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MIAMI RIVER
COMMISSION
c/o Rosenstiel School
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy,
Miami, Fl. 33149
305-361-4850
Fax: 305-361-4711
e-mail: mrc@rsmas.miami.edu
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DREDGING COMMITTEE MINUTES:
Minutes of meeting
10:00 AM
(THIS IS A PUBLIC DOCUMENT)
The first item was a summary of Miami-Dade County’s meeting of October 23, 2001 concerning utility crossings of the river. Dick Bunnell stated the turnout was very good and all principle players such as FPL, FDOT, WASD, telephone companies, etc. were present and good clear descriptions of the various utility crossings under the river were presented. Dick thought the utilities meeting went very well and there were no surprises and all players were very cooperative and it appeared they all were either in compliance or will be in compliance before the dredging project starts. The Corps requires all utilities to be at least 6 feet below the bottom of the river in soft material and at least 3 feet below the bottom of the river in rock. Roman Gastesi added that over 40 people attended the utilities meeting and everyone was aware and responsive to the dredging project. Roman said he would assist utility companies with obtaining their required permits necessary to relocate utilities that did not comply with the Corps requirements.
Roman Gastesi reported on the status of the non-federal sponsor issues. He stated that the property issues are in pretty good shape with the Jai Alai parking lot available and the property on the river for unloading barges available. The only property issue not finalized was the small property in the Jai Alai parking lot that houses the “meter man” a small business that apparently calibrates and repairs taxi meters. The county is working on the final MOU with the City of Miami for the project and payment issues. Roman stated that he will do his best to have the MOU completed by the next meeting or approximately 30 days.
David Miller advised the group
that the county requested the MRC to assist in hiring a dredging
consultant to help expedite notification of property owners about the
dredging project and to provide technical assistance as necessary.
The MRC contracted Case O’Bourke Engineering, Inc. and Nancy
Case O’Bourke will provide the group with an update of where we stand
on the notification issue. Nancy
stated the purpose of the notification is to ensure that the 500 plus
property owners along the river are aware of the project.
Many owners may not be thinking about the effects of the dredging
on their particular property, bulkheads, docks, etc.
The letter will be sent on MRC letterhead and will advise all
property owners of how close the dredging will be to their property.
Enclosures to the letter will show the individual property and
the proximity to the navigable channel line, additionally it will
include a cross sectional drawing showing the channel line and where the
Corps’ contractor will dredge. The
purpose is to make property owners completely aware of the project and
encourage them to review their bulkheads and or docks and determine if
they should initiate repairs or improvements.
Nancy explained that the Corps would not dredge any closer than
25 feet from any manmade structures without an indemnification release
from the non-federal local sponsor.
Miami-Dade County has agreed to provide that release up to 10
feet from all manmade structures. This makes all riverfront properties fall into three
different categories of property owners:
1.
Properties with manmade structures 10 feet or more from the
federal channel line.
Their letter will be mostly an informational letter and advise
them to evaluate the age and stability of any structure that they have
along the river, which may be impacted by the slope of the dredging.
2.
Commercial properties (such as shipping terminals) that may want
dredging closer than 10 feet of their manmade structures.
This letter will also provide information and will contain a
release form that must be signed if a property owner wants to dredge
closer to their structures. In all cases, the Corps will not dredge closer than 5 feet
from any structure.
3.
Property owners that have docks or bulkheads that protrude into
the federal navigable channel.
This letter will most likely come from the Corps and it will be
to property owners who have encroached into the federal channel with
docks, bulkheads and/or landfill. It
is expected that this letter will require those property owners to
remove the portion of docks, bulkheads, etc. that are in the federal
channel. There appears to
be less than 10 properties that actually encroach into the channel.
Fran Bohnsack asked what has been decided concerning dredging bank to bank and dredging some of the tributaries? Carlos Espinosa of DERM advised the group that the county has asked the Corps to complete sediment surveys so that the county can be in a position to possibly add dredging of the tributaries and/or bank to bank dredging of the river to the Corps’ federal navigation channel dredging project. Carlos said they need the sediment survey to determine how many cubic yards of sediment are actually in the tributaries, because the cost of dredging any area outside the federal channel must be 100% funded by the non-federal sponsor. Carlos added that the county is in the process of hiring a consultant to apply for the necessary permits to dredge outside the channel or in the tributaries. Carlos added that Ed Swakon & Associates is the consultant that the county is hiring to apply for the permits. David Miller advised that at the utilities meeting, the utility companies advised the county that there are many utilities that cross under these tributaries. These companies were told that the dredging project did not include the tributaries, so if the county is considering dredging the tributaries there may be additional utility problems. David also advised that moving utilities takes many months if not close to a year with permitting and procurement issues. Jerry Scarborough stated that the Corps is in a time crunch and in order to add this to the contract, without causing severe slippage of the project, a decision must be made very soon. Jerry suggested that it could be possible to add this to the channel dredging contract as an optional item; however, even with putting this as an option, the decision must be made very soon, so the plans and specification can be included in the dredging contract (even as an optional item) and in the Project Cooperation Agreement (PCA). Jerry Scarborough stated that Corps and county officials need to meet ASAP to resolve this issue. Lengthy discussion ensued. Jerry Scarborough advised the group that this is a “maintenance” dredging project and only loose silt and small rock would be removed. He emphasized that there would be no dredging of solid rock.
Roman Gastesi advised the group about state funding issues. As most people are aware, the state is holding a special session of the legislation and they are primarily looking at cutting expenditures due to a projected $1.3 billion shortfall in revenues. Roman stated that the House of Representatives is recommending cutting $2.25 million from the dredging project; however, the Senate does not have the project on their cut list. Dick Bunnell said it would be a good idea to write letters or make phone calls to state legislators explaining the value of the dredging project. David Miller reported that on the federal side the appropriations process is still ongoing with $4 million in the House budget and $2 million in the Senate budget. The federal funding decision should be completed in 7-10 days.
Jerry Scarborough advised that the Corps has agreed with FDEP and has requested a “conceptual” Water Quality Certification (WQC). Once the contractor is chosen, the Corps would get an “individual” permit that incorporates the specific method that will be used by the dredging contractor. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not yet approved their part of the project and have asked the Corps for a river modeling profile and current sea grass surveys near the mouth of the river. David Miller read an email from Kent Edwards that basically stated that FDEP has initiated the “conceptual” WQC permit process and expected it to be completed by December 2001. Additionally, the email advised that a water quality variance cannot be issued with a conceptual permit, so the variance application will be on hold until the “individual” permit is requested. Also, the Corps and FDEP agreed that Kent should participate in the review and discussion of the contractor’s bids on the project. Kent will not have a vote in the contractor selection process.
The next dredging meeting was scheduled for Tuesday November 20, 2001 at 10 am at this same location (Rosenstiel School). No new business came before the group and the meeting was adjourned at 1130 am.