Posted on March 2, 2017
By Sebastian Kitchen, jacksonville.com
Jacksonville port executives continue preparations to deepen the St. Johns River, including arranging the purchase of conservation land needed for the project. They also continue to push for local, state and federal funding for the almost $700 million project.
The Jacksonville Port Authority board voted unanimously Monday to approve the purchase of two parcels of land totaling 53 acres at a cost of just more than $457,000 for the needed conservation land.
The port is purchasing more than 14.8 of those acres from JEA and the remaining 38.4 acres jointly owned by JEA and Florida Power & Light Co.
David Kaufman, the port’s senior director of planning and commercial development, said preserving the land is important with all of the development in the area. He said the land is adjacent to the Timucuan Ecological Preserve.
Port Authority spokeswoman Nancy Rubin said the authority is not purchasing the property yet, but has lined up the purchases to be able to move forward when it is ready to begin construction deepening the river from 40 feet to 47 feet to allow for larger ships with more cargo.
Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Brian Taylor has said as recently as this month he hopes to begin construction this year. Taylor was traveling and not at the Monday meeting.
The board also approved $1.5 million in funding for preparation and monitoring work in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will manage the project to deepen 13 miles of the river.
The work includes $608,000 for contract administration, design, procurement and construction, and $936,500 for environmental monitoring.
The port must share in those costs with the Army Corps, which is overseeing the design and construction of the project.
Chief Operating Officer Chris Kauffmann said the amount is for the rest of this fiscal year.
Kauffmann said those overseeing the project must establish a baseline for the levels and then monitor throughout the work to determine the effects. He said the funding is to monitor salinity related to the dredging and the effects on vegetation and wildlife. Those conditions are monitored and reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Board Chairman James Citrano noted the significant amount of the expenditures, but said it is necessary to continue to move forward on the project. Jacksonville leaders consider the project necessary to compete with other East Coast ports, some of which are already deeper than Jacksonville or under construction to be deeper.
Staff and board members continue to push for funding for the $684 million project.
Board member John Newman accompanied Government Affairs Director Eric Green in Washington, D.C., in the last month to talk to the new Army Corps leadership about the deepening project and board member John Falconetti joined him at City Hall and in Tallahassee to push for local and state support.
Green and Newman, who is engaged to Trump aide Omarosa Manigault, return to Washington this week in coordination with the Florida Ports Council.
Green, senior director of government and external affairs, said the port has not asked for a specific amount from the city, but could as soon as this week.
Green said as officials continue to push for financial support from Washington, they are not expecting any federal funding at this point, but he and Falconetti agreed they are optimistic and are moving forward because of the time constraints. Gov. Rick Scott is working behind the scenes to have the Jacksonville port deepening project added to the list of infrastructure projects included as priorities for the new administration, Green said. He said Jacksonville is prepared to spend the money immediately if it receives funding.
President Trump said during a Jacksonville campaign stop last year he would direct a lot of spending to infrastructure, including deepening the harbor in Jacksonville.
The port authority included $46.6 million in its current operating budget to begin the dredging work. The money for dredging includes $31.6 million from the state and $15 million in port financing.
Scott, in his recently proposed budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, included $31.1 million for deepening and widening the channel at the port.
Source: jacksonville.com
