South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 121

NewsSun-Sentinel, Wednesday, October 21. 1987 3 ST- ii Stafl pholoRICH MAHAN Among obstacles boaters face on North New River Canal are an elevated gas pipeline no longer in use and a bridge too low to allow some boats to pass under. Boaters seek higher bridges for smooth sailing DENNIS DeROLF, BOAT OWNER: "After a heavy rain or when the drainage district opens the Holloway Canal, you can't get underneath the bridge. I see a lot of the boats that get up to the bridges and have to turn around." application." Peoples Gas Systems has a small silver pipe that arches 7feet over the canal. It used to serve businesses near State Roads 84 and 7, and may supply gas to new customers once road construction is finished, said company spokesman Scott Wilson.

The north piling supporting the pipe is tilting precariously, but Wilson said the pipe is secure. He refused to comment on the company's plans until a formal response is made to the yacht club's request to raise the pipe. So, boaters will have to keep ducking their heads for a while longer when they travel the North New River Canal. Despite the hazards to big boats and tall passengers, said club member Phil Cass, traveling on the canals in western Broward are a fascinating weekend adventure. The battle over bridges continues, as boaters try to make recreation a little easier to enjoy.

"You see something new every time you go out," Cass said. "We've got alligators and manatees out here. Mostly we just cruise down to places like SeaFair, Tugboat Annie's or Whiskey Creek. We'll meet near the Sewell Lock and then caravan down there." Cover photo by Rich Mahaa overcome. "With a 12-foot bridge, you could accommodate a 30- or 35-foot boat, depending on the height or design," DeRolf said.

"The existing State Road 7 bridges are 7 feet above mean high-water level. After a heavy rain or when the drainage district opens the Holloway Canal, you can't get underneath the bridge. I see a lot of the boats that get up to the bridges and have to turn around." Plantation Isles is not just a spot for weekend water sports, DeRolf said. It's a quiet neighborhood where kids can walk to elementary, middle and high schools. The yacht club includes landlocked activities such as planting trees along canal banks.

But an armada of about 300 area boaters has fought for years against the governmental agencies that monitor bridges and their construction. "We don't want to wait another year and a half for 1-595 because we've already waited 10 years," DeRolf said. "Right now we're just waiting to see what happens. Just when you think you've got everything under control, something else comes up." That "something else" is a triangular piece of land about a mile from the Isla Del Sol bridge. Lime-rock is to be extracted from that dredge site and used as fill for one By DAVID WALLACE Staff Writer PLANTATION While other sailors hope for calm seas, Dennis DeRolf has been making waves to ensure clear sailing on the North New River Canal.

Just as Captain Ahab had his Moby Dick, DeRolf's nemesis has been bridges, especially those less than 12 feet above the water. He has worked for years to persuade government officials to raise bridges over the canal to a uniform height providing at least 12 feet clearance above the water. DeRolf, commodore of the South Plantation Yacht Club, said residents in his area have endured for too long the problems of having boats too large to pass beneath the low bridges when the water rises after heavy rains. Other people want to buy larger boats, but cannot because the bridges are too low. Plans are moving ahead to raise the Isla Del Sol bridge at Southwest 59th Avenue and the Outlet Canal to 12 feet above water level.

Two bridges that carry State Road 7 over the canal will be raised to 12.6 feet over the water. But a temporary construction bridge planned for the Interstate 595 project and a gas pipe belonging to Peoples Gas Systems Inc. are among the 7-foot-high obstacles DeRolf still must south side of the canal would require 26,700 truck trips along a 3-mile route through a residential area. Other options being explored are a pipeline that could transport the fill either beneath the canal, or over it with a 12-foot said Brodie Rich of the Coast Guard. Any structure built beneath the canal must be approved by the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers. The Coast Guard and the state must approve anything built above the water. "Our perspective is to make sure that any bridge meets the needs of navigation," Rich said. "But if the developer chooses to go with the pipeline, it would have to come in for review and another chance for public comment, since that application is different from the bridge phase of 1-595 construction. The pit is on the north side of the North New River Canal and requires that a temporary bridge be built to get the fill across to the south-side work site near Florida's Turnpike, said Mike Sherman, an 1-595 project spokesman.

Sherman said the temporary bridge would be in place until the project's expected completion in fall 1989. It was designed with 7 feet of clearance over the water. "The percentage of incline and decline for those heavily laden trucks has to be examined," Sherman said. "There is so little room on the canal's south side there isn't room for a long transition without interfering with State Road 84," making it difficult for the trucks to climb. Sherman said that if the bridge- is not built, the fill needed on the.