LTC 241-2007 Beach Renourishment
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # 241_2007 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manage
SATE: October 31, 2007
SUBJECT: Beach Renourishment
The purpose of this LTC is to provide the Mayor and City Commission with an update on the
efforts to identify a source of sand for continued renourishment of the City's beaches. On
July 2, 2007, I submitted LTC No. 150-2007 (attached), describing a meeting I attended in
Washington D. C. with the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. Additionally, LTC
No. 168-2007 (attached) transmitted correspondence from the Army Corps of Engineers
(ACE) to Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, stating that completion of final review and approval
of the Letter Report documenting that domestic sand sources did not exist was anticipated in
October 2007.
On Tuesday, October 30, 2007, during a meeting with staff from Congresswoman Ros-
Lehtinen's office, the City learned that Assistant Secretary Woodley had informed Miami-
Dade County that there was a "snag" with the approval of the Letter Report. Following that
meeting, the Congresswoman's office provided the Administration with a copy of the
attached correspondence from the South Atlantic Division of the ACE, indicating that the
Draft Report submitted by the Jacksonville Office of the ACE is incomplete. The
correspondence further indicates that within two weeks, an in-progress review be requested
for the project to discuss the comments, coordinate responses, and present a schedule for
the remaining work. The Administration received the correspondence in time to discuss this
critical issue with staff from the offices of Senator Mel Martinez and Congresswoman Debbie
Wasserman-Schultz.
According to the correspondence, the Letter Report does not conclusively make the
determination of whether domestic sand sources are or are not available. Additionally, the
attached comments state that there are problems with the report regading:
1. Projected Nourishment Rate compared to the historic rate
2. The identified period of nourishment
3. Need for a single borrow source versus multiple borrow sources
4. Environmental impacts
5. Local opposition
6. Economic justification of continued nourishment
7. Material suitability
The Administration is concerned with the continued lack of progress on, and resolution of,
this issue, and during the next two weeks, will work to develop a recommended course of
action for this issue. Additionally, we will continue to coordinate with the City's federal
lobbyists and the offices of our Senators and Representatives
I will provide you with updates as this issue develops. In the meantime, please contact me if
you have any questions or need additional information.
JMG/HF/kc
C: Executive Staff
' Fred Beckmann, Public Works Director
Kevin Crowder, Economic Development Director
Attachments:
Department of the Army Memorandum, October 26, 2007
LTC 145-2007
LTC 150-2007
LTC 168-2007
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,' DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
~ ~ U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20314-1000
CECW-SAD 26 October 2007
MEMORANDUM FOR CESAD-SAD (ATTN: Terry Stratton)
SUBJECT: HQUSACE Policy Compliance Review Dade County, Florida Beach Erosion
Control and Hurricane Protection Project Letter Report.
1. Reference is made to the July 17, 2007, memorandum for HQUSACE, Subject: Alternative
Sand Sources for Dade County, Florida, Beach Erosion Control and Hurricane Protection
Project.
2. The Draft Report, submitted in July 2007 is incomplete; therefore we are unable to
recommend investigation or purchase ofnon-domestic sand at this time. In coordination with
the OASA(CW), we have determined that it is critical to identify whether domestic sand
sources are or aze not available. The current report does not conclusively make that
determination. If domestic sources aze available, then additional study to determine the
economic and environmental implications is necessazy. If upon revision of the report, it is
determined that no domestic sources exist, then the district may request permission from this
office for investigation ofnon-domestic sources. Based on the analysis currently included
within the draft report, it is not cleaz whether domestic sand is available. This issue must be
resolved before the report can be completed.
3. The July draft has been reviewed by the Office of Water Policy Review (OWPR), and
comments aze attached for integration into the next version of this report. It is requested that
within two weeks, an in-progress review be requested for this project to discuss the attached
comments, coordinate responses to each issue, and present a schedule for the remaining
work.
4. Due to the complexity of locating and evaluating sand borrow sources in Florida, a Regional
Sediment Management Approach is recommended. This approach may help develop a long
term strategy for re-nourishment activities in Florida.
Encl STACEY E. BROWN
Interim Civil Works Deputy,
South Atlantic Division
Regional Integration Team
Directorate of Civil Works
CECW-PC 27 August 2007
HQUSACE POLICY COMPIANCE REVIEW
DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA
BEACH EROSION CONTROL AND HURRICANE
PROTECTION PROJECT LETTER REPORT
1. BACKGROUND.
A. Study Area. Dade County is located along the southeast coast of Florida, and
contains the city of Miami. The Dade County shoreline extends along two barrier island
segments and three islands, each of which is separated form the mainland and the City
Miami by Biscayne Bay. The Dade County Beach Erosion Control and Hurricane
Protection Project (BEC and HP project) provided for the placement of beach fill alone
the 9.3 mile reach of the shoreline extending from Bakers Haulover Inlet to Government
Cut and along the 1.4 mile length of Haulover Beach Park. The 2.4 mile length of Sunny
Isles was added to the project in 1985 under a separate authorization. '
B. Problem. Dade County's offshore borrow areas have been nearly depleted. Only one
borrow area containing roughly 500,000 cubic yards of material remains offshore of the
Dade County shoreline. This volume is not adequate to supply the approximately
15,000,000 cy of material needed over the next 25 years.
C. Authorization. Section 935 of WRDA 1986 stated "Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, in any case in which the use of fill material for beach erosion and beach
nourishment is authorized as a purpose of an authorized water resource project, the
Secretary is authorized to acquire by purchase, exchange, or otherwise from non-
domestic sources and utilize such material for such purposes if such materials are not
available from domestic sources for environmental or economic reasons" Conference
Report on the FY 99 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill further states that "none of
the funds provided for the Dade County, Florida project be used for acquisition of foreign
source materials for the project unless the Secretary of the Army provides written
certification to the Committees on Appropriations that domestic sources of material are
not available".
D. Recommendation. The Secretary of the Army provide written certification to the
Committees on Appropriations stating that an acceptable domestic source of material is
not available which will allow for the acquisition of foreign source material for use in the
Dade County BEC and HP project.
2. REVIEW OF REPORT SUBMITTALS. The Dade County, Florida Beach Erosion
Control and Hurricane Protection Project Letter Report dated July 2007 was received on
25 July 2007.
3. COMMENTS FROM REVIEW OF THE JULY 2007 LETTER REPORT.
A. Renourishment.
1. Nourishment Rate versus Historic Maintenance. Table 1 of the special report shows the
volume of periodic maintenance/nourishment operations that have been placed in the
study area between 1980 and 2003. The total volume of material is approximately 3.8
million cubic yards, which results in an average annual volume of about 165,000 to
170,000 cubic yards. However, page 19 states that the annual volume for renourishment
is 343,000 cy/yr, which is used in identifying borrow requirements. It is not clear why the
annual rate for future renourishment would be so much greater than what has been
historically placed at the project to maintain the project profile. Further explanation is
needed to explain the basis for the annual renourishment rate and why the volume of sand
identified for remainder of the renourishment period is so different than that placed
historically.
2. Period of Renourishment. Page 19 notes that construction of the original project was
completed in 1982 and the segment to Sunny Isles was completed in 1988. Future
nourishment requirements were established based on those completion dates and a 50-
year nourishment period. However, paragraph 7.e. of ER 1165-2-130 indicates that
Federal interest in nourishment extends for a period up to 50 years after initiation of
construction, not completion. The original project construction began in 1975 and the
remaining nourishment requirements should be adjusted per the guidance. It is not clear
from the report when the extention to Sunny Isles was initiated, however the
renourishment period for that project should also be adjusted similarly.
B. Evaluation.
1. Single Borrow Source. It is not apparent why any single borrow source would need to
provide the full 15 million c.y. of material needed for the remainder of the Federal
project. The plan should be formulated in consideration of how multiple borrow sources
could be used over the next approximately 30 years to meet the nourishment needs of
Dade County beaches. This is an important consideration as borrow sites in nearby
counties have been deemed unavailable due, in part, to local opposition to the removal of
15 million c.y. of material that they may potentially need in the future. It does not appear
that the Corps considered removal of, for example, 5 million c.y. of material from waters
offshore other counties, nor that the public was allowed consideration of lesser options.
2. Environmental Impacts. Caution should be taken when environmental impacts are
discussed. First, the environmental impacts associated with the various borrow sites, and
compared with the Bahamian site, are not described in great enough detail to allow the
reader to agree with the determination that use of domestic sites would have greater
environmental impacts than the foreign site. Second, a distinction should be made
between environmental impacts which may be permitted/approved by state and Federal
resource agencies as required (but may perhaps result in compensatory mitigation costs),
2
versus environmental impacts that are of a degree that state and Federal
permits/approvals may not be granted. In the latter case, the argument that a site is not
available due to environmental constraints is clearer. However, it is important to
remember that if use of a borrow site is environmentally unacceptable for the Dade
County project, then it is (or should be) unacceptable for any other entity to use. The
damage to the borrow site is in the use of the borrow site, not the location of where the
beach fill occurs.
3. Local Opposition. It is understandable that other communities may not desire the use
of offshore borrow sources in their county by Dade County. However, in this
circumstance the borrow sources appear to be in state waters and according to the
included July 10, 2007 email from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection,
there is no explicit policy, regulation, or statute that would prevent Dade County from
applying for a permit to utilize borrow sites offshore of other jurisdictions. The district
may want to provide further explanation of state and Federal authorities or policies to
deny permits for this project based upon local opposition. Renourishment has been
proposed and accomplished using sand sources offshore of adjacent communities in
several locations elsewhere in the country, with some states/sponsors developing regional
sediment management programs to identify suitable offshore sand sources for several
projects. Further rationale is needed to demonstrate why the available, economical sand
sources discussed in the letter report should not be considered viable for renourishment of
Miami Beach. Further investigations appear warranted before non-domestic sources are
considered.
Additionally, the report states that there was 100% opposition expressed during public
scoping for the borrow sites in St. Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach counties, but it is not
evident that public input was sought in Dade County/Miami areas where the actual beach
nourishment project is located. Input into project development, including both beach
nourishment and sand borrow sites aspects, needs to be obtained from all interested
pazities. It appears the district only sought input from the public near the borrow sites, but
not neaz the nourishment sites. The Corps may indeed find support for the use of sand
sources in the state waters by St. Lucie, Martin, and Palm Beach counties if Dade
County/Miami residents aze asked.
C. Economics.
1. Section 902 Cost Cap. The materials indicate that the extension to Sunny Isles was
authorized in WRDA 86, as was the increased renourishment period for the overall
project. So Section 902 cost limits may apply to elements of the project. The report
should address whether the project modification to Sunny Isles is subject to a Section 902
cost cap. If so the material should clarify whether that project segment has a cap on the
total project costs or separate caps for initial construction and nourishment. The original
project may have a cost limitation on the renourishment. These limits may constrain the
period of renourishment and the volume of sand needed.
2. Economic Justification. The material presented does not address the economics
associated with continued renourishment. Given the significant cost increase associated
with use of more distant sand sources, it is not known whether continued renourishment
would be economical. The material should discuss whether the project justification
supports the use of more distant, costly sand sources.
D. Environmental.
1. Material Suitability. Paragraph 62 notes that the material in deepwater borrow sites
does not meet the current state standard, which calls for a maximum of 5% fines.
However, page 8 indicates that the DEP was willing to consider 10-12% fines as
acceptable for beach quality back in 2000. It isn't clear why this change in standards was
instituted by the state and what the implications would be for the screening the alternative
sand sources. Given the increased costs for borrowing sand from more distant locations,
the borrow site screening should address the potential for the state to reconsider 10-12%
as the allowable percentage of fines and the effect on identifying economical borrow
sites.
4
m MIAMIBEACH
RECEIVED
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER Z~~~ •~UN Z6 AM 4' ~ 2
NO. LTC # i4s-2oo~ LETTER TO ('t'~~'~Ft~'S~'F'F1Cf
TO: Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission _
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager ~~ JV~I.C~~ -
DATE: June 26, 2007
SUBJECT: BEACH RENOURISHMENT EFFORTS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
The purpose of this LTC is to update the Mayor and City Commission on the City's efforts to
address beach renourishment issues in Washington D.C., specifically, the `foreign source
sand' issue. Currently, two Congressional directives prohibit acquisition of non-domestic
beach sand by federally funded renourishment projects. The Army Corps of Engineers
(ACOE) has drafted a letter report to resolve this issue which is pending final approval.
On April 30, 2007, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen sent a letter to the ACOE
requesting the status of the letter report for alternative sources of sand for the Miami-Dade
County Beach Erosion Control project. On May 2, 2007, Kevin Crowder and 1 met with
Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, Senator Bill Nelson, and representatives of
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, to discuss the City's federal legislative
agenda, including the sand source issue.
During the course of the meeting with Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, she agreed to request a meeting
between the Miami-Dade congressional delegation, ACOE leadership, the City of Miami
Beach, and Miami-Dade County, to discuss this study and the length of time the ACOE's
process could take to complete the review of the report. A letter requesting this meeting from
Reps. Ros-Lehtinen and Wasserman-Schultz is attached.
This meeting requested by the City has been scheduled for this Wednesday, June 27~' in
Washington, D.C. The City will be represented atthe meeting by Kevin Crowder and myself.
During this trip, I also plan to meet with staff from Senator Nelson's office to further discuss
this issue, as a follow up to our meeting with the Senator in May.
I will continue to update you as this issue progresses. In the meantime, if you have any
questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
JMG/RCM/kc
Attachments:
June 28, 2007 Letter to John Paul Woodtey, Asst. Secretary of the Army
June 5, 2007 Letter to Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen
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June 18, 2007
The Honorable John Paul Woodley, Jr.
Assistant Secretary of the Army, Civil Works
108 Army Pentagon
Room 3 E446
Washington, DC 20310-0108
Dear Mr. Secretary:
Thank you for your letter, dated June 5, 2007, on alternative sand sources for Miami. We
know that you share our concern with maintaining hurricane protection and beach erosion
projects such as those protecting the residents of South Florida.
As you state in your letter, the Corps has for some years now been working on a letter
report in order to use environmentally suitable non-domestic sand on the beaches, and we are
very concerned with the amount of time the Corps current process will take to complete and
review the report. Given that we have now entered hurricane season we uree you to direct the
Corps to conduct concurrent reviews at the District Division and Heaciauarters levels. The safety
of all coastal residents is too important to handle this matter as business as usual.
Further in order to keep the delectation informed of the Coros' nroctress we would Like to
host a meetinu with the interested members of the South Florida delectation and the responsible
uniformed Commanders from the District Division and Headquarters. We suggest that the Corps
summarize the issue on sand sourcing, provide us a break down by month of the amount of effort
being spent to resolve the sand issue, identify all interested federal and non federal groups with
whom they are working, and then provide us a schedule for final resolution.
At this meeting, we would also like to discuss the status of other projects which are of
vital interest to our community, namely the Miami River maintenance dredging project, Phase III
dredging for the Port of Miami and local Everglades Restoration projects.
Vde realize that you are busy and understand that you may not be able to make your
schedule work this month but do request that even if you cannot meet, that the uniformed
Commanders at each of the levels in the Corps meet with us this month. [f your staff will contact
our staff 1 am sure that we can identify a mutually agreeable day and time.
In closing we want to thank you for your leadership in resolving the issue of non
availability of domestic sand for our beaches and for your leadership on so many issues of
importance to our South Florida community. We look forward to meeting with the responsible
leaders this month.
Sincerely,
Member of Congress
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Member of Congress
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY
CIVIL WORKS
108 ARMY PENTAGON
WASHINGTON DC 20310.Oi08
JUN 4 5 2001
Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
United States House of Representatives
2160 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0918
Dear Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen:
Thank you for your letter of April 30, 2007, requesting the status of altemative
sources of sand study for the Dade County Beach Erosion Control and Hurricane
Protection project. Following initial construction of the project, periodic renourishment
was conducted in order to maintain the project's authorized beach and dune features.
Domestic sources of beach fill have been exhausted during the initial construction and
subsequent renourishment cycles.
I am sure you are aware that two Congressional directives affect acquisition of
non-domestic beach fill by the Corps for this project. The first directive, contained in
Section 935 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, indicates that I am
authorized to acquire fill material from non-domestic sources if such materials are not
available from domestic sources for environmental or economic reasons. The second,
contained in the Conference Report on the Fiscal Year 1999 Energy ar~d Water
Appropriations Act, specifies that none of the funds provided for this project shall be
used for the acquisition of non-domestic material unless I provide written certification to
the Committees on Appropriations that domestic sources of materials are not available.
The use of alternative domestic sources of beach fill, within economic hauling
distances of the project, was initially evaluated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in
cooperation with representatives of the state of Florida, Dade, Broward and Palm Beach
Counties, and the American dredging industry. This initial evaluation identified the need
to formally document the economic and environmental viability of domestic sand
sources to sustain future renourishments. A letter report is currently umder preparation
by the Jacksonville District to certify whether domestic sources of materials are
available. The report is scheduled to be transmitted to the Corps Division office in
Atlanta in June, 2007. Following an appraisal by the Division Office, the report will be
forwarded to Corps Headquarters in Washington for policy review. After completion of
Prf~ed on ® FieCyeNd P~px
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the Corps review, the report will be sent to my office for final action. At that time, I will
provide the Corps findings and recommendations to Congress, and mane my
determination regarding certification. '
Please feel free to contact me if I may be of further assistance.
Very truly yours,
John Paul Woodley, Jr.
Assistant Secretary of the Army
(Civil Works) ,
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~ MIAMI BEACH CITY CL~~i'S'S o~~'cr-.
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
rvo. LTC # LETTER TO COMMISSION
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TO: Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager ~
DATE: July 2, 2007
SUQIECT: BEACH RENOURISHMENT MEETING WITH THE ARMY CORPS OF
ENGINEERS
The purpose of this LTC is to provide the Mayor and City Commission with a report on a
beach renourishment meeting that I attended in Washington D.C. on June 27, 2007.
As described in LTC No. 145-2007, Congresswomen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Debbie
Wasserman-Schultr requested a meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE)
regarding the status of the alternative sources of sand study for the Miami-Dade County
Beach Erosion Control project.
The meeting took place an June 27d' in the office of Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen with
representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers, including Assistant Secretary of the Army
John Paul Woodley, USAGE Director of Civil Works Major General Don T. Riley, USAGE
Jacksonville District Commander Colonel Paul Grossiwger, and Jeny Scarborough of the
USACE's Jacksonville Programs and Project Management Division. !n addition to
Congresswomen Ros-Lehtinen and Wasserman Schultz, staff from the offices of
Representatives Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, Alcee Has#ngs, and Senators Bill
Nelson and Mel Martinez were also in attendance. In addition to myself and Kevin Crowder,
County Commission Chairman Bruno Barreiro attended on behalf of the County.
A number of issues were discussed during the meeting, including timing of the letter report
dealing with the availability of domestic sand sources, the timing to acquire foreign sand (if
available), backup plans in case sand acquisition from a foreign source is not feasible, and
the breakwaters at 29~'-32nd Street.
LETTER REPORT ON DOMESTIC SAND SOURCES
Secretary Woodley and the USAGE indicated that the study was undergoing concurrent
review, and that it would most likely arrive to the Secretary's office in late October for his
review and signature. Upon approval, the letter would then be submitted to the
Congressional appropriations committees to notify them that a domestic source of sand
does not exist.
TIMING OF ACQUIRING FOREIGN SOURCE SAND
Following notification of the Appropriations Committees, the USAGE may begin exploring
alternative sources of sand, and will also begin the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA} requirements. The USAGE would then award a bid pursuant to this report in late
2009. The USAGE indicated that they consider this an expedited timeline, therefore, there is
areal possibility that a bid would not be awarded until later in 2010.
BACKUP PLANS
During the meeting i specifically inquired if the USACE had any backup plans foj
renaurishment of our beaches, in case, 1) a willing seller cannat be identified, 2
environmentally compatible foreign sand cannot be found, 3) foreign source sand is
available but too expensive. The USACE indicated that preliminary estimates are that foreign
source sand would cost approximately $45-50 per cubic yard, but that until the letter report is
complete and forwarded to Congress, they are prohibited from searching for, studying. and
negotiating pries far sand from a foreign source.
The Secretary also indicated that there wasn't really a 'Plan B', but that the USACE may
have to re-explore returning to the State of Florida. to extract sand from offshore borrow pits
elsewhere in the State. This effort has caused significant political problems in the past,
which prompted the Secretary to indicate that perhaps the beaches in MiamhDade County
no longer nd ~~ uis not a ong term soiutioni to the City's beachterosion problemi s foreign
source sa
BREAKWATER PROJECT
The Secretary and representatives of the USACE were presented with aerial photos of the
breakwater project, and discussed the problems that are occurring to the south of it. The
USACE indicated that the project is being monitored from the USACE office in Vicksburg,
and that they would investigate to see if they can 1) determine the cause and 2) identify
potential solutions. including possible removal.
In addition to the meeting described above, we also met with staff in Senator Nelson's office
to discuss concerns raised by the Surfrider Foundation regarcling the Reef Ball project that is
proposed at 63'" Stree#. The Senator's staff expressed the Senator's continued support of
efforts to control erosion in Miami Beach, and l expressed the Cites commitment to continue
to work with thM'iami Dade County and the Army Corps f iE g ne rss and questions are
considered by
CONCLUSION
In summary, l certainly appreciate the opportunity to ask questions directly to the leadership
of the Army Corps of Engineers, and I am grateful for their honest responses to our many
questions. However. the Administration is disappointed that there does not seem to be a
sense of urgency among the USACE officials for resolving this issue, that the time frame for
finalization of the report and for acquiring foreign sand could be as long as three Years (d a
suitable foreign source is identified), and that neither a backup plan nor along-term solutbn
to the erosion problems exists.
Beach erosion wilt continue to be an area of focus during the coming months, including
during the Congressional recess in August. The Administration has discussed inviting
leadership of the USAthem betteeunderstand the moagnitude and serious nature oflthe
firsthand, in order fo
problem.
l will continue th update you as this issue progresses. In the meantime. if you have any
questions. please do not hesitate to contact me.
JMGIRCM/kc
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
No. LTC # i6s-2oo~ LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager
DATE: July 13, 2007
SUBJECT: Beach Renourishment
The purpose of this ETC is to provide the Mayor and City Commission with the attached
correspondence from the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the meeting that I attended in
Washington D. C. on June 27, 2007, which was described in LTC No. 150-2007.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions and/or comments.
J MG/kc
c: Bob Middaugh, Assistant City Manager
Hilda Fernandez, Assistant City Manager
Fred Beckmann, Director, Public Works Department
Kevin Crowder, Director, Economic Development & Legislative Affairs
Attachment
F:~ECON~ALUKEVIN~LeyJslatlve PrioriHes~Federa112008 AgendalACE Letter LTC.doc
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' DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT CORPS OF ENGINEERS
P.O. BOX 4970
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32232-0019
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ATTENTION OF
Programs and Project Management Division
Coastal, Navigation and Antilles Branch
Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
House of Representatives
2160 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0918
Dear Ms. Ros-Lehtinen:
I would like to thank you and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman
Schultz for allowing us to meet with both of you and your staffs
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007, to discuss some very important
Federal projects in the South Florida area. I hope we were able
to clearly articulate where we currently are with these projects
and provide you with the understanding of the processes involved
for these projects in the near future. I would like to take
this opportunity to summarize our discussions.
The Florida Keys Water Quality Improvements Project is
moving with three agreements now being forwarded this week to
our headquarters for approval. Upon approval we expect to
execute these within 30 days. Reimbursement would follow shortly
after that. Two other agreements are being worked with the
local municipalities to obtain necessary supporting information
needed. We expect to complete these and forward to our
headquarters within the next month as well.
The key issue with the Miami River Maintenance Dredging
Project is funding, as you so clearly described. We thank you
for your efforts in this regard and appreciate your continuing
support. Two additional options on the current contract have
been awarded which should allow the continuation of the project
into early FY-08. There is funding in the President's budget
for FY-08 that would allow the award of at least one more
option. With these options awarded as planned, six additional
options would remain to complete the project. In the interim,
we have been working with Dade County in an effort to allow the
advancement of the non-Federal share of the project costs to
ensure maximum project execution with the funding available from
both Federal and non-Federal sources. As you know, it has been
-2-
decided that an amendment to the Project Cooperation Agreement
would be a better vehicle to allow for the acceleration of the
non-Federal share of the project costs. We are proceeding
ahead, as Mr. Woodley suggested, to obtain Federal approval of
this document prior to the document going before the Miami Dade
Board of County Commissioners (BCC) .for local approval. Our
goal is to have a federally approved document ready to go before
the BCC in their September session.
The lack of sand sources for the Dade County Beach Erasion
Control and Hurricane Protection project has .caused considerable
delays in the renourishment of this important beach project. As
you are aware, all available domestic sources of compatible sand
for this project either have been exhausted or are not
environmentally and economically feasible, In compliance with
Congressional directives affecting acquisition of non-domestic
sources of beach material, we have prepared a Letter Report to
document that domestic sources are not available. -This report
will be submitted within two weeks to the Headquarters Office of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for final review and
approval. Once approved, the report will then be sent over to
Mr. Woodley to make his determination regarding certification to
the Committees on Appropriations that domestic sources of
materials are not available. This is anticipated in October
2007. Once Congress is notified, the Corps will then be allowed
to pursue non-domestic sand sources, and subsequently proceed
with the next renourishment of the Dade County beaches. Due to
the extensive environmental procedures required, this is
currently estimated to occur in late 2009.
Commissioner Bruno Barreiro of Dade County brought up an
issue concerning erosion caused by "experimental" breakwaters
constructed near the beach in Dade County. After further
investigation, it was determined that these structures were
designed and constructed by Dade County. The only involvement
of the Corps was through a Department of the Army permit that
was required for this project feature to be built. In this
regard, it is our responsibility to ensure that the integrity of
the Federal project has not been compromised by this local
project. Therefore, we will be conducting a site inspection in
the very near future to investigate this situation in an effort
to help the county decide how best to proceed.
-3-
The last project discussed was Miami Harbor and the cost
sharing agreement for the General Reevaluation Report. This
agreement has been under review at Corps Headquarters and
responses to comments have been provided. It is anticipated
that approval of this agreement will occur in September 2007.
Hopefully our meeting was beneficial to you and you have a
better understanding as to where we are with these projects. If
you have questions or need additional information, please call
me or have orre of your staff contact Ms. Patrice Morey, Acting
Congressional Liaison at (904) 232-2243.
Sincerely,
~~
ems,
Paul L. Grosskruger
Colonel, U.S. Army
District Commander
Copies Furnished:
Honorable Debbie Wasserman Schultz, House of Representatives,
118 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-0920
Honorable John Paul Woodley, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the
Army (Civil Works), Department of the Army, 108 The Army
Pentagon, Room 3E446, Washington, DC 20310-0108
Major General Don T. Riley, Director of Civil Works, 941 G.
Street, NW, Washington, DC 20314-1000
Brigadier General Joseph Schroedel, U. S, Army South Atlantic
Division, ATTN: CESAD-DE, 60 Forsyth Street, SW, Atlanta, GA
30303
Mr. Thomas W. Waters, P.E., Chief, Planning and Policies
Division, CECW-MVD, 441 G. Street, NW, Washington, DC 20314-
1000
Mr. James Dalton, Chief, SAD-RIT, 491 G. Street, NW, Washington,
DC 20314-1000