JUPITER ISLAND — Although the Town of Jupiter Island is not enforcing a year-old set of regulations for Hobe Sound Beach, which is owned by Martin County, a surfing organization is considering a legal challenge.

Among the rules not currently enforced that the Surfrider Foundation of the Treasure Coasts wants to see rescinded altogether: closing the beach at night.

“Whether they enforce it or not, in our eyes, we just want it removed so it doesn’t become a problem in the future,” said Kevin Murray, of the Treasure Coast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. “It’s important to us to go there with out families. We want to surf at night. The fishermen are going to naturally get involved because they want to fish at night.”

But Chief Ted Gonzales, Jupiter Island’s public safety director, said the town commissioners are happy that increased patrols at the beach have largely put an end to the vandalism and trespassing on nearby properties that prompted the commissioners to pass the beach rules.

As a result, the commissioners plan to keep the rules on hold, and the Jupiter Island Police and Martin County Sheriff’s deputies will continue their “proactive law enforcement” at the beach, Gonzales said.

“Right now, we’re just letting it ride. They’re happy with the outcome,” Gonzales said. “Unless there’s a change in the attitude and the use of the beach by the citizens, there is no reason for us to move forward at this point. It’s something that could be reviewed again in the future if needed.”

The town’s suspended regulations would close the beach and parking lot from a half-hour after sunset until a half-hour before sunrise, although county rules provide the public with 24-hour access to county-owned beaches. The town’s regulations also would ban smoking and drinking, although county rules allow those activities.

The Town Commission passed the regulations on Dec. 11, 2007, but suspended them on Jan. 22, 2008 amid an outcry from surfers, fishermen, real estate professionals, and former County Commissioner Lee Weberman.

Martin County Parks and Recreation Director Richard Blankenship said he has not heard about any problems at Hobe Sound Beach in the past year.

“I think things are working out well,” Blankenship said.

But Murray said the Town Commission should rescind the ordinance.

“They’ve kind of let it go and are not enforcing it, but the ordinance is sitting on the books as law for the Town of Jupiter (Island),” Murray said “We don’t want to leave it sitting. We don’t want a precedent set that we just don’t care what laws or rules are passed on the beach.”

“We’re going to have a meeting in May in Hobe Sound. We’re going to put a vote to it,” Murray said. “If the Surfrider members and others who attend that meeting want to pursue to have that beach closure lifted, then we’ll go ahead and pursue it legally.”

By George Andreassi, TCPalm.com

Tags: beach, commissioners, fishermen, ordinance, police, property, surfers, vandalism

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 7:42 am and is filed under Hobe Sound, Martin County, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.