PANAMA CITY — Tyndall Air Force Base officials have assured county leaders fishermen and recreational boaters need not worry about being randomly shut out of area waters in and around the base, Commissioner Guy Tunnell said Tuesday.
The base has put forth a proposal that would only shut out recreational boaters or fishermen on waters near and around the base in the event of a serious security threat, and that would happen only in designated zones, Tunnell said during a Bay County Commission meeting.
The zones would be off limits to boaters for 48-hour periods that would have to be renewed by the base based on a security review.
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Tunnell, who serves as the liaison between the commission and the base, recently met with Tyndall’s Col. Derek France to discuss concerns raised by citizens, who said Tyndall police have overstepped their authority.
The Friends of Shell Island, a group formed in 2013 in opposition to Tyndall Air Force Base’s waterway security plan, heard from members of the boating public of at least four incidents in which base security forces operated in off-base waters, patrolling waters near Shell Island and detaining a civilian even before the controversial security plan the base is developing is in place, according to the group.
The proposal under review would give Tyndall the authority to restrict access to several popular bayous, as well as anywhere within 500 feet of the shoreline along the base.
Tunnell said the base commander informed him the base is waiting on information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine the designated security zones. He said the commander assured him the zones would close only if there were a real security threat.
“In other words, [they would] not close the entire coastline to include the islands,” he said.
Tunnell said he left the meeting with the impression from the base commander that he sincerely didn’t want to impede recreational boaters from enjoying the waters.
“I didn’t get the impression that he really wanted to effect any base closure unless there was, indeed, a bona fide threat,” Tunnell said.
Tunnell said Tyndall plans to meet with the media to outline its proposal and base officials will return to discuss the issue with the County Commission.
Commissioner George Gainer said it is important the county have a local Tyndall official with whom they can communicate.
“We really need a two-, three-, five-year plan where it is reviewed with the base commander or local people,” he said. “Because I’m telling you, when you have to talk to [officials in] Washington, and you are in Panama City, Florida, they just put you on hold and hope you go away.”
Stephanie Somerset, who leads Friends of Shell Island, said the group still has concerns about Tyndall’s proposed security plan, particularly the large swath of waters Tyndall could control.
She said MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa has a security plan that is kind of a model for patrolling waters, and in that plan, MacDill only controls 2,600 acres of waterway, whereas the plan put forth by Tyndall has it controlling 20,000 acres.
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“No other Air Force base has done this,” she said. “They want to regulate 20,000 acres of our waterways, but not close them off — only close them off if they deem that there is a security issue. However, the way they’ve written the regulation, the base commander can deem the security issue at any time he wants, and he can restrict any of the 20,000 acres that he wants.”
In other action Tuesday, the board: Approved a recommendation by State Attorney Glenn Hess to appoint Miami pathologist Dr. Jay Radtke on an interim basis as the new medical examiner until the governor appoints a permanent medical examiner. Dr. Michael Hunter, who has been the 14th Judicial Circuit’s medical examiner, accepted a job as medical examiner in San Francisco. The 14th Circuit position will be vacant March 21.
- Declined to second a motion by Gainer to force the developers of the Barefoot Palm property to buy back 8 acres they sold to the county in 2010. The county spent $2.9 million for the property adjacent to Naval Support Activity Panama City that was being developed as a townhouse community but was struggling. County officials said they did so because Navy officials wanted the property for a security buffer and for possible base-related development, but they didn’t have the funds budgeted yet. The state has offered a contract to Bay County to buy the property for $1.3 million. Under contract with Barefoot Palms, the county could force the developers to buy the land back for the full purchase price by November. Other commissioners said before they asked the developer to buy the land back they wanted to wait and see what other funds the state might offer.