CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.House Bill 0057c1
Florida House of Representatives - 1997 CS/HB 57
By the Committee on Water & Resource Management and
Representatives Ball, Feeney and Laurent
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to environmental protection;
3 amending s. 253.03, F.S.; prohibiting the
4 control, regulation, permitting, or imposition
5 of charges on certain severed materials;
6 amending s. 369.20, F.S.; authorizing certain
7 riparian owners to remove aquatic plants
8 without certain permits under certain
9 circumstances; authorizing the Department of
10 Environmental Protection to issue certain
11 permits; providing criteria; providing
12 construction; exempting such permits from
13 certain water pollution operation permit
14 requirements; amending s. 403.813, F.S.;
15 exempting installation and repair of certain
16 piers and docking facilities from certain
17 permitting requirements; providing that certain
18 environmental permits are not required for
19 maintenance dredging of certain portions of
20 natural water bodies within approved
21 rights-of-way or drainage easements; providing
22 limitations; providing an effective date.
23
24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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26 Section 1. Subsection (16) is added to section 253.03,
27 Florida Statutes, 1996 Supplement, to read:
28 253.03 Board of trustees to administer state lands;
29 lands enumerated.--
30 (16) The Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement
31 Trust Fund, and the state through its agencies, may not
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1 control, regulate, permit, or charge for any severed materials
2 which are removed from the area adjacent to an intake or
3 discharge structure pursuant to an exemption authorized in s.
4 403.813(2)(f).
5 Section 2. Subsections (8), (9), (10), and (11) are
6 added to section 369.20, Florida Statutes, 1996 Supplement, to
7 read:
8 369.20 Florida Aquatic Weed Control Act.--
9 (8) As an exemption to all permitting requirements in
10 this section and ss. 369.22 and 369.25, in all freshwater
11 bodies, except aquatic preserves designated under chapter 258
12 and Outstanding Florida Waters designated under chapter 403, a
13 riparian owner may physically or mechanically remove aquatic
14 plants within an area delimited by up to 50 percent of the
15 property owner's frontage or 50 feet, whichever is less, and
16 by a sufficient length waterward from, and perpendicular to,
17 the riparian owner's shoreline to create a corridor to allow
18 access for a boat or swimmer to reach open water. All
19 unvegetated areas shall be cumulatively considered when
20 determining the width of the exempt corridor. Physical or
21 mechanical removal does not include the use of any chemicals
22 or any activity that requires a permit pursuant to part IV of
23 chapter 373.
24 (9) The department is authorized to issue an aquatic
25 plant control general permit for the removal of aquatic
26 plants, the removal of tussocks, the associated replanting of
27 indigenous aquatic plants, or the associated removal from
28 freshwater bodies of organic detrital material that exists on
29 the surface of natural mineral soil that is necessary to
30 accomplish such plant removal or replanting, or the removal of
31 aquatic plants for aquatic plant management, including
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1 associated incidental removal of sediment attached to plant
2 roots.
3 (a) The activities permitted pursuant to this
4 subsection are exempt from the requirement to obtain a permit
5 pursuant to part IV of chapter 373 and no fee shall be
6 required.
7 (b) Organic detrital material that exists on the
8 surface of natural mineral soil shall be permitted to be
9 removed to a depth of 3 feet or to the natural mineral soils,
10 whichever is less.
11 (c) All organic material shall be deposited in an
12 upland site except when spoil material is permitted to be used
13 to create wildlife islands in freshwater bodies of the state
14 when a governmental entity is permitted pursuant to this
15 section to create such islands as a part of a restoration or
16 enhancement project.
17 (d) All activities shall be performed in a manner to
18 prevent violations of state water quality standards.
19 (e) The department is not authorized to adopt
20 implementing rules for this subsection, notwithstanding any
21 other provision of law.
22 (10) A permit issued pursuant to this section to
23 control, eradicate, remove, or replant aquatic plants, to
24 remove tussocks, or to remove organic detrital material on
25 sovereign submerged lands or other state lands constitutes
26 consent of use and authorization required pursuant to chapter
27 253 for such activities.
28 (11) A permit issued pursuant to this section for the
29 application of herbicides to waters in the state for the
30 control of aquatic plants, algae, or invasive exotic plants is
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1 exempt from the requirement to obtain a water pollution
2 operation permit pursuant to s. 403.088.
3 Section 3. Paragraphs (b) and (f) of subsection (2) of
4 section 403.813, Florida Statutes, 1996 Supplement, are
5 amended to read:
6 403.813 Permits issued at district centers;
7 exceptions.--
8 (2) No permit under this chapter, chapter 373, chapter
9 61-691, Laws of Florida, or chapter 25214 or chapter 25270,
10 Laws of Florida, 1949, shall be required for activities
11 associated with the following types of projects; however,
12 nothing in this subsection relieves an applicant from any
13 requirement to obtain permission to use or occupy lands owned
14 by the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust
15 Fund or any water management district in its governmental or
16 proprietary capacity or from complying with applicable local
17 pollution control programs authorized under this chapter or
18 other requirements of county and municipal governments:
19 (b) The installation and repair of mooring pilings and
20 dolphins associated with private docking facilities or piers
21 and the installation of private docks, or repairs to piers and
22 recreational docking facilities or piers of local governmental
23 entities, any of which structures docks:
24 1. Has 500 square feet or less of over-water surface
25 area for a dock which is located in an area designated as
26 Outstanding Florida Waters or 1,000 square feet or less of
27 over-water surface area for a dock which is located in an area
28 which is not designated as Outstanding Florida Waters;
29 2. Is constructed on or held in place by pilings or is
30 a floating dock which is constructed so as not to involve
31
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1 filling or dredging other than that necessary to install the
2 pilings;
3 3. Shall not substantially impede the flow of water or
4 create a navigational hazard;
5 4. Is used for recreational, noncommercial activities
6 associated with the mooring or storage of boats and boat
7 paraphernalia; and
8 5. Is the sole dock constructed pursuant to this
9 exemption as measured along the shoreline for a distance of 65
10 feet, unless the parcel of land or individual lot as platted
11 is less than 65 feet in length along the shoreline, in which
12 case there may be one exempt dock allowed per parcel or lot.
13
14 Nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit the department from
15 taking appropriate enforcement action pursuant to this chapter
16 to abate or prohibit any activity otherwise exempt from
17 permitting pursuant to this paragraph if the department can
18 demonstrate that the exempted activity has caused water
19 pollution in violation of this chapter.
20 (f) The performance of maintenance dredging of
21 existing manmade canals, channels, and intake and discharge
22 structures, and previously dredged portions of natural water
23 bodies within recorded drainage rights-of-way or drainage
24 easements, where the spoil material is to be removed and
25 deposited on a self-contained, upland spoil site which will
26 prevent the escape of the spoil material into the waters of
27 the state, provided that no more dredging is to be performed
28 than is necessary to restore the canals, channels, and intake
29 and discharge structures, and previously dredged portions of
30 natural water bodies to original design specifications or
31 configurations, provided the work is conducted in compliance
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1 with s. 370.12(2)(d) and notice is given to the department
2 prior to commencement of the dredging activity, provided no
3 significant impacts occur to previously undisturbed natural
4 areas, and provided that control devices and best management
5 practices for erosion and sediment control are utilized to
6 prevent bank erosion and scouring and to prevent turbidity,
7 dredged material, and prevent toxic or deleterious substances
8 from discharging into adjacent waters during maintenance
9 dredging. This exemption applies to all canals and previously
10 dredged portions of natural water bodies within recorded
11 drainage rights-of-way or drainage easements constructed prior
12 to April 3, 1970, and to those canals and previously dredged
13 portions of natural water bodies constructed on or after April
14 3, 1970, pursuant to all necessary state permits. This
15 exemption does not apply to the removal of a natural or
16 manmade barrier separating a canal or canal system from
17 adjacent waters. When no previous permit has been issued by
18 the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund
19 or the United States Army Corps of Engineers for construction
20 or maintenance dredging of the existing manmade canal or
21 intake or discharge structure, such maintenance dredging shall
22 be limited to a depth of no more than 5 feet below mean low
23 water. The Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust
24 Fund may fix and recover from the permittee an amount equal to
25 the difference between the fair market value and the actual
26 cost of the maintenance dredging for material removed during
27 such maintenance dredging. However, no charge shall be exacted
28 by the state for material removed during such maintenance
29 dredging by a public port authority. The removing party may
30 subsequently sell such material; however, proceeds from such
31 sale that exceed the costs of maintenance dredging shall be
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1 remitted to the state and deposited in the Internal
2 Improvement Trust Fund.
3 Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 1997.
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