INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The effort to shore up beaches from John’s Island to Golden Sands Park with trucked-in sand has hit a snag as regulators pore over permit applications.
County Public Works Director Chris Mora announced to the Board of County Commissioners Tuesday that the earliest the county could expect to have a letter of intent or draft permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for the planned beach renourishment project would be Jan. 20. Once the permit is in hand, the county must advertise the permit for the project and observe a 14-day mandatory waiting period, during which public comment will be sought. A full 14 days prior to start of construction, the county must host a Preconstruction Conference with staff, consultants, contractors and representatives from FDEP and from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Mora said at this point, the soonest construction could start is Feb. 10, giving Ranger Construction — the winning bidder who is preparing to commence work based on only a letter of intent to award a contract issued by the county — a total of 55 weekdays to get the work done. Time could be expanded to 65 days should Saturdays be included in the schedule.
“This is a slight setback for the project but we don’t think it’s a deal killer,” Mora said, later adding, “We don’t like to be squeezed any more than we have to be.”
Mora explained that there are “just a lot of eyes looking at this,” referring to the fact that the county will be using upland sand from sand mines on a large-scale renourishment project and therefore embarking on relatively untested environmental and engineering territory.
Traditionally, beach renourishment in Florida has been accomplished using off-shore sand pumped in by a dredge, but the county opted to use local sand miners for this project to help boost the economy and provide much-needed jobs for construction workers and truckers.
Commission Chairman Peter O’Bryan expressed his impatience and frustration with FDEP for the delay. “I’m just not sure why they’re coming up with these excuses,” he said, noting that the agency has been in possession of all the required studies, paperwork and plans for some time now. and that the additional turtle monitoring and “extra steps have already approved by FWC.” Commissioners Wesley Davis and O’Bryan both asked to be sure a letter be sent to legislators about the holdup, as Rep. Ralph Poppell and other members of the local legislative delegation had promised to help navigate the FDEP bureaucracy and put the project, known as Sector 3, on the fast track in Tallahassee.
Online editor Debbie Carson contributed to this report