DEP Poised To Issue Dredge Permit

HERNANDO BEACH - A group of residents plans to challenge the validity of the county's permit to store spoil dredged from the channel there on a four-acre parcel on Eagle Nest Drive.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection late Friday gave the county a notice of intent to issue the permit for the spoil site. That triggers a 21-day public comment period before the permit becomes final, which would allow the county to begin work to lengthen, deepen and straighten the channel.

The goal of the comment period is to give residents a chance to bring what they consider to be "unresolved issues to the table" and, in some cases, ask an administrative law judge to examine whether the permit meets the state's rules and regulations, said DEP spokeswoman Pamala Vazquez.

A group of some 50 county residents plan to request such a hearing, said Lisa Bambauer, who lives on Eagle Nest Drive. The group has taken up a collection and hired an attorney to represent them, Bambauer said.

"We're trying to stop the fiasco before it happens," she said. Bambauer and her husband Doug have been among the most vocal critics of the county's decision to use the Eagle Nest site. They even started a blog on the subject.

They say they support the $9 million project to lengthen and deepen the channel but contend the county has wasted time and money by pursuing a permit for the Eagle Nest site without adequately considering other locations to put the spoil.

About half of the coalition of residents lives in Hernando Beach, and all live in the county, Lisa Bambauer said. The group has hired David Jackson, an attorney in the Bradenton office of the firm Lewis, Longman and Walker, which specializes in environmental and land use law.

Jackson did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday afternoon. It was unclear Monday when a hearing might be scheduled or how long it would take.

The county expects to produce about 50,000 cubic yards of sand during the dredge. The county will pay $10 to lease the Eagle Nest property from Manuel LLC, a company owned by the Brooksville family of the same name.

Crews will build a five-foot tall dike on two acres to temporarily store the spoil while it dries. About 10,000 cubic yards of the dewatered sand will be left on site for to build up the land to accommodate a residential development the Manuels have planned.

Assistant County Engineer Gregg Sutton said Monday the county also has permission to leave about 20,000 more cubic yards of sand at another Manuel property further west on Eagle Nest. The owner of a parcel at Petit Lane and Shoal Line Boulevard - a site the county had considered to store the spoil but later abandoned because of its distance from the channel - also is willing to take some of the sand, Sutton said.

Sutton said the county could have sold the sand three years ago but since the housing boom has gone bust, "there's no market for it." The county will have to pay to have it hauled away, "and so logically the less distance you have to haul, the less the cost," he said.

Sutton called the DEP notice of intent "a major milestone" and said he was optimistic that months of back and forth between the county, its consultant and DEP have made for a solid permit that would withstand scrutiny.

"I personally don't know of any basis for an objection that might hold up the permit," Sutton said. "We're very comfortable and confident this permit will sustain any public comment and at end of 21 days the permit will become a final."

He said a permit for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would be forthcoming after that. The county will then seek bids from contractors, and actual dredging could begin by early fall, Sutton said.

Commissioner Rose Rocco said the county expected residents to request a hearing.

"Naturally they'll be heard, but I'm hoping it doesn't stop anything from going through," Rocco said, adding that the county has "gone through an awful lot with DEP" to get a permit for Eagle Nest Drive.

Rocco said she agreed with county staff members who have concluded that the land "is the best possible venue" for the spoil.

"We think we've done the right thing," she said.