SPGP V-R1

Good Afternoon Ms. White & Mr. Barron:

I am the Executive Director of the non-profit, Florida Marine Contractors Association.  I learned today of changes to the SPGP program that involve single family docks that are located outside residential canals.  As I understand it, proposed single family docks that are outside of residential canals will now be “red lighted”, beginning this Saturday, June 30, 2018.  This will cause significant delays in the processing of single family docks and could have economic consequences for marine contractors around the state of Florida.  There are already serious delays obtaining ACOE permits in varying situations and this may very well bottleneck even more permits.

I am asking to delay the implementation of these changes and request that a workshop(s) be organized to review the changes that you are proposing.  Our Association and its members have worked with FL DEP, NOAA/NMF and ACOE with past State Wide Programmatics and have been included in discussions that could/would have such a dramatic effect on our industry.  We were very successful with providing needed data and information that helped facilitate various state wide issues.  We understand there is a need to protect the environment, however we want to be sure it is based on sound science.

Please let me know if/when we can arrange a meeting/workshop/conference call to discuss the outlined changes, impacts and what additional information may be needed by NOAA/ACOE to help reduce the impact of the changes.

Respectfully,

Kelly White, CRIS

Executive Director

Florida Marine Contractor’s Association