A luxury home in the Hillsboro Inlet could get a new 87-foot dock. Why the plan is drawing pushback.

An inventor-entrepreneur wants to improve upon a beachfront home with stunning views of the Hillsboro Inlet by adding one more amenity to the multimillion-dollar property: a new 87-foot dock.

But the Hillsboro Inlet District, the public taxing authority that has operated in the area for more than 60 years, is presenting a dire warning of the potential, unintended result: The district argues accommodating the dock could set off a chain of events including accelerating erosion of the beach and jeopardizing the integrity of a jetty.

The proposal has put one competing interest against another: the applicant’s effort to add to the property against the district’s efforts to maintain the inlet the way it always has, including its process for dredging and beach renourishment.

“It will radically change the inlet as we’ve known it for all these years,” said Denise Bryan, the chair of the Hillsboro Inlet District.

Leathem Stearn, the applicant behind the dock proposal, said the project has been in the works for about three years. He told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he’s going to ensure the plans will work toward everyone’s benefit, making the area better.

“I’m open to anything that will make the job better,” he said.

A destination for boaters

The Hillsboro Inlet, connected with the Intracoastal Waterway, has long been an attraction for boaters and beachgoers alike, drawing people in with its glittering views of the water and a historic landmark, the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse.

Stearn, who has worked in a variety of industries including real estate, tech and fashion, called the inlet one of South Florida’s “special jewels” and a “boater’s paradise,” expressing a desire to preserve it for himself and all those who use it. He has owned other properties in Florida, he said.

In 2020, the Pompano Beach home near where the dock would extend from was bought for $5.7 million, Broward property records show. The owner is listed as Hillsboro Point LLC, whose registered agent is Stearn, state records show. The five-bedroom residence is “a pristine example of luxury Florida waterfront homes,” according to a listing on Zillow, the real estate marketplace website, posted earlier this year.

Stearn said he is focused on obtaining his permit for the dock, which would serve as an extension of his current seawall. According to the permit application, the aim is to build an 87-foot dock bordering the property.

He has not decided what he’ll put at the dock yet, he said, mainly because he said he is not certain when this process will be completed. But he hopes to use it for “standard pleasure boating,” he said.

The permit application states the project’s design “has been developed to reduce or eliminate adverse impacts” from other people beaching their boats onto or dragging anchors near the property.

Raising concerns

The inlet’s district is concerned a new dock could change the nature of the inlet as it is now. The district wants to amend the proposal, citing concerns about how a dock of that size and in that location would make it difficult to dredge the inlet as well as maintain navigation and proper drainage.

David Tolces, the general counsel for the Hillsboro Inlet District, wrote this summer to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the agency processing the dock application, to describe why the district opposes the plan. He argued the location of the proposed dock and subsequent seawall — which would stabilize the shoreline, according to the permit application — could interfere with the inlet district’s operations.

The project, as proposed, “will have an adverse effect on the public health, safety, and welfare or the property of others by impairing navigation and drainage through the Inlet,” Tolces wrote. “Should the District be unable to continue its dredging and sand-bypass activities, the Inlet will become overloaded with sand. This will render it less navigable.”

“Any commercial boaters, recreational boaters, and other maritime related businesses will not be able to use the Inlet. The increase of sand in the Inlet will cause flooding issues for upland properties, loss of jobs, loss of income, and reduced taxes due to the lack of access through the Inlet.”

The district has a PVC pipe running from the interior of the inlet over the sand and onto the public beach, said Bryan, the district’s chair.

The pumping of sand helps renourish the southward beaches, preventing erosion and making it possible for daily commercial and recreational boaters to freely use the inlet, Tolces said.

Beyond beach maintenance, the Hillsboro Inlet also acts as a drainage outlet for stormwater flowing from land in northern Broward County, Tolces said, and the district believes this function could be in jeopardy if the dock, as proposed, forges ahead.

Tolces argued approval of the dock project, as is, would result in extra costs because the district would have to find “more expensive alternatives to bypass sand to the south.”

This would also mean spending more money for “equipment, manpower, consultants and oversight,” Tolces wrote, which could possibly create a spike in the tax rate, meaning higher costs for the Hillsboro Inlet taxpayers.

Stearn said his intention has never been to disrupt any district operations, and what he is proposing should not limit the current activities the district conducts to maintain the inlet.

“I want to make the area better, not worse, for everyone’s sake,” he said. “Any issues we could deal with quite efficiently.”

Stearn said what he has proposed should not add to the district’s costs.

“If it does, we’ll find a way to accommodate it,” he said.

Moving forward

The application is currently under review with the Department of Environmental Protection, and the department has issued requests for more information, with one in June and another in September, said Jon Moore, the department’s communications and external affairs manager.

The department is working with the applicant to “ensure the proposed structure will not impede navigation or impact state-owned lands,” Moore wrote in an email.

“With projects of this scale and scope, it is not uncommon for there to be multiple requests for additional information in order for the department to have all the information it needs to evaluate alternatives for the proposed projects, avoidance and minimization requirements, and wildlife, water quality and resource protections,” Moore wrote.

Once the department receives all extra requested information, it will request comment on the proposal from other agencies, such as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Historical Resources/State Historic Preservation Office. DEP is still in the initial stages of its review, so the details may change.

“All permit applications are carefully evaluated under Florida law to ensure that all aspects of the construction and operation comply with rules and regulations, minimize environmental impacts and are protective of human health and safety,” Moore wrote. “The project cannot proceed without all required authorizations.”

The district and the Department of Environmental Protection are working to come up with a way for everyone to walk away satisfied.

“At the end of the day, the district is attempting to work with the property owner to come up with a solution because the district needs to come up with a solution,” Tolces said. “Hopefully, the state of Florida can help the district and the property owner come up with a solution.”