Posted on August 21, 2017
City council members have raised questions regarding the project, which some members say has side-lined them.
Two members of Jacksonville City Council in Florida have expressed their wish for talks about deepening the state’s longest river to move into public sessions to assess the project, a venture that may require $150m from the city.
John Crescimbeni and Tommy Hazouri said that discussions about the work regarding the St. Johns River should move out into the open and be held between Jacksonville Port Authority, also known as JAXPORT, and council members in public meetings.
Explaining his opinion, Mr Hazouri said: “It would put everything on the table for the public to see, up close and personal”, while Mr Crescimbeni said that public meetings would aid the separation of “fact from fiction” in conflicting information they have allegedly received from JAXPORT, the St. Johns Riverkeeper organisation and dredging critic Dale Lewis.
“We can at least have a discussion with everybody in the room at the same time, and everybody gets to hear the same questions and answers,” Mr Crescimbeni added.
In June, JAXPORT announced plans to request between $47m and $150 from the city for the dredging, which is a $484m project.
The port authority also said it would shorten the previously approved 13-mile dredging to 11 miles, meaning that major upgrades to its Blount Island Terminal would need to take place to ensure the relocation of TraPac, one of the port’s largest tenants.
Currently, JAXPORT does not intend to officially request any city funding for another two years, meaning that city agreement to help pay for the river dredging is out of the current council’s control.
City council members have raised questions regarding the project, which some members say has side-lined them.
However, no council member has flatly opposed the project and JAXPORT has authorised the Army Corps of Engineers to begin dredging by early 2018.
Source: portstrategy
