ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — People who trample on dunes in St. Pete Beach could soon face a fine as the city looks to get serious about enforcement at the urging of Commissioner Joe Moholland.
“We need to start conditioning people to stay off the dunes,” he said. “We need to realize how really important they are.”
Moholland voiced his concerns about the lack of enforcement at the Dec. 3 city commission meeting and urged staff to create a new ordinance with teeth.
“Walking on our dunes is prohibited in our land development code,” he said. “We would need the city attorney to create a linkage between that land development code and our code enforcement fines.”
Moholland said the fine should be somewhere between $50 to $500 and he wants a ‘no warning’ policy.
The district 4 commissioner pointed out the city got new dunes between 1st and 8th Avenues after a $5.8 million beach renourishment project was completed last month in Pass-a-Grille by Pinellas County public works. Moholland said the “naked” dunes need time to have vegetation take root, once the plantings have been completed next year, which could be undermined by beach visitors.
“The plantings will never make it if people are running their dogs or going up there for photo ops,” he said. “So I just felt that it was negligent not to seriously protect these naked dunes.”
Mature dunes are located north of 10th Avenue and the value they provide was made clear to Moholland after Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck within two weeks this fall.
“They held and they protected the community. There was certainly still plenty of water damage,” he said. “They have a strong root system… and you can tell that they withstood the wave action.”
At the commission meeting, Moholland asked for a pole and rope fence to be installed to protect the dunes, which the city completed this week.
“This is the first time that I've been down here during the day that I have not seen people up on the dunes taking pictures, running their dogs on them or whatever,” he said. “So I'm hoping the rope fence is helping with that.”
Mullholland said he still wants a ticket and fine ordinance put in place for the 10 percent who ignore the rules. The other commissioners agreed there should be stronger protection for the dunes but want to see signs put up before enforcement begins.
“So 100 percent think that we should protect it,” said commissioner Betty Rzewnicki. “Especially because these dunes or vegetation is fairly new.”
St. Pete Beach spokesman Marc Portugal said Pinellas County has provided temporary “keep off the dunes” signage which will be placed from 15th Avenue south to 1st Avenue.
“Once the beach ordinance is officially approved, we will post permanent signage stating the specific code and violation,” he stated. “We don't have a target date for the next beach ordinance reading and approval as of yet.”
The city’s current enforcement calls for city staff to engage the public on a case-by-case basis and educate them about the importance of staying off the dunes.