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City Needs Signatures To Dredge Canals

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By JOE COFER

Published: December 11, 2007

I want to make this simple for the City Council, the city attorney and the Tampa Port Authority's attorney.

My letter on the proposed canal dredging to the City Council was discussed during the City Council meeting on Nov. 15.

Mark Holan's article published in the Nov. 16 issue of The Tampa Tribune made it sound as if I suggested that the Tampa Port Authority should be responsible for dredging all the canals. I have never argued, and do not now argue, that the Tampa Port Authority is responsible for the dredging of any canal, though I do believe that argument could be made, based on federal precedent.

But my point is that each and every waterfront owner in Hillsborough County has riparian rights protected by the laws of Florida. The city has no authority, under any law, to take any action, that could affect, diminish or destroy those riparian rights.

Those riparian rights are recognized in Chapter 95-488, Laws of Florida as follows:

"Title to, right of entry upon, and the right to regulate the improvement of any and all submerged lands, belonging to the State of Florida, contained within the port district are granted to the port authority, subject to the riparian rights of the respective owners of the uplands adjacent thereto."

The law is quite simple. The law defines the port district as Hillsborough County, and "the respective owners of the uplands adjacent thereto" are simply each of the waterfront owners, on all the submerged lands in Hillsborough County.

That is why nothing can be done to those submerged lands without the waterfront owners' signatures. Therefore, the question of title of those submerged lands, which clearly appears to belong to the Tampa Port Authority, is irrelevant. No one, including the city, can dredge any of the submerged lands without having every signature of each and every waterfront owner.

Therefore, for the city to continue with any action related to the dredging of submerged lands, without having already secured all the signatures, is a waste of time, energy and taxpayer dollars.

If the city believes it can take any action that might, in any way, affect, diminish or destroy my riparian rights, as a waterfront owner on Currituck Channel without my signature, they are wrong. The law is clear.

Joe Cofer is a Tampa attorney.

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