Halleleujah – the last hurdle to acquiring DEP’s signature on our beach renourishment permitting was cleared yesterday afternoon, Monday, December 3rd, when a Notice of Dismissal of Petition for Formal Administrative Hearing was signed by the petitioners, Michael and Kate O’Brian-Nicholson and White Sand of Navarre, LLC.
DEP said our permitting would be signed today and we’ll be on our way. The company who was awarded the dredging contract, The Manson Company, has purchased an additional set of equipment so that they can put two systems to work come January which should make the project move along so much faster as we hurry to beat the arrival of turtle season next spring.
Thanks again more than words can say to the many volunteers who have spent literally thousands of hours of their time to get us to this point, especially Laurel Eiler, Susan Wright and Paula Pickett. For more detailed info on the Beach Renourishment Project status, check out their website at http://www.savethecape.com/ .
Here is an excerpt from an e-blast issued by the committee this evening:
As discussed and unanimously supported at the October 25, 2007, SJPBAC meeting, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) successfully negotiated the purchase of the Nicholson parcel for additional beach access. As a result, the final petition which was preventing the issuance of the FDEP permit was voluntarily dismissed on December 3rd. FDEP issued our Final Construction Permit at 4:00 p.m. today, December 4th.
The one remaining permit still outstanding will come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We anticipate the Corps’ permit will be received in a very short period of time, and our engineer, Michael Dombrowski, is working closely with the Corps to accomplish the issusance of that permit as soon as possible.
The contract to be entered into with our dredging company, Manson Construction, was approved by the BOCC on Monday, December the 3rd. As soon as the Corps’ permit is issued, the contract will be formally entered into with Manson and mobilization of their equipment will begin. Mobilization of equipment can take anywhere from six to eight weeks. it is anticipated that barring any unforeseen delay, we can expect to begin pumping approximately the first week of February 2008.