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South Patrick Residents Association
Supporting Community & Accountability
Supporting Community & Accountability
South Patrick Residents Association (SPRA) is a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit that represents residents in South Patrick Shores. SPRA was first incorporated in 1965 and has been actively involved in community service for over 50 years.
SPRA serves households located within County Commission District 4 in unincorporated Brevard County and works closely with county elected officials, state elected officials, and government agencies, in order to further the best interests of our community. Our all-volunteer association continues to be a powerful and influential voice representing our area’s interests in local government affairs, as well as helping to make needed improvements in our community. We also communicate directly with the homeowner associations located within South Patrick Shores to ensure that there is a solid working relationship and a united voice on issues that impact the entire area.
In addition, a strong membership helps support our united effort to enhance the SPRA area and to further assure that our voices are heard and that we maintain a quality location in which to live, work, and play.
Join us at the SPRA Annual Community Meeting & Elections
Monday, February 10, 2025 at 7:15 PM
David R. Schechter Center, North Entry, 1098 S. Patrick Drive
Monday, February 10, 2025 at 7:15 PM
David R. Schechter Center, North Entry, 1098 S. Patrick Drive
The election of SPRA Board members will be held at the Annual Meeting on February 10, 2025. The Nominating committee on Jan 23 selected all of the current serving board members as qualified to stand for reelection. All have paid their dues and reapplied for their positions. No other applicants were considered suitable by the committee.
- President: Ayn Samuelson
- Vice President: Rick Mariani
- Secretary: Margaret Steciuk
- Treasurer: Lanny Weeks
- Area One: Eric Wenseritt
- Area Two: Margaret Steciuk
- Area Three: Rick Mariani
- Area Four: Kreatha Haston
- Area Five: Patty Dunham
- Area Six: Bob Scheverak
Thank you to all who attended the SPRA Free Family Picnic on Jan 19th.
The “First Annual South Patrick Family Grill Picnic” was a success!
Hot food was served, while the Brevard County Sheriff’s K9 Team informed us about their work and presented an exciting demonstration.
Our Firefighters from Station 62 distributed educational materials and assisted the youth in hands-on firefighting training experience.
We are thankful for the delay in the rain, so that we could enjoy the events and the community coming together.
Thanks to our sponsors:
- Publix for a $100 gift card
- Dunkin Donuts for cartons of tea
- Our volunteers & SPRA Board members
No Motor Vehicles Sidewalk Signs
Brevard County recently installed five, 2-sided signs at selected sidewalk locations stating that No Motor Vehicles are permitted to drive on South Patrick Shores sidewalks.
Golf carts are not lawfully permitted on our local sidewalks, with the intent to ensure safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and others using these sidewalks.
The map below indicates the location of these new signs.
Keep Boat Speeds at Minimum Wake
The wake zones throughout our canals is slow speed minimum wake zone, as written in the county ordinances. Boats have been speeding, which impacts animals and property. FWC Officer Tim Hedgepeth was asked to monitor the northern portion of Grand Canal near the dredge and cut/channel. He should be able to determine the best place to monitor for boating speeds and to inform boaters that there is a minimum wake in the channel and the canals. FWC can be reached at 352-732-1225 to report boat speeds that can endanger animals, people, and property along the canals.
The Grand Canal Dredging Project
The DMMA site at the Pineda will continue to be used for the current north Grand Canal project. The end of the 2024 dredging season will be on November 30, 2024 to coincide with the manatee activity in the lagoon.
Recently, the County Commission voted to wait until after the new commission is seated this November prior to placing a follow-up one-half cent sales tax on the ballot to fund the Save Our Indian River Lagoon (SOIRL) projects. The current one-half cent sales tax that extends through 2026 was voted on by the public and approved in 2016. The next installment of a one-half cent sales tax would have to be placed before the voters to approve for 2026 through 2036. In addition, Brevard County has been granted both state and federal funds for the SOIRL projects.
FUDS Disposal Area in South Patrick Shores (May 2024)
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has posted the final Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study Uniform Federal Policy–Quality Assurance Project Plan (“work plan”), final Geophysical Investigation Report, and Restoration Advisory Board Reassessment Memorandum for Record (February 2024) to the project website.
Upon completion of a contract modification with the investigation contractor, USACE will initiate the next phase of the investigation which will involve exploratory test pits in select locations. We will begin coordinating with property owners for the next work phase in May 2024.
For more information, call 800.710.5184, email FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil, or visit the project website (www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver).
Formerly Used Defense Sites Program
Jacksonville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
800.710.5184
FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil
South Patrick Drive (S.R. 513) Road Improvements
Financial Project Identification (FPID) Number: 448792-1
Financial Project Identification (FPID) Number: 448792-1
https://www.cflroads.com/project/448792-1
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is proposing improvements on South Patrick Drive (StateRoad (S.R.) 513) from Eau Gallie Boulevard (S.R. 518) to Patrick Space Force Base for a distance of 5.253 miles. The purpose of the project is to extend the life of the existing roadway by resurfacing the pavement. To enhance safety and mobility, FDOT also plans to narrow certain travel lanes to accommodate bicycle lanes, as well as reconstruct and upgrade curbs and pedestrian curb ramps to comply with current Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.
Project Contact Information: Samuel Jumber, P.E., FDOT Project Manager 1-386-943-5244 Samuel.Jumber@dot.state.fl.us
Satellite Beach-Imposed Fees at Hightower/Pelican Parks Won't Come at Cost for County Residents
BREVARD COUNTY, FL. – Brevard County residents are eligible for free parking and beach access at Hightower Beach Park and Pelican Beach Park even as the City of Satellite Beach implements a Beach Parking Fee Program for out-of-town visitors to its beachside parks.
Annual Parking Permits are available online effective today (Friday, Sept. 1.) Permit applications require a minimum of 72 hours to be processed. The hourly and daily parking rates will be implemented on Friday, Sept, 15.
Both Hightower Beach Park and Pelican Beach Park are former county-owned properties, which were deeded to the City of Satellite Beach in 2013. Parking at these locations will remain free for all Brevard County residents with proper passes, which can be obtained at the City of Satellite Beach parking website. Passes will be required for other Satellite Beach beachside parking areas.
Satellite Beach is implementing these daily parking rates (effective Sept. 15):
- Brevard County residents are eligible to obtain a free annual pass that will allow parking at Hightower Beach East Parking Lot and Pelican Beach Park without being required to pay the daily parking rates.
- For anyone residing outside of Satellite Beach city limits, the annual pass rate is $75 for access to ALL of the beach parking areas within the City of Satellite Beach, or $2.50 per hour with a maximum of $10 per day. A mobile phone convenience fee of $0.35 will be added to each mobile phone payment.
- Brevard County residents wishing to visit any other beachside park within Satellite Beach will need to purchase an annual pass at the rate of $75, or pay $2.50 per hour with a maximum of $10 per day.
- City of Satellite Beach residents are eligible to obtain a free annual pass that will allow parking at all beach accesses and parking areas without being required to pay the daily parking rates.
All rate customers can pay either through an App, by phone, or through kiosks that will be provided at Pelican, Hightower, and Shell Street in Satellite Beach.
For questions on the Beach Parking Fee Program or how to obtain a beach parking pass, please call (321) 425-2522. Annual Parking Permits may be applied for any time of the year. (Public notice sent by Brevard County)
Tree Planting Community Project
The Tree Planting Community Project for Earth Day was held on April 8th, 2023 at 9:00 AM at the South Patrick Community Park, with many willing volunteers in attendance who prepared the soil and planted the trees. In addition, three residents stepped up to water the new plantings over the next several months. This project was funded by SPRA for the benefit of the South Patrick Shores community.
Conserving Hightower Beach Park – Our Oceanfront Legacy
Grant Award Agreements between FDEP, the City of Satellite Beach, and Brevard County for the Hightower Beach Park 18.5 acre site, set “restricted use” precedents. Obligations and responsibilities for activities and improvements on the oceanfront Park must be in accordance with use “restricted to public open space, limited recreation, and conservation use in perpetuity”. The following document was sent to the County Commissioners, County Manager, County Attorney, other relevant County staff, Florida Legislators, FDEP, FWC, and SJRWMD.It is critical to hold all parties, Brevard County, the City of Satellite Beach, and FDEP, accountable for their ongoing contractual obligations, and to ensure that the highest and best public interest is achieved with regard to Hightower Beach Park.
You are partners, who have obligated yourselves to purposeful, conservation efforts at Hightower, as well as to specified uses. These intended uses set the precedent for conservation and passive, public recreational uses enumerated in the two (2) page attachment citing these various contractual agreements by and between the three parties. They are the guiding documents that all signatories are obligated to follow in order to expedite the intended uses and to best serve the public interest and trust.
It is also important to view and understand that the totality of the oceanside beach park we know as Hightower Beach Park is crafted from several parcels, all of which adjoin each other with the expressed purpose of creating a unique, oceanfront park. This was intended to create a gestalt, where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parcels. Thus, if development impinges on any portion of the Park, it impacts these contiguous properties as well.
Clearly, intended uses do not include an aerial walkway over SR A1A, with an estimated 440 square foot foundation on the east side of SR A1A and east of the sidewalk at Hightower. This would negatively impact Hightower Beach Park, in order to meet the developer’s demands and desires, as well as benefit the developer, not Hightower Beach Park conservation efforts, nor the public. It has been suggested that such a structure would provide safety for the general public, but instead, it would provide a walkway specifically designed for hotel customers. SR A1A already has a reduced speed limit at 35 MPH, as well as superior crosswalks in place for safety. Constructing this looming, aerial structure and foundation footprint would work in direct opposition to the intent of the existing contractural agreements and the public trust.
In addition to the legitimate concerns expressed above, impacts from lighting on nesting turtles (FWC oversight) and amplified, stormwater impacts (SJRWMD oversight) can negatively impact the park area, if this concrete behemoth is constructed on the east side of SR A1A.
The Park is for the use of all Florida residents and tourists alike, where no discrimination should be made with regard to use, access, or fees, irrespective of jurisdictional boundaries.
Now, our residents look forward, with promise, for all parties to assume their appropriate responsibilities to follow, enforce, and preserve the expressed intent of these agreements and the pledges made, in order not to diminish the value of Hightower Beach Park and to provide a natural legacy for the future.
Ayn Marie Samuelson MS, MPA, president SPRA
A 501 (c)(4) Supporting Community & Accountability
- Disposal Area Notification to Owners – US Army Corps of Engineers
- Brevard County Government's quarterly newsletter: Brevard Delivers