INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Brevard County trucking company that lost out in its application to haul sand to shore up a 6.5-mile stretch of beach north of John’s Island despite being the lowest bid, has been granted an emergency hearing to overturn the decision by the Indian River County Board of Comimissioners.County Commissioners rejected the $7.1 million bid by Stormwater & Underground, LLC from Titusville to haul some 26,000 truckloads of sand in favor of Fort Pierce-based Ranger Construction Industries, which came in at $7.3 million. The commissioners picked Ranger — which has a proven track record of successfully completing beach sand projects in St. Lucie County — to truck sand to renourish the stretch from Treasure Shores Park south to the northern end of John’s Island.
Stormwater & Underground filed a protest with the county on Sept. 11 that was denied three days later by Purchasing Manager Jerry Davis on the grounds that “Indian River County has wide discretion in accepting bids for public improvements.” The trucking company responded by requesting the hearing before Circuit Judge Paul Kanarek next Monday, before the County officially awarded the project to Ranger Construction. The decision by the commissioners to use overland trucking went against the Sept. 3 recommendation of the Beaches and Shores Preservation Advisory Committee, which had recommended selection of Great Lakes Dredging as the quickest way to get the project done. Great Lakes pumped sand onto several other stretches of barrier island beach in 2007.
