Illegal signs posted in Stuart warning swimmers of toxic blue-green algae
Along Stuart’s Healthy Trail, city officials found signs that read “Danger,” “Lake O Discharges” and “Swim at your own risk.”
The city said those signs were posted illegally, and Stuart city spokesman Ben Hogarth said they pose a problem for the local government.
“What we saw was not just that signs were being affixed to public property in which case it could be seen as if the city had done this on its own merit, and if the language on there is inaccurate or untrue, that could lead people to believe the city had in fact put those signs up, but also it had covered other signs,” Hogarth said.
Hogarth said the municipality is working on signs to put up, but they need approval from the Department of Health.
“While one day it may be true to say it’s unsafe to go in the water, it may not be true the next day,” Hogarth said.
Stuart resident Jennie Pawlowsky is an avid paddleboarder. She said she knows to avoid the dangerous algae-infested waters, but others might now.
“People that are coming here for vacation are clueless. They don’t even know, so we need to protect people and the only way to do that is to put signage where the boat docks are and the parks are,” Pawlowsky said.
She said she doesn’t know who posted the illegal signs.
“Secretly that person was a little bit of a hero to me to put those signs up because, like I said, we need to warn the community. It’s bad, it’s really bad and it’s going to get worse,” Pawlowsky said.
The city said they hope to have signs up with information about blue-green algae by the end of this week.