There's a controversy brewing over the Weeki Wachee River. A man has opened a food truck of sorts on the water, right out of his boat.
- Curtis Waters saw a need on the river for a "snack boat"
- Waters got positive feedback until about a month ago
- Nearby residents worry about vendors on river increasing traffic
Is it legal? No one seems to know.
Curtis Waters said he decided to start this snack boat after noticing a need on the river.
"I was out on the river one day and there was nowhere to get any water or anything, so I decided to call and see who I could find out from to get the permits to do this," Waters explained.
He obtained the permits, similar to the ones mobile food units have to get, and started bringing the boat and trash cans on the water. He said he received positive feedback until a few months ago.
"I'll see a thousand people a day easily and it's all thumbs up," Waters said. "I haven't had any negativity until just a couple of people complained that live on the back canals there."
People who live on and near the river here say there's already a lot of traffic with kayakers and boaters, and they worry that having vendors on the water will make it even more congested.
"It encourages people to stop," resident Paul Vermeulen said. "The more people that are on the river, the more sand erosion you're going to have."
Vermeulen said when people pull up onto the sand bar where waters is - it just dumps more sand into the water.
"With this being a state owned river, if they allow businesses like this to be on the Weeki Wachee River it's going to open up to the state as far as being on other state rivers," Vermeulen explained.
Waters doesn't think his boat's causing any problem, and for now plans to keep selling his snacks.
The big question here is whether Waters needs extra paperwork to be on the water, and who gets to decide that: the county or the state. Commissioners said most likely the decision would fall to the Department of Environmental Protection.