Posted on July 5, 2023
Work is 50% complete, expected to be finished in November
TARPON SPRINGS — The Anclote River dredge project that took several years to get started is now going to take a little while longer to be completed.
“Dredging operations are currently underway and the dredging work is about 50% complete,” Bob Robertson, the city’s Project Administration Department director, reported to city commissioners June 27. “Dredging production has been slower than expected. The contractor is working in the final dredge area within the federal turning basin and soon will be moving to the city’s extended turning basin. They are currently projecting a late November completion.”
A May fact sheet from the Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District reported the construction schedule had been “significantly delayed due to a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, gopher tortoise relocations and impacts from Hurricane Ida on the contractor’s home base in Louisiana.”
Delays led commissioners on June 27 to unanimously approve extending the rental lease on the soil site owned by Anclote Properties, located on L&R Industrial Boulevard, until March 31.
Robertson said the city is responsible for securing a site for storage and sediments dredged from the river.
He said the Army Corps contractor “revised its dredging schedule and is requesting that the city maintain control of the property through December 2023. City staff is requesting extending that date further to allow time for site restoration, which is the responsibility of the city after dredging activities are completed.”
Funding for this lease is reimbursed by the state of Florida.
He noted the need for the lease extension was caused by delays he attributed to the dredge contractor. Robinson said the Corps had indicated it might seek monetary compensation from the contractor because of the delays, but that the city had asked the Corps to instead reimburse the city for property lease payments incurred by the delay.
The spoil site lease, which runs until March 2024, “should give us enough time to complete the site restoration, which we are responsible for, after the dredge work is completed,” he added.
Robertson said the delay was created by a clog in the pipeline, causing new pipe to be installed. The contractor also installed a larger pump.
“I live very close to this site so if it stops for any reason, I’m going to know about it and I will let you all know,” Vice Mayor Craig Lunt advised. “It’s going smoother; I’m not really happy with the date they are asking for, but we need to get this done.”
The existing project channel is 8.5 miles long, 9 feet deep, and 100 feet wide, extending from Tarpon Springs into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Corps.
Lunt also expressed concerned about what will become of three huge barges in the wake of any tropical storm.
In order to expedite the project, three large barges are now being used in the Anclote River channel. This prompted Lunt to tell fellow commissioners, “My only concern is I want to see a formalized plan for if we get a storm, because we have three large barges out there and it’s not like we can tuck them up the river, because those things would completely plug the channel.”
