Zip Line Proposed For Sand Key Park

Investor Dev Pathik, founder and CEO of Sports Facility Advisory and Clearwater Canopy Tours, wants to build a zip line trail though Sand Key Park. Pathik currently operates zip line tours in Hawaii and now wants to also offer them closer to his Clearwater headquarters. The Hawaii zip line facility is so popular, tours must be booked 5 weeks in advance. The trail would attract worldwide tourists and add tens of thousands of hotel room bookings, according to his proposal.

Zip lines are seats suspended by cables that are attached to very tall towers. The proposed trail would have four or five zip lines and three or four footbridges suspended on telephone poles 35 to 40 feet high. The highest structure would be an entry tower which Pathik hopes to build on a “spoil mound” near the Sheraton Sand Key, with a combined height of 75 feet for the tower and the mound.

While he Pinellas County Parks Advisory Board likes the idea of tree-top level environmental tours of Sand Key Park, Sand Key residents and Clearwater City Council have questions and concerns. Pathik made a presentation Monday to the Clearwater City Council on Monday. It's unknown at this point if the county can move forward with the project without the council's approval. The project might require city building permits and height variances for the towers. The Sand Key Civic Association is meeting with condo associations and planning a town hall meeting on April 4 at the Sand Key Sailing Center.

Sand Key Jetty Will Get Warning Lights

City Council has decided to put navigational warning lights on the Clearwater Pass jetty, by installing a series of yellow flashing lights on the jetty to warn boaters to steer clear.

The rock jetty was built in 1975 to prevent beach erosion and extends hundreds of feet into the gulf from Sand Key Park and stands about 7 feet above the water. Boaters are supposed to stay in the marked channel north of the jetty, which has its lights but the jetty has been the scene of several boat crashes. The channel between Sand Key and Clearwater Beach is narrow and heavily traveled. Despite being well lit inexperience, bad weather, or carelessness can cause boaters to strike the jetty in the dark.

Another boating hazard will also be removed. There is an 85,000-pound block of concrete submerged in Clearwater Harbor off the Seminole Boat Ramp, the remains of the base of a turnstile that was in the middle of the Seminole Bridge, built in 1917. Concrete can still be seen at very low tides and has been struck several times by vessels.

Governor Charlie Crist recently asked the U.S. Coast Guard to install lights on the Bayboro jetty in St Petersburg after a fatal accident on October 2nd where a boat struck the jetty.

Celebrate Flag Day at Sand Key Park

The Flag Day event is being sponsored by the Clearwater Veterans Alliance. Everyone is invited to kickoff summer at the celebration and show their support for our veterans. Flag Day festivities begin at 1 pm.

Sand Key PepperFest Results

The results of the June 2nd PepperFest that was held at the Sand Key park are in and the winners are:

Salsa Contest

1st place - Barbara Borgan "Roasted corn and mango salsa"

2nd place - Denise Dixon "Mango"

3rd place - Susan Schlop "Salsalicious"

People's Choice - Bennie Alpin "Captain Brugal's Mango Salsa"

Hot Sauce Contest 1st place - Don Legallee "D's Heet"

2nd place - Team Paradise Spice "Ancho Mango Pineapple Sauce"

3rd place - Unknown unknown

People's Choice - Harry Friedman "Harry's Hot Stuff"

Grill-Off Show-Down

1st place- Team Paradise Spice People's Choice - Legends