It’s official: Safety Harbor is going batty

It’s election season in Safety Harbor, a time when some residents—and officials—tend to go a little batty.

But this election year the city’s entire population will be joining them, thanks to a generous donation from the local Lions Club.

During the February 6 City Commission meeting, club representatives presented the city with 30 bat houses, small wooden boxes that attract bats, which they believe should help control the mosquito population in parks and other public places.

“We in the Lions Club have felt for quite a while it’s time for us to give back to the community,” club president John Breznai said.

“And in light of the current Zika virus that’s going on…we decided we’d do something that might be a little less environmentally intrusive, and we decided to give to the city 30 bat houses.”

Breznai explained that the houses, which are made of cedar, will hold over 100 bats each, and he said while there is no guaranteed method of drawing the nocturnal flying mammals, an expert told him the only way to find out if they work is to try them out.

“I was talking to the manufacturer about how do we draw the bats to these houses, and he said we work off of the Field of Dreams theory, which is basically if you build them, they will come,” Braznai said, referring to the iconic baseball movie.

“So, we’re gonna put them up for a couple of months, and they should draw the population. If they don’t, there are lures and attractions that you can get and put into these things to make them a little more friendly.”

Leisure Services Director Andrea Norwood said she, along with Breznai, recently toured the city with representatives of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee (FWC), in order to determine suitable locations for the wooden bat caves.

“We did actually identify quite a few locations when were out with the FWC,” Norwood said, adding they were going to start at Safety Harbor City Park.

Vice-Mayor Andy Zodrow, an environmental attorney, said the bat houses typically work best near water.

“I have one at my house, and no luck so far,” Zodrow said, noting there have been “no bats in his bat house” for three years.

Despite the uncertainty over whether the bat boxes would actually work, Mayor Andy Steingold said the city would absolutely be implementing the devices, beginning immediately.

“All 30 are going to be going up right away, as far as I understand,” the mayor said, adding, “I think this is the coolest thing.”

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