Nighttime beach driving gets out of control at Nassau County's Peters Point

By Susan Hardee Steger

May 15, 2018, 11:00 a.m.

Nassau County Commissioner Danny Leeper

During yesterday's Nassau County's Board of County Commissioners' meeting, Commissioner Danny Leeper said he is receiving complaints from homeowners about problems related to nighttime beach driving in Nassau County's Peters Point area. According to Leeper, the concerns involve "recklessness of people driving, destruction of property, the loud music, and the use of alcohol."

Leeper placed the item on the agenda for discussion in hopes staff could work with the Sheriff's Office to bring forth a resolution with solutions to prevent night beach driving from getting too far out of control. "We probably created some of the issues when we closed the parking lot at Peter's Point since you can no longer park at Peter's Point, they drive onto the beach."

Leeper said one of the solutions being "floated around" was to limit beach driving during turtle nesting season which runs from May to November. The thought being the county is not taking away beach driving but limiting it. "I don't know if that is doable."

Pat Edwards expressed, "great concern about limiting the public until we've tried everything. . . . . Obviously we want to prevent damage to property and have everyone enjoy the beach. . . . We should err on the side of taxpayers as much as possible. . . . . We approved added sheriff's coverage. . . . Let's give it time to work."

Leeper ended his remarks by saying, "I have no desire to close beach driving in the daytime.  I do have concerns of night time driving."