Florida Marine Contractors Association
a Florida Non Profit Corporation

A word from the Executive Director!

Posted on Sep 14 in News

I have been traveling all over the State of Florida visiting with many of our members and the one common issue is permitting. Whether it’s the local building department, state or federal, it seems that is the one common problem in addition to competing with properly insured/licensed contractors.

The majority of the coastal counties are having issues with the ACOE, which of course is a direct result of ACOE having to submit for biological opinions on every permit to National Marine Fisheries. Once the Statewide Programmatic is approved, it should alleviate approximately 50-60% of the permits bottle necked in the system now. This will free up permitter’s and NOAA/NMF personnel to work on the remaining 40-50%.

It appears about 10% of the permits not included in the Statewide Programmatic are due to additional structures (ie. Boatlifts) have active applications for installation, however the original dock structure had been permitted through the local building department and not ACOE. This appears to be very common throughout Monroe County and pockets throughout the state. I am currently working with the ACOE for resolutions to this. SAJ-82 Minor Work for Monroe County did not address this issue. This will be discussed at the FMCA Expo in Jacksonville, FL October 16th, 2015.

Central Florida is having issues with numerous building departments. It appears several inland counties/cities are not interested in having bulkheads or docks constructed any longer. These matters need to be addressed with the various building departments on an individual basis, as each department has a varying degree of acceptance.

The Panhandle is having issues with the state as it pertains to fish cleaning stations and benches. The issue was discussed with the FL DEP in October 2010. A new verbage was to have been adopted, however based on research was never “approved”. The wording contained in Sovereignty Submerged Lands Management 18-21.004 is vague at best. The additional structures are acceptable if they are subject to water dependent activity. However, it is left up to interpretation of the enforcement division and/or permitter’s of the state. It is certainly not “spelled out” as was initially advised would be approved. In addition to the water dependent activity “(g) 3. The nonwater dependent uses are incidental to the basic purpose of the project, and constitute only minor nearshore encroachments on sovereign lands.” this again is left up to interpretation. This is an issue the Board must take up again.

These are only some of the issues I have discussed with our members. The Board of Directors is working hard to resolve these items and more. We need your help though. We need volunteers for the Board that are interested in correcting the problems. When you are involved on the board you get to know biologists at NOAA/NMF, talk to management with FL DEP and ACOE, work with a great group of very involved contractors, professionals and vendors. Recently our involvement with boards of “similar but different” associations has been added to the list. It’s really pretty incredible the people you will meet and get to know.

Please call one of our listed board members or myself, if you would like additional information as to what is involved or if you want to volunteer to help with the upcoming event. I believe if we had more involvement from members of varying backgrounds, our statewide issues would be a bit more manageable.

Please refer to myfmca.org for more information about the association and board members contact info.

Kelly White
Executive Director, FMCA