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Hernando Today

Dredge Project Hits Snags

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: December 8, 2007

HERNANDO BEACH - The long-awaited Hernando Beach channel dredge project is changing course and heading into uncharted waters.

Due in large part to a legal challenge from residents, county officials decided Friday to change the location where the dredged material, called spoil, will be temporarily stored before it is trucked away.

The county must also now find a way out of a conundrum that has it stuck between two agencies: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection wants the county to post signs in sea grass beds near the channel warning boaters to stay away; the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, however, doesn't have authority to permit such signage.

The developments will mean a more expensive project and a later start date, county officials agreed, although how much more costly and how much later is unclear.

The news came Friday during a meeting with DEP officials at the county government center. County officials sought the meeting, arranged by state Rep. Rob Schenck, to get a face-to-face update on what the county needed to do secure two permits: one for the spoil site and one to extend the channel farther into the Gulf of Mexico and straighten a bend in the waterway nearer the shore.

On hand at the meeting were county engineer Charles Mixson, assistant county engineer Gregg Sutton, interim county administrator Larry Jennings and County Commissioner Dave Russell. Shirley Anderson, district director for U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite of Brooksville, also attended.

The county already has a permit to deepen the channel to six feet to allow boats to pass safely. Currently, shallow areas make for treacherous travel, especially at low tide when some boats can't make the journey.

That phase - the so-called maintenance dredge - could have started already but is being held up by the need for a permit for the spoil site.

The county had struck a deal with Brooksville's Manuel family to pump the material onto a five-acre site on Eagle Nest Drive. The sand and rock would be left there to dry and then be trucked away, but part of the deal includes leaving a layer of the material about three feet deep.

The parcel, however, contains some wetlands and the plan would have filled in about a half-acre of that low - lying area.

DEP is willing to accept the loss of those wetlands, Deborah Getzoff told county officials Friday. Getzoff is director of the DEP's Southwest District office in Tampa.

However, the county's plan to compensate for - or mitigate - the loss is insufficient, Getzoff said.

The county had planned, among other action, to remove a manmade berm on the parcel and create a conservation easement on a portion of property, protecting it from development, said assistant county engineer Gregg Sutton.

DEP is willing to work with the county to find ways to enhance that mitigation strategy, Getzoff said.

County officials decided a few moments later that the point is moot.

On Thursday, 24 residents filed a request with DEP asking for legal notice on any developments with the spoil site permit application, Getzoff said. That entitles them to file a petition with the state opposing the plan, which would render any permit "non-final" and prevent the county from using the site.

That would start a legal process that could take the better part of a year, Getzoff said. Even if the residents lost, they could appeal the decision, which could easily double that time period, she said.

A small but vocal group of residents had opposed the use of the Manuel property because of the loss of wetlands and trees on the site as well as the dump traffic that would travel up and down Eagle Nest Drive during the duration of the project.

The list of residents who filed the notice wasn't available Friday, but Sutton said he assumes it's comprised at least partially of those residents.

Getzoff said some residents had suggested using the spoil to fill some especially deep canals in the Hernando Beach area. DEP might be amenable to that, Getzoff said, because the shallower depth would mean improved water quality in those canals.

But Sutton said the county had already considered and eliminated that option because it would mean a much longer trip to pipe the spoil and would block access for residents who live on the canal.

"I think the opposition from the residents would dwarf any objections to the (Manuel) spoil site," Sutton said.

The county is going back to what Mixson called the "fallback plan": Piping the spoil to triangular-shaped parcel at the corner of Pettit Lane and Shoal Line Boulevard.

The four-acre site is flat, contains no wetlands and has few neighbors, county officials said.

That, they hope, will provide for an expedited permitting process from DEP.

The parcel, which had been on the county's list as a potential spoil site, is farther than the Manuel property so the cost will rise to pump the spoil, but its location could save in trucking costs, Mixson said.

County officials said they could submit a permit request to DEP within a couple of weeks. The agency then has 30 days to respond.

Schenck asked if Valentine's Day is a realistic goal for the county to receive the permit. Heads on both sides of the table nodded.

"Good," Schenck said. "It will make a nice little gift for all of us."

Signage issue likely bigger obstacle

Once that permit is issued, the maintenance dredge - considered by the county to be the most pressing need - can begin.

The signage issue could be a bigger challenge.

DEP is requiring the county to mitigate the loss of sea grass that will occur when the channel is lengthened and straightened.

The bulk of the mitigation strategy included posting signs in other nearby sea grass beds to keep boaters from tearing up the grass, which provides habitat and a food source for wildlife.

DEP wants the county to go beyond simply posting signs warning boaters of the sea grass beds. Marine patrol must have the authority to enforce the zones, and DEP recommended the county pass an ordinance restricting boaters from those areas.

However, under state statute, the wildlife commission only has the authority to permit restricted zones for safety and to protect manatees, not to protect sea grass. Such signs can be permitted in an area deemed an aquatic preserve. This area is not, and the process to create one is lengthy, Getzoff said.

Schenck said he would look into the issue when he returns to Tallahassee on Monday, but it was unclear how the county might get around the obstacle.

Major Paul Ouellette of the wildlife commission's Boating and Waterways Division said in an interview Friday that other jurisdictions have run into similar problems and that the commission is in talks with lawmakers. One option could be to amend the existing statute to give the commission the authority to permit sea grass zones, Ouellette said.

Schenck said he also would find out whether more delays could threaten the $6 million in state funding for the $9 million project. The county is covering the balance.

Despite the news, Mixson, Sutton and Russell were upbeat after the meeting.

"I'm very confident at this point that we can move forward and complete the process" of the maintenance dredge, Russell said. "The last stumbling block has been identified and an alternative plan has been proffered, one that DEP was amenable to."

The county has been going back and forth with DEP for months to pin down what the holdup was in the permitting process.

"We got our answer," Mixson said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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