USA: Corps to Hold Public Meeting on Proposed Miami-Dade Renouishment Project

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and the Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resources Management will hold a public meeting on Friday, Aug. 16 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss using sand from offshore of St. Lucie County and other South Florida areas for the renourishment of beaches in Miami-Dade County.

The meeting will be held in the St. Lucie County Commissioner Chambers of the Roger Poitras Annex of the County Administration Complex, 2300 Virginia Ave.

The sand sources being considered for the Miami-Dade Federal Project are based on the Southeast Florida Sediment Assessment and Needs Determination (SAND) Study prepared in partnership between the State, the Corp and the affected Counties.

Scoping meetings to present and discuss the production of an Environmental Assessment (EA) document for the proposed project will be held in each of the five coastal counties between Miami-Dade and St. Lucie. Examination of the impacts of the proposed dredging of sand from the suggested borrow areas will be the major focus of the assessment. Sand borrowing areas include: offshore areas in St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach and Broward Counties, as well as deepwater, offshore sites in Miami-Dade County and upland sand sources.

Issues that are anticipated include concern for nearshore, hardbottom communities; water quality; threatened and endangered species and cultural, commercial and recreational resources.

[mappress]

Press Release, August 5, 2013