrick, a Panama City-based biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the lighting issue is directly tied to tourist and guest safety at beachfront hotels. Hoteliers, she acknowledged, are stuck between a rock and a hard place: How do they keep the lights on for guests, while turning them down for turtles?
?What does a property owner do when they?re stuck in the middle of conflicting laws about turtles and people?? asked Julie Hilton, Charlie?s daughter and vice president of Paradise Found Resorts & Hotels. ?There are some conflicting laws for guest safety. People have only begun to realize this. We?ve always been more than willing to work with (conservationists), but it?s very, very frustrating to deal with these conflicting laws.?
Patrick, and others, seek a solution. It starts with a broader ordinance, and cooperation between business and nature.
Said Patrick: ?It can work in Panama City Beach, and it?s our intent for (the ordinance) to cover all of Panama City Beach.?
BY ANTHONY CORMIER FLORIDA FREEDOM NEWS
PANAMA CITY BEACH ? A professor calls it the ?height of arrogance,? the embodiment of development?s continuing clash with nature. But will his students draw a line in the sand?
Nick Macahan, a sociology professor at Ivy Tech Community College, is urging students to boycott three beachfront properties during Spring Break in response to a long-running battle between a hotel magnate and conservationists over lights, laws and baby sea turtles.
The great turtle debate has been simmering since November, when Bay County officials hedged against a new light ordinance. The issue reignited, at least in some part, with the announcement this week of a campaign to keep spring breakers out of hotels owned by one of the Panhandle?s most powerful men.
Charlie Hilton has long argued against a countywide ordinance to slash ?light pollution,? or the nonnatural light that lures disoriented turtles away from the gulf, and has repeatedly asked officials to relocate nests rather than force hoteliers to turn off beachside lights.
?That, to me, is just the height of arrogance,? Macahan said in a phone interview on Tuesday. ?I find it appalling that this particular hotel owner cannot adjust his lighting. When I first heard about it, I absolutely could not believe it.?
Hilton?s three beachfront hotels ? a Holiday Inn SunSpree, Day?s Inn and Ramada Inn ? are not in the area currently regulated by a pilot project launched in May 2003 that restricts light for five miles of unincorporated beach between Panama City Beach?s western border and the Walton County line.
However, as a businessman and multimillionaire who looms large over local politics, Hilton has worn a target labeling him antienvironment and anti-turtle, two tags he bristles against. Hilton said Tuesday the boycott is less about the environment and more about ?shutting us down.?
?That?s what they want to do,? Hilton said. ?They have always said that the turtles have a right to exist, but what they don?t consider is man?s right to exist. ? They can do what they want, they can boycott us, but what they don?t realize is that we are trying to do everything we can to make the situation right.?
The issue might be raised again in mid-2006, when a light survey is due back to the Bay County Tourist Development Council. The study is expected to tally light pollution and ?urban glow? effects across the county and could play a vital role in a reconfigured ordinance.
The survey, undertaken to meet permitting requirements for a beach renourishment project, must be done by May 15. County commissioners likely will take another look at the lighting ordinance once the study is in hand.
The pilot program has been lauded by conservationists, who point to a steady decline in disorientation among the loggerheads that nest along Panhandle shores between May and October. In fact, proponents say the program has been so successful that it should be expanded across the county.
Currently, only Mexico Beach and the west-end beaches have restrictions on specific light. But according to Kennard Watson, director of Turtle Watch, disorientation has dropped 24 percent in the past three years.
Bay County code enforcement officials estimate that 90 percent of homeowners and hoteliers in the pilot program?s zone have complied with the lighting regulations.
Turtle Watch, a St. Andrew Bay group under contract with Bay County to monitor nesting and female turtle tracks, found that three of 21 nests saw successful births last year - 170 turtles in all. The nests were largely overwhelmed by hurricanes, a natural phenomenon that ?turtles have been dealing with for millennia,? Watson said.
While a relatively small number emerges from the Panhandle every year, scientists say these turtles are distinct genetically in comparison to the larger South Florida populations. For Kennard, an expansion to the light ordinance should be based on disorientation - perhaps the most significant long-term threat the species faces.
?I think there is a very vocal minority of people who have held up the expansion of the ordinance,? Watson said Tuesday. ?The majority of people have been supportive. I think this small pilot program has proven to skeptics that implementing lighting laws protects sea turtles.?
Lorna Patrick, a Panama City-based biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the lighting issue is directly tied to tourist and guest safety at beachfront hotels. Hoteliers, she acknowledged, are stuck between a rock and a hard place: How do they keep the lights on for guests, while turning them down for turtles?
?What does a property owner do when they?re stuck in the middle of conflicting laws about turtles and people?? asked Julie Hilton, Charlie?s daughter and vice president of Paradise Found Resorts & Hotels. ?There are some conflicting laws for guest safety. People have only begun to realize this. We?ve always been more than willing to work with (conservationists), but it?s very, very frustrating to deal with these conflicting laws.?
Patrick, and others, seek a solution. It starts with a broader ordinance, and cooperation between business and nature.
Said Patrick: ?It can work in Panama City Beach, and it?s our intent for (the ordinance) to cover all of Panama City Beach.?
