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Canal Dredging Hearing Postponed Until 2009

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: December 10, 2008

RUSKIN - A public hearing on an ordinance that would provide a method for waterfront homeowners to set up and finance a coastal canal dredging program has been delayed until at least January.

The hearing originally had been scheduled for Dec. 17.

"With the holidays, we didn't want some to say they couldn't make it because it was a bad time," said Martin Montalvo, project manager for Hillsborough County.

Thousands of property owners living on canals that lead to Tampa Bay from Ruskin, Apollo Beach and canals off the Alafia River have attended public meetings in recent months to hear how the plan would work.

"They don't all like it, but they realize it may be the only way they get anything done," Montalvo said.

Stopping short of agreeing to pay for the dredging, Hillsborough County engineers came up with a plan that requires property owners to take the lead, collecting signatures from affected land owners who will agree to finance the dredging. A Municipal Service Taxing Unit would be set up to assess the cost of the dredging.

The projects would be done in chunks.

At least 60 percent of affected landowners in a given project area would have to agree to pay the assessment for the plan to move forward. And if the signature initiative fails twice in a row, the effort can't be tried again for at least 18 months, Montalvo said.

It would cost an estimated $15.2 million to dredge 70 coastal canals throughout the county, according to engineering estimates.

In Apollo Beach South, the owner of waterfront property with at least 50 linear feet would pay $164 annually for 10 years.

People along the Alafia River, where there are fewer owners and much more silt, would get hit much harder. The owner of the same size property there would pay $1,513.50 every year for 10 years.

There is no guarantee that the dredging would even be effective for 10 years. If a storm comes along in year five and fills the canals back in, the payments would still be due.

Not to mention the tough financial times, said Alafia resident Bob Minthorn.

"The economy is down the toilet. Who could afford it?" he said.

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