Port Richey Has Options In Dredging

PORT RICHEY - State and federal regulators say they're unlikely to approve the city's request to create a new navigational channel linking Old Post Road to the Gulf of Mexico.

Still, city officials are planning one final push for the Channel 30 permit request, one of three involved in a project to dredge miles of silt-clogged canals and other waterways degraded by pollution and years of neglect.

On Tuesday night, city council members will discuss their options.

One possibility is to file for an extension while the city tweaks the request to make it more favorable to regulators. Another option is to drop that channel from the project.

Mike Latini, a member of the Port Authority Board, wants to see the city consider every possible alternative before abandoning the permit application for Channel 30.

"We can't just walk away from it," he said. "There's too much time and effort invested."

Besides cutting a channel for boats through seagrass beds between Brasher Park and the Pithlachascotee River, the project also would dredge a canal off Old Post Road.

To do that, the city has proposed uprooting 5.76 acres of healthy seagrass, which is a habitat for marine creatures. The city proposed mitigation for the beds, but state and federal officials said that's not enough.

In October, William Vorstadt, an administrator with the state Department of Environmental Protection, informed then-Interim City Manager James Mathieu that the new channel would destroy too much seagrass.

"The adverse impact to over 5 acres of seagrass in order to service the relatively small number of homes with relatively small-draft vessels is not a good trade-off," Vorstadt wrote to Mathieu. "At this time, we must proceed with preparing a recommendation for denial."

DEP officials said others involved in the permitting process - the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the federal Environmental Protection Agency - agree with that assessment.

Brian Roberts, a boater who lives off Old Post Road, takes issue with that evaluation.

"It's not just a handful of residents," said Roberts, a member of Citizens for Proper Dredge. "There are at least 100 homes that will be served by that channel."

He wants the city government to request an extension for the permit application.

That's also the recommendation of the city's dredging consultant, LPA Group, which has suggested the city seek a 60-day extension for channels 12 and 30.

The city's other two permit applications would cover unclogging 26 canals and creating a new waterway linking the nearby river to Lake Deedra.

DEP officials have raised numerous concerns with those applications as well during a permitting process that has dragged on for more than a decade.

On the request to dredge 26 canals, state regulators have asked for more information about plans to store and dry out the dredged material at Waterfront Park.

City officials have responded and are awaiting a reply.

"We are still reviewing the city's responses," DEP spokeswoman Pam Vasquez said.

The dredging calls for removing more than 400,000 cubic yards of mud and silt, enough to cover 10 acres with a 15-foot-high mound.

Once the dredged material is dried at the park, it would be trucked to an old industrial site, where the sand would be filtered and sold.

Supporters say the dredging will make the waterways healthier and boost property values. Critics say the price tag - estimated at more than $15 million - is too high to justify work that benefits a handful of wealthier residents.

The city council meets at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at city hall, 6333 Ridge Road.