Cyclists angry as sand remains piled up on path

HOLLYWOOD — A beachside pathway popular with cyclists has become a treacherous sand trap even for pedestrians, critics say.

The path is a public right of way maintained by a nearby condo, but it’s been a sandy mess ever since Hurricane Irma blew through town in September 2017, Hollywood officials say.

That doesn’t sit well with Howard Sirota, a retired attorney who lives a few blocks from the Renaissance on the Ocean condo, whose twin towers sit at the north end of Hollywood beach, right near the Dania Beach border.

Before the sand pileup, Sirota would use the path to walk or ride his bike to the Dania pier. Now he avoids the walkway altogether and takes A1A instead.

“I’m 70 now and I’m nervous about walking on it,” he said. “I’m not interested in falling. They’ve cut off public access. That’s what the condo wants — and the public be damned.”

Mayor Josh Levy and other city leaders met with condo officials in mid-October, but so far nothing’s been done to pave a smoother path.

“If you’re going fast and you hit the sand, you could fall,” Levy said.

The deepest sand has accumulated on the northern edge of the path that leads to Dania’s beach parking lot. One recent day, a cyclist powered his way up the slope. Minutes later, another man on a bike stopped to

walk his way across.

But the way the condo board sees it, that little pit of sand helps deter speeding cyclists.

“A little extra sand slows down the bicyclists, and that’s not a bad thing,” said Ruth Acker, president of the condo association. “If someone wants to speed, let them use A1A.”

The condo association is required to maintain the walkway with crushed shell rock so cyclists can use it along with pedestrians — a condition agreed to by the developer 20 years ago in order to win approval to build the 17-story towers at 6051 North Ocean Drive.

“Circumstances have changed,” Acker said. “We now have a dedicated bike lane on A1A that did not exist at the time the path was created. Anyone who wants to ride quickly can take A1A.”

Hollywood retiree Al Cavale is so fed up, he’s contacted the mayor’s office eight times.

“I do a morning ride at 5 a.m. and it’s pitch black,” he said. “It’s too dangerous to go through there, so I take A1A. The bottom line is the path should be maintained. If your grass is too high, code enforcement will write you up in a minute. Why are they immune?”

Hollywood officials began contacting the condo over the summer after getting complaints from residents.

But keeping the walkway clear of sand is a constant battle, Acker said.

The condo hired a contractor to remove piles of sand in the wake of Hurricane Irma, she said, but the sand has since come back to a couple spots.

This isn’t the first time Hollywood has had to remind the condo about making the path suitable for cyclists.

Hollywood officials sent at least one letter in 2010 and three more in 2011, records show.

“The city will absolutely not tolerate another year of delay in this required maintenance of the bike path,” former city attorney Jeff Sheffel wrote in a letter to the condo board in November 2011.

John Passalacqua, president of the Hollywood North Beach Association, has been pestering the condo for months now, to no avail.

“We had that meeting [in October] and nothing was solved,” he said. “The condo people don’t like bikes coming through.