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MIAMI RIVER COMMISSION 
c/o Rosenstiel School
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy,
Miami, Fl. 33149
305-361-4850
Fax: 305-361-47
e-mail: mrc@rsmas.miami.edu

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Scott Mitchell opened the meeting and asked Pat Hanson of the USACE to provide her comments concerning the PCA.  Pat stated the PCA has undergone some minor changes and is now complete and awaiting approval of Miami-Dade County.  Scott Mitchell advised the group it would be on the agenda of the MDC Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, May 21.  Discussion ensued concerning what the committee should do to facilitate the County’s approval of the PCA.  It was suggested that appropriate comments be requested from Senator Graham and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen’s office and sent directly to each Commissioner.  Brett Bibeau stated that the MRC has provided comments to all Commissioners and he would seek comments from the Congressional members.  Additionally, it was determined that personal visits should be made to selected Commissioners.

whether the City reDick Bunnell advised the group that Jerry Scarborough could not make this meeting; however, Eddie Carter, the Corps consultant was present and can report for Jerry.  All attendees made self-introductions.  Dick asked David Miller and Fran Bohnsack to provide a report of their trip to Washington to seek funding for the dredging project.  Fran reported that they visited all members of the south Florida Congressional Delegation and Rep. Young the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.  The Administration’s budget includes $5.5 million for the River dredging and our request was to add $4.5 million for a total request of $10 million for FY 2003.  The congressional delegation was pleased to hear of the progress of the project and they feel confident they can get more than the $5.5 million, but obviously there are no guarantees. 

Carlos Espinosa, Miami-Dade County, explained that the Project Cooperation Agreement (PCA) is now with the Corps and he expects to receive the PCA back from the Corps very soon for the (hopefully) final review by the County.  The meeting between Corps and County attorneys went very well and many of the issues were resolved.  One issue that is important is that the PCA, once approved by the attorneys, must go before the County Commission.  Discussion ensued about the requirements to go before the County Commission and it was noted by Carlos Espinosa that another public hearing in the Melrose community was necessary, before going before the County Commissioners.  It was estimated that this PCA should go before the Commissioners no later that the last meeting in May.  The group decided that a timeline should be developed for all required steps and approvals that are necessary to get the RFP completed and noticed.

Carlos noted that the Corps’ survey of the sediments in the bank-to-bank dredging did not clearly define the sediment verses hard rock.  Therefore, the best estimate of sediment outside the channel is approximately 184,000 cubic yards.  Ed Swakon, County consultant, stated that the latest Corps estimates of sediments are 594,000 cubic yards in the channel and 184, 000 outside the channel for a total of 780,000 cubic yards.  All agreed the 184,000 yards was still high and probably includes hard rock that will not be dredged.  The group concurred that the best method of handling this bank-to-bank issue is to request the Corps to include this in the federal project, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to determine what sediment is in the channel and what quantity of sediment is outside the channel.

Carlos said that the County Manager sent a letter to the Corps specifically requesting the Corps to dredge the tributaries from a flood control parameter instead of maintenance dredging of a federal channel.  It is also probable that FEMA dollars can be used for the tributary dredging. The County is working on this issue.  The tributary surveys have not been completed and the quantity of sediment in the tributaries is unknown.  It was noted that the DEIS and DMMP are only for the channel and the bank-to-bank dredging and not for the tributaries. 

The County is seeking a permit from DEP for the bank-to-bank dredging.  The Corps could not add this to their permit due to the state submerged lands issues.  Therefore the county will receive a permit similar to the Corps’ permit with two additional conditions- one, the need to obtain the appropriate proprietary authorization and, two, if it is discovered that sediments in the bank areas are different from the channel, then additional special handling may be required.  Proprietary submerged lands rights above 27^th Avenue may be owned by up to 100 private owners.  Proprietary submerged land rights below 27^th Avenue are a state submerged lands issue.  Discussion ensued with the end result being that the MRC and the County will assist the state with data and information, but the proprietary land use below 27^th Avenue is a state issue to resolve.

Discussion ensued about the requirements of the “Conceptual Permit” and it was discussed that it would be appropriate to have Kent Edwards from DEP attend a future meeting and provide some insight into the anticipated requirements of the permit.

David Miller asked if the utilities have made any progress in obtaining permits and it was found that none have been approved and it was further noted that the County needed to obtain several utility permits for County owned bridges and the water lines.  Discussion ensued.  The end result was a recommendation that the dredging working group should contact or visit FDEP in West Palm Beach and recommend some generic approval as all utility crossings will all be basically about the same. 

The next Dredging Working Group meeting was scheduled for April 17, 2002 at 10 am at the Rosenstiel School Library meeting room and the meeting was adjourned.  Note:  The Rosenstiel Library meeting room was unavailable and the dredging meeting is now at

Miami-Dade County Building,
111 NW First Street, Conference room 18-3,  Miami, Fl

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