Big news has been handed down from the Boca Grande Cellphone Tower Committee and tower building company Vertical Bridge. They announced that it is possible we will have a fully operational cellphone tower – a permanent one – by the end of August.

According to Steve Gosnell, vice president of development with Vertical Bridge, they have received word that our tower would be fabricated and ready for delivery by the end of June. Sometime around the 4th of July it would be delivered if the schedule holds true.

It was easy to see that the Boca Grande Historic Preservation Board didn’t want to make the decision they felt they had to make on Wednesday, May 10 at their monthly meeting. The proposal was from the Boca Grande Health Clinic to demolish the old Annex building and to build a new building approximately four times the size of the old one – weighing in at 13,299 square feet. After a series of pointed questions directed to several Clinic representatives, though, they had to deny the Certificate of Appropriateness based on two criteria within the Boca Grande Historic District Design Guidelines, specifically addressing the mass and scale of the proposed building and its height.

The reasons given officially to the county were submitted as, “Although the Board did not object to the form or materials proposed for the proposed office, it found that the height of the structure is too large for the immediate block of surrounding residences. The proposal is therefore not consistent with Guideline 4.1. The Board finds that the proposed structure exceeds both the mass and scale of the block and therefore is not consistent with Guideline 4.3.”

On Wednesday, May 11 Gov. Ron DeSantis had a bill on his desk that could affect Gasparilla Island in a big way. House Bill 949 is all about golf cart use and the requirements needed to operate one. As of Wednesday morning DeSantis issued a statement saying he was favorably inclined toward signing it.

The bill would require a golf cart driver to be 16 with a learners permit or drivers license or 18 and up. Drivers of all ages would be required to have a government-issued ID of some sort.

The next time you see our local firefighters out selling their shirts or cooking up barbecue, remember why it is they do what they do. The answer is simple – they do what they do to help their friends and the community in times of need.

The Boca Grande Firefighter’s Association, Inc. is a non-profit organization created in 2009 to help firefighters and their families in times of strife. Even before that, though, our local firefighters were finding ways to give back to the community. Each year they would pool together what money they could between them, then give it to an island family who needed a little extra help for Christmas.