8/5/09 MEETING MINUTES

OLD BUSINESS

HERNANDO BEACH DREDGE

Mr. Sutton discussed seagrass impacts - the dredge will affect 3.23 acres of seagrass. Permits were required from FDEP and ACOE for those seagrass impacts. FDEP wants to mitigate at a 2:1 ratio – for every acre impacted, mitigation has to be done on two acres. So per FDEP requirements, the total acreage to be replanted is 6.46 acres. The ACOE has a different method and they want a total of 26.4 acres of seagrass replanted. The two agencies are also on a different timeframe; the ACOE wants the seagrass replanted up front at the beginning of the project. DEP wants the areas needing seagrass identified and then monitored for 5 years. If the seagrass has not grown back at the end of the 5 years, then it would need to be replanted. So the county is caught in the middle trying to satisfy both of these agencies. We plan to replant 1/2 to 2/3 acre of seagrass in the seagrass protection areas. Our consultant has assured us that at the end of the 5 years, the total 26.4 acres of seagrass will be complete.

Knowing that the ACOE permit requirements were much more stringent in scope than FDEP's, the county submitted the same plan to both agencies. However, FDEP rejected the plan and will not accept the ACOE permit plan for mitigation of the 6.46 acres. So the county had to come up with additional area to mitigate in order to satisfy FDEP. Staff met with FDEP and looked at different options and locations for replanting of the seagrass. Our consultant has identified a number of areas around Bayport that have a lot of prop scarring and need replanting. So the county will establish additional seagrass protection areas where motorized vessels would be excluded and they would be marked accordingly with the proper signage. The original areas were established by county ordinance, so the new areas will also require an ordinance to be enacted. This has been scheduled for a public hearing before the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, August 11 to consider adoption of these new areas as seagrass protection areas.

In the meantime, the consultant will replant seagrass in the original areas permitted by the ACOE, so the project will not be held up by this issue. The dredge contractor is in the process of mobilizing for the project, so it is still on track. Mr. Mixson said the original permit plan from 2 years ago called for 6.23 acres of prop scars, but these locations have grown back with seagrass, so that is why these new areas have to be established. There will be additional costs for the consultant to do this work in the new area but the project is still within budget.

Mr. Sutton handed out copies of an information sheet on the seagrass mitigation and replanting, a draft outline of the ordinance, and a permit modification from FDEP that discusses the additional seagrass mitigation (copies attached).