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Marine advisory board to press city commission on New River and North Fork concerns
Summary
Board members said they will prepare a concise, actionable communication to the Fort Lauderdale City Commission about New River problems (North Fork water quality, sedimentation, and navigation choke points), asking staff to compile bullet points, data needs, and potential funding avenues for a September presentation.
Board members agreed to prepare a succinct, actionable communication to the Fort Lauderdale City Commission focused on waterway problems in the New River system, with special attention to the North Fork's low flow, sedimentation and water-quality concerns.
Chair Ted Morley and staff (Andrew) said the commission prefers short bullet-point communications with clear action requests and that staff will gather relevant background and compile a draft for the board's September meeting. Mr. Lynch summarized the financing problem: "well, it seems like the main issue is the water flow. And in order to increase water flow, you need a dredge. And you need a dredge, you need money," he said, arguing the board should point commissioners toward funding sources for dredging and related work.
Mr. Mitchell urged a data-driven approach before leaping to dredging: "I think that we need to find out what the contaminants are in that waterway. We do that with chemists," he said, recommending contaminant sampling and analysis to define remediation scope. Other board members and presenters highlighted existing bathymetric data, historical dredging reports, and the need to define navigation-channel widths by zone.
The board discussed options including targeted dredging pockets rather than a single large federalized effort, working with county and state agencies for technical sampling, and using the board's communication to ask the commission to direct staff to research grant and funding opportunities. Members agreed to coordinate suggested bullet points through staff (to comply with Sunshine rules) and bring a finalized communication back for a vote in September.
