Sebastian Daily

Brevard County, in partnership with the cities of Palm Bay and West Melbourne, has opened two Multi-Agency Resource Centers (MARCs) to connect residents impacted by recent flooding with recovery resources and assistance.

These centers are designed as a one-stop option for affected residents to access available aid and guidance from multiple agencies.

If you or someone you know in Brevard County was affected by the flooding, check official county and city channels for locations, hours, and more details.

Several local restaurants are running early-bird, midday, and daily specials Nov. 9-15, with offers on Italian dishes, waterfront seafood, barbecue, and bar food.

Details below ⬇️

Residents and business owners dealing with damage from last week’s heavy rain and flooding can use several local and state tools to document losses and find assistance as recovery continues across the county and surrounding areas.

Sebastian residents can request disaster assistance through United Way and report residential property damage through the county’s online system. Those needing temporary shelter can use the Red Cross online tool to locate open emergency shelters. The county is also directing people to information on disaster grants, loans, and insurance assistance.

Indian River County is asking residents and business owners who sustained damage to file reports through its public portal.

See link below ⬇️

Sebastian lagoon oxygen rebounds above danger line; board keeps caution for wider area 🐠

SEBASTIAN — Dissolved oxygen in the Indian River Lagoon at Sebastian recovered to a healthy level early Sunday, rising well above the danger line after sitting at the threshold the day before, the City of Sebastian Natural Resources Board reported.

The board’s Sebastian Area Lagoon Oxygen & Shellfish Watch, based on a 4 a.m. reading from the primary station (IRL-SB-WQ), measured 7.01 milligrams per liter of dissolved oxygen at 91.89% saturation. That was up from 4.01 mg/L the previous morning. No fish kill was reported. The recovery occurred in the pre-dawn hours, when oxygen is typically lowest.

Salinity remained far below normal at 11.22 practical salinity units, against a typical range of about 25–30 for this stretch of the lagoon. The water was still roughly two-thirds fresh, continuing stress on oysters, clams and seagrass, the report said. Carbon dioxide dropped by more than half from the prior day, indicating the heaviest load of decaying organic matter at Sebastian had eased.

Charles Stadelman, chair of the Natural Resources Board, said the report was updated after its initial release once a third data source was confirmed.

“A short update to this morning’s Sebastian Lagoon Oxygen & Shellfish Watch report, sent a few minutes ago,” Stadelman said. “That report said the northern lagoon had no monitoring coverage today, because every IRLON station north of Sebastian is offline and the ORCA Kilroy portal has gone behind a login. Since it went out, we verified a third data source: the St. Johns River Water Management District’s continuous stations are live and public, and at 4:00 AM today they read healthy oxygen across the north — Eau Gallie 7.1 mg/L (salinity 16.6), south of Cocoa 7.5 mg/L, Titusville 6.8 mg/L, Mosquito Lagoon 6.3 mg/L, Banana River 5.6 mg/L — and the District’s Vero station, just south of Sebastian, read oxygen 5.1 mg/L with salinity a very fresh 8.86. The District has no station at Sebastian itself, so Sebastian’s IRLON station remains the only instrument on Sebastian’s water, and the Kilroy inflow readings are still unavailable.”

Link Port, south of Vero Beach, improved to 4.26 mg/L but stayed close to the 4.0 mg/L danger line, with carbon dioxide readings pointing to a heavy load of decaying matter. Fort Pierce held roughly steady at 4.78 mg/L. Both stations also showed low salinity and elevated stain from land runoff.

The board applied its worst-case rule and kept a CAUTION call for the wider Sebastian area. Northern lagoon stations operated by the St. Johns River Water Management District showed healthy oxygen, though salinity was below normal at several sites. The District maintains no station at Sebastian itself.

ORCA Kilroy stations that track canal inflows have been behind a login screen since Saturday afternoon, so no current inflow readings were available. The last accessible data, from Friday night, showed low oxygen in the water entering the lagoon.

The report, compiled by Stadelman with data from IRLON and SJRWMD stations, is a watch and not a closure notice. Anyone harvesting shellfish should first check official status from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and use extra caution after heavy rain and flooding.

School in Indian River County will resume on Monday.

Senior Resource Association seeks gifts for more than 1,000 local older adults 🎅

SEBASTIAN — The Senior Resource Association is collecting holiday gifts for more than 1,000 older adults in Indian River County through its annual Santa for Seniors drive. Donations are due by Friday, Dec. 11.

The program provides items to seniors who receive services from the association, many of whom live alone or have limited mobility. According to the organization, the gifts are intended to remind recipients they are seen and valued during the holiday season.

Residents can participate in three ways:

• They can purchase items from the wish list and deliver unwrapped gifts to any Senior Resource Association location or to drop-off sites listed at 694 14th St. in Vero Beach, 815 Davis St. in Sebastian, and 4385 43rd Ave. in Vero Beach. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• People and organizations can also host a donation drop box. The association will deliver a box to a home, business, clubhouse, or group. Pick-up must be scheduled no later than Dec. 11.

• Donors may also shop the Amazon wish list. Items purchased there ship directly to the association.

The wish list includes bath towel sets, Corelle dishware, decorative and cozy throw blankets, flatware sets, gift cards from Walmart, Publix or ALDI, handheld cordless vacuums, heated blankets or pads with timers, large-display clocks, memory foam seat cushions, mini refrigerators, microwaves, motion-sensor night lights, personal fans, pet accessories, standard-size pillows, 300-piece puzzles, toiletry sets and white noise machines. Additional suggestions include large-print crosswords, wall calendars, large-print appointment books, page magnifiers, word searches and memory games.

All items must be new and in original packaging. Handmade and perishable gifts are not accepted. Gifts should be unwrapped, though gift bags and tissue paper are welcome.

For more information, contact Robyn Thompson, community outreach manager, at 772-569-0760, ext. 239.

Sebastian lagoon oxygen holds at dawn; salinity crash stresses shellfish, caution south of Vero Beach 🐟

SEBASTIAN — Dissolved oxygen in the Indian River Lagoon at Sebastian stayed above the fish-stress threshold before dawn Friday, but salinity has fallen sharply and the water flowing into the lagoon is both fresher and lower in oxygen, according to the City of Sebastian Natural Resources Board.

The 6 a.m. reading at the IRL-SB-WQ station in Sebastian showed 5.68 milligrams per liter of dissolved oxygen at 72.74% saturation. That is above the board’s 5.0 mg/L watch line and well above the 4.0 mg/L danger line. Oxygen held steady overnight, the report said, so there is no fish-kill risk at Sebastian this morning.

Salinity is the bigger concern at the same station. Salinity measures how much salt is dissolved in the water. Full seawater is about 35 practical salinity units. The Sebastian station dropped to 7.10 PSU from 27.52 PSU on Nov. 2. The lagoon water there is now mostly fresh, a prolonged stress for oysters, clams and seagrass that cannot move away from it.

“Fish are breathing fine at Sebastian today, but salinity has crashed to 7.1 from 27.5 on Monday, which is the real stress on oysters, clams and seagrass,” said Charles Stadelman, chair of the Natural Resources Board. “Just south of Vero Beach at Link Port, oxygen dropped to 3.89 mg/L this morning — below the danger line.”

The Link Port station (IRL-LP-WQ) read 3.89 mg/L at 52.25% saturation at 6 a.m. That is below the danger line and is the lowest oxygen reading among stations reporting Friday morning. Fort Pierce showed healthier oxygen at 5.41 mg/L but higher turbidity.

ORCA Kilroy stations in the Sebastian area, checked late Thursday, showed the quality of the inflow. Sebastian DWP read 2.94 mg/L dissolved oxygen with salinity near zero. The IRF Main Relief Canal read 4.06 mg/L oxygen, 2.87 PSU salinity and 13.4 NTU turbidity. The water entering the lagoon is low in oxygen and essentially fresh.

Turbidity measures how cloudy the water is from suspended particles such as sediment. At the Sebastian lagoon station itself, turbidity was low at 1.88 NTU, so the water looked clear. Farther south and in the canal, readings were much higher — 13.63 NTU at Fort Pierce and 13.4 NTU in the IRF Main Relief Canal — indicating murkier water with more sediment moving through.

Nitrate, a nutrient that can fuel algae growth, was elevated at the Sebastian station at 9.38 micromolar (0.131 milligrams of nitrogen per liter). That is roughly triple the level from Nov. 2 and is described in the report as bloom fuel in the warm water once conditions settle. No algae bloom was showing yet; chlorophyll readings remained low.

The board’s overall call for the wider area is caution: fish are OK at Sebastian today, fish are stressed at Link Port, and shellfish at Sebastian remain under freshwater stress until salinity recovers. The report is a watch, not a harvest closure. Harvesters should check official Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services shellfish area status before taking oysters or clams and use extra caution after flooding, when runoff can also carry bacteria.

Elevated nitrate, high colored dissolved organic matter and warm water temperatures are also being watched as conditions that could favor algae once the system settles.

Several monitoring stations are offline. Every IRLON water-quality station north of Sebastian — Malabar, Banana River and Titusville — returned “No recent observations,” as did Jensen Beach and St. Lucie to the south. Of nine IRL stations, only three were fully reporting Friday morning. Vero Beach was partial. Stadelman said the same report went to Felicia Gordian at the city and to the IRLON team at FAU Harbor Branch.

The board noted that the pre-dawn reading is the one that most clearly shows fish-kill risk and that it will continue those checks. Recovery of salinity is the main item to watch for shellfish and seagrass.

Sebastian City Council approves $2.5 million purchase of Sembler waterfront property

SEBASTIAN — The Sebastian City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve a $2.5 million purchase and sale agreement for the Sembler waterfront property at 1527 and 1528 Indian River Drive, clearing the way for the city to acquire the roughly 1.3-acre parcel and its docks next to Fisherman’s Landing.

The vote authorizes City Manager Brian Benton and the city attorney to close the deal and execute the necessary documents. The Sembler property, long associated with the Sembler family, stretches from U.S. Highway 1 to the Indian River Lagoon and includes a substantial pier and dock structure. It sits immediately adjacent to Fisherman’s Landing, the city’s existing working waterfront.

Council members framed the purchase as a way to lock in commercial fishing and aquaculture uses rather than see the site converted to residential development.

Nicolette Mariano of Treasure Coast Shellfish, the current tenant and operator of the only oyster farm in Indian River County, spoke in favor of the deal during public comment. She told the council the dock access has been essential to her business and that she hopes the city will keep the site as a functioning waterfront instead of allowing it to be redeveloped.

The $2.5 million price exceeds the average of two recent appraisals, which came in at roughly $2.1 million. Under the city charter, that difference required a supermajority. The motion still passed Monday 5-0.

Funding is a mix of previously set-aside money, grant reimbursements, and reserves. Staff identified about $990,000 from proceeds of the old public works compound sale, $250,000 budgeted in the Community Redevelopment Agency as a grant match, and roughly $1.26 million drawn from general fund reserves to cover the full amount at closing.

👉 Reimbursable grants include $1.041 million from the Florida Communities Trust and an additional $250,000. Benton told the council that once the reimbursements arrive, the net impact on general fund reserves is expected to be minimal.

This is the latest chapter in a multi-year effort. Talks date back to at least 2022. In early 2023 the council unanimously rejected a $2.5 million counteroffer after the city had offered $1.2 million.

Earlier this year the council approved a Florida Communities Trust grant agreement that contemplated a lower overall figure, but negotiations with the owners ultimately settled at the $2.5 million now approved.

Council Member Christopher Nunn described the package of grants and other sources as making the deal a “no-brainer” relative to the amount of unrestricted city money ultimately at risk.

Mayor Fred Jones said the goal is to preserve and eventually expand the working waterfront activity already occurring on the river next to Fisherman’s Landing.

Closing is expected to follow once remaining documentation is completed. City staff have indicated the priority after acquisition will be keeping the aquaculture operation in place while exploring public access and other amenities on the site.

Sebastian City Council member Ed Dodd retires after 10 years

SEBASTIAN — Charles “Ed” Dodd sat on the City Council dais for the final time Monday, ending a decade in elected office and more than 20 years of involvement in local government.

Dodd, who did not seek another term, was sworn in as a council member in November 2016. He and his wife, Denise, have lived in Sebastian since 2001. His public service began earlier, when he started volunteering on city boards and committees in 2004.

He chaired the Code Enforcement Board from 2004 to 2006, served on the Planning and Zoning Commission from 2007 to 2016 (including time as chairman), and also sat on the Charter Review Committee.

The city credited him with bringing a business and technology background to the council. One area he focused on was the city’s stormwater system. He pushed for a broader look at vegetation removal in the canal system, including cost estimates and the pros and cons of different methods. After roughly a year of work with staff and community leaders, the effort helped produce Integrated Pest Management Plans for the city’s stormwater and recreational assets.

Those plans set a framework for handling vegetation, maintaining the system, and dealing with issues that can contribute to flooding and environmental problems. The city has shared the approach with other Florida communities.

Dodd also supported sustainability work through the city’s Natural Resources Board and the Sustainable Sebastian effort, which aimed to cut landfill waste and expand recycling. Beyond Sebastian, he served on the Indian River County 2020 Census Committee and held leadership roles with the Treasure Coast Regional League of Cities, including a term as president.

He also served on the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, the Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Treasure Coast Council of Local Governments. Fellow council members selected him as mayor during his tenure. He was recognized as a 2024 Home Rule Hero for work defending local decision-making authority.

A Vietnam veteran, Dodd retired after more than 30 years in business and technology consulting. Before that, he was president and CEO of a health insurance technology firm.

In a statement, the city thanked him for the volunteer work and public service and wished him and Denise well. His seat is being filled by Deborah “Deb” Shellenberger, who won election Tuesday.

Live music fills North Indian River County venues this weekend 🎸

Live music takes over decks, sandbars and small stages across North Indian River County this weekend, with familiar local acts returning to regular spots and a few longer sets lined up from Friday night through Sunday afternoon.

Read details below in comments ⬇️