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Hernando Today

County Gears Up For Dredge Hearing

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: January 21, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - The county is entering a critical phase of its two-pronged approach to ensure the Hernando Beach channel project finally comes to fruition.

Officials learned Friday the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is poised to issue a permit for the disposal of thousands of cubic yards of dredged material on a county-owned tract east of Shoal Line Boulevard.

The news buoyed the hopes of the county commission, administrator and other officials as they met with their hired legal gun behind closed doors Tuesday to hash out a strategy to defend its original disposal site on Eagle Nest Drive against claims the plan would harm the environment.

The media was barred from Tuesday's so-called shade tree meeting with Tallahassee attorney Richard Brightman. Florida's Government-in-the-Sunshine law allows for exemptions for meetings between attorney and client.

Brightman was hired by the commission earlier this month at the recommendation of County Administrator David Hamilton, who told the board Brightman has the experience in environmental law to help the county navigate its dual-pronged approach to secure a spoil disposal permit.

Hamilton wouldn't say much after the meeting except to confirm that Brightman "would take the lead role" at the three-day hearing on the Eagle Nest site slated to begin next Wednesday, Jan. 28.

The first two days of hearings will take place at Brooksville City Hall, the third day in the county commission chambers of the Government Center. The hearings begin at 9 a.m. each day.

The judge must decide whether the contention by the petitioners that dumping the spoil on the Eagle Nest site would harm water quality and increase the risk of flooding to neighboring homes has enough merit to deny the permit. The plan also calls for leaving some of the material for the landowners - the Manuel family of Brooksville - to use as fill dirt to develop the property.

That finding is not made on the spot by the judge, who must wait for transcripts of the hearings to be completed. Even if the judge finds the permit is appropriate, the petitioners can appeal.

That permit is the only thing holding up the $9 million project to lengthen and deepen the channel. The state has set aside $6 million for the project, but the county needs to put the project out to bid by late March to avoid the risk of losing the money.

The county, then, is pinning its hopes on the Shoal Line Boulevard parcel, the site of a now inoperable county wastewater treatment plant. The plan calls for the dredged material, called spoil, to be placed in a bermed structure covering more than five acres to be dewatered, according to the DEP permit documents.

Roughly 50,000 cubic yards of spoil would be pumped from the channel and through about 1,700 feet of overland pipe.

The county has provided public notice in a local newspaper that DEP intends to issue the permit for the Shoal Line site, Hamilton said. That means the 21-day window has begun for would-be petitioners to file a complaint with DEP. The department determines the merit of the complaint and forwards it to the state's Division of Administrative Hearings.

Cliff Manuel of Manuel LLC has urged the county to stick with the Eagle Nest site and hinted at legal action if the county bails out in favor of the other location. Manuel said Tuesday he doesn't plan to challenge the Shoal Line site and is now waiting to see which direction the county goes.

County Commissioner David Russell said the news of DEP's intent to issue the permit for the Shoal Line site and Brightman's capabilities make him feel good about the prospects for the long-delayed dredge project.

"I feel very confident we will succeed in procuring a permit, whether it be for the Eagle Nest site or otherwise, given the professionalism and the experience of the firm we're dealing with," Russell said.

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

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