Fewer to testify in protest of bay speed zones

Foes of stricter speed zones on Naples Bay plan to trim their list of witnesses when a hearing on a legal challenge to the go-slow zones resumes next week.

Administrative Law Judge P. Michael Ruff is set to gavel the hearing back to order at 10 a.m. today in a second-floor conference room at Naples City Hall. The hearing is scheduled to last all week but could end sooner.

The resumption of the hearing comes after three days of testimony in February and a scrap between the two sides over how many days to set aside for the rest of the case.

Charter boat captain Eric Alexander, one of the challengers to the speed zones, said last week that opponents do not plan to follow through on their original intent to call more than 90 witnesses to refute the need for the speed zones.

"We don't really need very many," Alexander said. "The city hasn't put on much of a case. I don't think we're going to go there."

Within days of the end of the February hearing, charter boat captain Allen Walburn, another speed zone challenger, wrote an e-mail referring to the 90 witnesses as a reason to set aside five days for the conclusion of the hearing.

That drew a request from Conservancy of Southwest Florida attorney Ralf Brookes that Ruff limit the witnesses' testimony time or establish a public comment period to give each speaker three to five minutes for witnesses to enter their comments for the record.

Brookes wrote that 90 witnesses seemed "unreasonable and repetitive" and would extend the hearing for 30 to 45 days, unduly delaying enforcement of the speed zones.

The request to Ruff drew fire from Walburn, who said opponents should be allowed to present their witnesses just as proponents have done.

The case pits the city, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and the Citizens to Preserve Naples Bay against Collier County, the Marine Industries Association of Collier County and a group of charter boat captains and boaters.

The challenge takes on the Conservation Commission's notice of intent to issue a permit for signs to mark new speed zones the Naples City Council approved in 2004 after months of controversy.

At issue is whether the city has proven a need for the speed zones and whether the state agency has the power to second-guess the City Council's determination.

Supporters say the slower speed zones are needed to protect manatees and human safety, but opponents contend the speed zones are political payback to waterfront property owners.

The new speed zones would require that boaters slow to fully off plane on weekends and holidays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. along a stretch of Port Royal where boats now can travel 30 mph.

Heading south from there, boats that now have to be fully off plane on weekends and holidays would have to do so every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.