HB 0655

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the Florida Inland Navigation District;
3	amending s. 374.984, F.S.; providing responsibility and
4	authority of the Board of Commissioners of the Florida
5	Inland Navigational District with respect to that portion
6	of the Okeechobee Waterway located in Martin and Palm
7	Beach Counties; revising the list of acts authorizing and
8	directing the improvement and maintenance of the
9	Intracoastal Waterway and that portion of the Okeechobee
10	Waterway located in Martin and Palm Beach Counties;
11	providing an exception for maintaining the navigability of
12	the Okeechobee Waterway under certain circumstances;
13	providing an effective date.
14
15	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17	Section 1.  Section 374.984, Florida Statutes, is amended
18	to read:
19	374.984  Purpose; powers and duties.--It is the purpose and
20	intent of this act that the board perform and do all things
21	which shall be requisite and necessary to comply with the
22	requirements and conditions imposed upon a "local interest" by
23	the Congress of the United States in the several acts
24	authorizing and directing the improvement and maintenance of the
25	Intracoastal Waterway from St. Mary's River to the southernmost
26	boundary of Miami-Dade County and that portion of the Okeechobee
27	Waterway located in Martin and Palm Beach Counties. Said acts
28	include but are not limited to: the Rivers and Harbors Act
29	approved January 21, 1927, as amended by the River and Harbor
30	Act approved July 3, 1930; the River and Harbor Act of June 20,
31	1938; the River and Harbor Act of March 2, 1945; and s. 107 of
32	the Federal River and Harbor Act of 1960. Pursuant thereto, the
33	powers of the board shall include, but not be limited to:
34	(1)  Obtaining by gift, donation, purchase, exchange,
35	condemnation, or otherwise, and conveying, or causing to be
36	conveyed, free of cost to the United States, necessary right-of-
37	way property, and in addition thereto, suitable fee simple or
38	easement areas (as determined by the board) for the deposit of
39	dredged material in connection with the work of improving or
40	constructing, or both, the aforementioned waterway and its
41	subsequent maintenance, including future improvement of said
42	Intracoastal Waterway, with a view to providing a general depth
43	of 12 feet, more or less, depending upon specific local
44	conditions, referred to the plane of local mean water, and a
45	width appropriate to said depth and such improvements as may be
46	authorized and adopted by the Congress of the United States, and
47	in connection with the subsequent maintenance of said waterway
48	so improved. Prior to acquiring any property for the deposit of
49	dredged material, the district shall inform the county and, if
50	applicable, the municipalities in which the property to be
51	acquired is located of the district's intent to acquire such
52	property and the district shall further hold a public meeting to
53	advise the residents of the area of its intent. Such public
54	meeting shall be noticed in a paper of general circulation in
55	the county in which the meeting is to be held not less than 15
56	days prior to the meeting, said notice to contain the date,
57	time, and place of the meeting and to identify the potential
58	acquisition site or sites.
59	(2)  Obtaining by gift, donation, purchase, exchange,
60	condemnation, or otherwise, and furnishing, free of cost, to the
61	United States, any property, property right of every
62	description, easement, riparian right, interest in property, and
63	suitable dredged material management areas outside of said
64	right-of-way that may be necessary to the United States for the
65	construction, maintenance, or operation of said waterway.
66	(3)  Contracting for the purchase of any property to be
67	acquired or obtained by the board under the provisions of this
68	act and paying the purchase price therefor in a lump sum or in
69	installments or deferred payments upon such terms as the board
70	shall determine, said contract of purchase to provide for the
71	payment of interest not to exceed the maximum interest rate
72	permitted by law upon deferred payments. Any acquisition of
73	property, other than by eminent domain, shall be pursuant to
74	rules adopted by the board.
75	(4)  Exercising and using the right of eminent domain, and
76	condemning for the use of the district or to effect the purposes
77	of this act, or both, any and all lands, easements, areas for
78	deposit of dredged materials, right-of-way, riparian rights,
79	and/or property rights of every description required for the
80	public purposes and powers of the board. Such condemnation
81	proceeding shall be maintained by and in the name of the
82	district and the procedures shall be those prescribed and set
83	forth in chapters 73 and 74, as amended from time to time,
84	prescribing the procedure for condemnation by counties, and the
85	same rights and powers shall accrue to said district under such
86	procedures defined and set forth as accruing to the counties in
87	chapters 73 and 74, as well as pursuant to any other general law
88	pertaining thereto, and the district and the board are hereby
89	vested with power and authority to pay such judgment or
90	compensation awarded in any such proceedings out of any fund
91	available for the purchase of right-of-way, areas for deposit of
92	dredged material, or other property under the provisions of this
93	act.
94	(5)  Assuming and/or relieving the United States from the
95	cost, expense, and/or obligation of constructing,
96	reconstructing, maintaining, and/or operating any bridge over
97	said Intracoastal Waterway, whenever, in the judgment of the
98	board of commissioners, such action is necessary or proper upon
99	its part to fully comply with the requirements and conditions
100	imposed upon "local interests" by the Congress of the United
101	States in the several acts authorizing and directing the
102	improvement, navigability, and maintenance of the Intracoastal
103	Waterway from St. Mary's River to the southernmost boundary of
104	Miami-Dade County and that portion of the Okeechobee Waterway
105	located in Martin and Palm Beach Counties; the expense therefor
106	to be paid as a necessary expense of the district. The board is
107	authorized and empowered to contract with the board of county
108	commissioners of each or any county in the district to the end
109	that, for a consideration from the district, said board of
110	county commissioners, or county, shall assume the responsibility
111	for any or all of the following activities: the construction,
112	reconstruction, maintenance, or operation of any such bridge.
113	Any of said board of county commissioners or county is hereby
114	authorized and empowered to enter into such a contract with the
115	board of the district, and such contract shall be binding and
116	obligatory upon said county or counties and the district.
117	(6)(a)  Contracting directly for, or entering into
118	agreement from time to time with the district engineer of the
119	Jacksonville, Florida, United States Army Corps of Engineers
120	district, or other agency or party, to contribute toward the
121	cost of dredging performed on the waterway, to construct
122	retaining bulkheads, dikes, and levees, to construct ditches for
123	the control of water discharged by the dredges, and to do all
124	other work and/or things which, in the judgment of the board,
125	shall be proper and necessary to produce economies in meeting
126	the conditions with respect to right-of-way and dredged material
127	management areas imposed upon a "local interest" by the Congress
128	of the United States in the several acts authorizing and
129	directing the improvement, navigability, and maintenance of the
130	Intracoastal Waterway from St. Mary's River to the southernmost
131	boundary of Miami-Dade County and that portion of the Okeechobee
132	Waterway located in Martin and Palm Beach Counties.
133	(b)  In order to effectuate the purpose and intent of any
134	law or laws that may heretofore have been, or may hereafter be,
135	enacted by the Congress of the United States, authorizing and
136	directing the Secretary of the Army to make preliminary
137	examinations and surveys of the Intracoastal Waterway from St.
138	Mary's River to the southernmost boundary of Miami-Dade County
139	and that portion of the Okeechobee Waterway located in Martin
140	and Palm Beach Counties, the board is authorized and empowered
141	to collect, compile, and furnish to the Secretary of the Army,
142	or his or her officers and agents, data, statistics, and other
143	appropriate information bearing on the advantages, benefits, and
144	increased usefulness that may be expected to accrue to the
145	public and to the counties traversed by the Intracoastal
146	Waterway from St. Mary's River to the southernmost boundary of
147	Miami-Dade County and that portion of the Okeechobee Waterway
148	located in Martin and Palm Beach Counties, by reason of any
149	improvement thereof, that may subsequently be authorized by the
150	Congress of the United States.
151	(c)  The board of county commissioners of Monroe County is
152	hereby authorized and empowered to authorize the district to act
153	as the board of county commissioners' agent in all matters
154	pertaining to the extension of the inland waterway into Monroe
155	County. The board of county commissioners of Monroe County is
156	hereby authorized to levy an ad valorem tax not to exceed 1 mill
157	for the purpose of defraying the expenses incurred by any action
158	taken under this subsection. Moneys received as a result of this
159	levy shall be paid into an inland waterway fund, the
160	establishment of which is herewith authorized. The district is
161	herewith authorized and empowered to act as the agent of Monroe
162	County for extending the inland waterway into Monroe County, to
163	make charges therefor, and to receive payment thereof.
164	(d)  The board is hereby authorized and empowered to expend
165	funds of the district for publicizing the Intracoastal Waterway
166	from St. Mary's River to the southernmost boundary of Miami-Dade
167	County and that portion of the Okeechobee Waterway located in
168	Martin and Palm Beach Counties, and its availability to
169	watercraft, and to print and distribute information as to the
170	route, channel, available depth, and utility of said
171	Intracoastal Waterway and such other information and data as
172	may, in the opinion of the board, be desirable, useful, or
173	attractive to give full information regarding said waterway
174	and/or to promote its use in navigation by watercraft of all
175	kinds.
176	(e)  In order to defray the necessary expenses of the
177	district and/or provide funds for expenditures incident to
178	obtaining right-of-way or other property or easements and/or to
179	pay the purchase price of said property and/or to defray other
180	necessary expenses of the district or its board, the board is
181	hereby authorized to borrow moneys from time to time for said
182	purpose or purposes in an amount or amounts such that not in
183	excess of $100,000 indebtedness will be outstanding at any one
184	time.
185	(f)  All land owned, now or hereafter, by the district
186	shall be, and the same is, hereby exempted from taxation of all
187	kinds.
188	(g)  When the district desires to dispose of surplus land,
189	it shall declare such land surplus by resolution of the board.
190	Copies of said resolution shall be furnished to the Secretary of
191	Environmental Protection, the chair of the county commissioners
192	of the county in which the land is located, and, in the event
193	the land is within a municipality, the mayor of said
194	municipality. If any state agency, county, or municipality
195	desires to utilize said land for outdoor recreation or
196	conservation purposes and the Secretary of Environmental
197	Protection finds that the land is required by the state, county,
198	or city for its recreation or conservation program, it shall
199	notify the district in writing within 60 days after receiving a
200	copy of the resolution. Priority shall be in the state, county,
201	and municipality in that order. The land may then be conveyed
202	with or without consideration to the state agency, county, or
203	municipality by the district; provided, however, that said land
204	be used for outdoor recreation or conservation purpose in
205	perpetuity by the appropriate county, municipal, or state
206	agency. If the district does not receive notice as specified
207	above, it may sell the land at public auction.
208	(h)  The district is designated the local interest sponsor
209	for the sole purpose of maintaining navigability of that portion
210	of the Okeechobee Waterway located in Martin and Palm Beach
211	Counties County and extending from the Intracoastal Waterway to
212	the St. Lucie lock. The Legislature recognizes that the water
213	level of Lake Okeechobee and the section of the Okeechobee
214	Waterway within the lake are subject to natural weather cycles
215	and lake management strategies that may adversely affect
216	navigation. As such actions are outside of the district's
217	control, the district shall not be required to undertake actions
218	to restore navigation when lake levels are less than 12.56 feet
219	National Geodetic Vertical Datum.
220	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.