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Marco Island advisory committee votes to solicit quotes for canal muck and depth surveys
Summary
The committee voted to authorize staff to solicit proposals for bathymetric and muck-depth surveys from contractors with saltwater experience, using part of a $10,000 committee budget; the motion passed on a roll-call vote after members debated survey scope, pilot options and costs.
The Marco Island Water Quality advisory committee voted to authorize staff to solicit proposals for bathymetric and muck/depth surveys and limited testing to better target canal remediation efforts.
The committee's motion, made during a detailed discussion of dredging alternatives, asked staff to have Ralph solicit proposals from contractors experienced in saltwater surveys and muck testing and to return quotes for committee review. "That we authorize Ralph to obtain quotes to provide, bathymetric or depth or muck surveys ... and that we use some of our $10,000 budget on that," the member who made the motion said. Members stressed the step is to obtain proposals, not to approve work without returning to the committee.
The motion followed extended debate about alternatives to full hydraulic dredging, including bioremediation pilots, encapsulation/backfill approaches and targeted dredging. Presentations cited the Harper report's large ($189,000,000) estimate for sweeping hydraulic dredging and argued that existing core samples (26 cores in the Harper data) show muck concentrated in a small number of canals, which could make targeted surveys and limited pilots more cost-effective.
Speakers discussed practical survey options ranging from simple clear-tube sampling to bathymetric sonar and limited core sampling. Cost examples mentioned during the meeting included vendor pilot estimates of $25,000 for a single-canal trial or $68,000 for a two-canal pilot; committee members noted those pilots would be more costly than the initial quote solicitation the committee approved.
On a roll-call vote the motion passed. The record as read aloud by staff showed Member Woodworth, Chair Lewandowski, Member Rohana and Member Maskup voting yes; Member High voted no. The committee chair declared the motion passed and directed staff to gather proposals and present quotes at a later meeting.
Committee members framed the vote as a "baby step" to obtain focused, local data to inform future decisions and to avoid prematurely committing to expensive, island-wide dredging without better information. Several members urged restricting solicitations to firms with saltwater experience given concerns about barnacle growth and equipment durability in saline conditions.
Next steps: staff will solicit and return survey proposals and quotes for committee review, and members discussed using the results to plan a later water-quality workshop with experts and stakeholders.
