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DREDGING COMMITTEE MINUTES:
Minutes of meeting
10:00 AM
(THIS IS A PUBLIC DOCUMENT)
Dick
Bunnell opened the meeting and asked all attendees to introduce
themselves. Rene Perez of
the Corps was asked to comment on the project status.
He stated that the draft request for proposals (RFP) was released
in December and he hoped that the contractors were downloading the
document. The Corps would
like to receive comments about the draft RFP (although comments are not
required) and they have stated that they will not be able to respond to
all comments received. To
date, the Corps has only received comments from one contractor but they
would like to receive more. Comments
are due by the end of January. He
stated that the website is up with the RFP but the specifications link
is not working. Contact Wanda Cruz at (904) 232-2813 and she will guide you
through the website so that you can download the specifications.
Scott Mitchell stated that David Miller and Brett Bibeau should
review the draft RFP and formulate an official position from the Miami
River Commission and then forward their comments to Rene.
In December the
Dredged Materials Management Plan (DMMP) as well as the Project
Cooperation Agreement (PCA) were submitted to Corps headquarters in
Washington D.C. Headquarters
has told the Jacksonville District that they will not be able to approve
and send back the PCA and DMMP until the middle of February.
This means that the schedule will have to be pushed back and Rene
is hopeful that the final RFP will be released at the end of February.
Mr. Perez stated that the Atlanta Division of the Corps requested
that an economic analysis be done.
The Jacksonville Division is currently working on that.
Dick Bunnell asked if the economic analysis requirement would
delay the RFP any further. Rene
stated that it would not; it would just delay any appropriations from
the Operation and Maintenance funds.
He further declared that there was enough money presently
available from “Congressional Adds” to get the project underway with
no further delays. Congressional
Adds are $21,145,000 since 1993 and that does not include FY2003
recommended appropriations of $5.5 million in the Senate budget and $8
million in the House budget.
The final FY2003 Congressional Add will be determined after
conference committee deliberations and congress approves the FY2003
federal budget.
Roman Gastesi
stated that today was the drop-dead negotiation date for the little
cutout of land missing from the land certification.
This section of land is not critical to the dredging project and
if it is unavailable it will not make that big a difference. The land certification will be delivered to the Corps next
week. The Corps recommends
the county submit the land certification ASAP so the Corps can review
the documents; however, they cannot approve the certification until
Headquarters approves the PCA. Discussion
ensued.
Scott asked Glen Schuster to comment on the status of the water
quality certification and summarize the meeting held last week with
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) officials, Corps
and County representatives. Glen
stated that one of the biggest issues with the water quality
certification is monitoring the Miami River.
The River is extremely difficult to monitor, especially at the
mouth of the River where there are dynamic forces at work, both
hydrologically and chemically, making it hard to determine what the
normal “background” water quality is in the river.
The Corps met last week with FDEP and reached an agreement on
monitoring the dredging project. This
plan has one caveat, which is that it is based on the conceptual design
that is in place now (conventional dredging with disposal).
If the RFP should alter the dredging design, then the Corps will
have to meet with the FDEP again to develop a new plan. There will be two types of monitoring in place, operational
monitoring and trend line analysis.
Monitoring will begin a month before dredging commences.
Trend line monitoring will be reviewed every six months by the
Department of Resources Management (DERM), the Corps and FDEP to
determine if they have to make any new course corrections in their
program. Operational
monitoring will be a day-by-day thing in which they will actually be
looking at controlling the actions of the dredge.
This monitoring is a condition that will be part of the final
water quality permit. They
have not yet determined where the end of the mixing zone will be, but
Glen estimates that it will be between 150 and 500 meters from the mouth
of the River. During the
thirty days prior to the commencement of dredging, they will be
monitoring at the mouth of the River and just downstream of the salinity
barrier. During
construction, they will monitor at the mouth of the River, and 150
meters upstream and 150 meters downstream of the dredge.
The monitoring that will occur upstream and downstream from the
dredge are for informational purposes only, the regulatory monitoring
(compliance point) will be at the mouth of the river.
The entire length of the River will be considered a mixing zone,
so some discharge will be allowed as long as it is within the water
quality standards at the compliance point.
The trend analysis monitoring will examine the following
parameters: biological oxygen demand, total phosphorous, petroleum
hydrocarbons, and current velocity and direction.
The operational parameters are: turbidity, lead, copper,
dissolved oxygen, and observable oil or grease sheen on the surface of
the water at the dredge site. These
are the regulatory minimums of monitoring set forth.
If any agency or group would like to do their own monitoring of
additional variables, they are more than welcome to do so.
An extensive discussion and question and answer period ensued.
Mr. Schuster stated that if anyone has any further questions they
could call him at (904) 232-3691.
Rene Perez stated that the comment period for the Environmental
Impact Statement ended on December 23, 2002.
They did not receive any major comments or concerns.
Dick asked
Carlos Espinosa of DERM to comment on the letters and consent forms sent
out by the County to riparian property owners regarding the bank-to-bank
dredging option. Just over
200 consent forms were sent out. To
date, they have received 29 consent forms.
About six people called asking for background information
regarding the dredging project. Two
sites have expressed concerns about the bank-to-bank dredging option as
they are concerned that the dredging will damage the integrity of their
existing seawall. The
County’s response is to not send in their consent form and the
bank-to-bank dredging will not occur in way of their property.
For the most part, they have found most of the riparian owners to
be supportive.
Roman Gastesi stated that there are 42 crossings underneath the
River; approximately 20 utility crossings will have to be relocated
deeper into the river bottom or removed.
He stated that everything is moving well.
The next River Utility Crossing meeting is Monday, February 3,
2003 at 10:30 am at the United Way Ansin Building.
The next meeting of the MRC Dredging Working Group was scheduled
for Wednesday, February 19, 2003, 10:00 AM, at the Rosenstiel
School, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy.