Resolution 124-1979
RESOLUTION # 124-1979
WJEREAS. the BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS of MONROE COUNTY, Florida,
has approved applications for Coral Harbors Developers, Inc., on June 5,1979,
for rip-rap breakwater and vegetation clearing and marina excavation, and
WHEREAS, the Department of Environmental Regulations pursuant to
Section 253.124 of the Florida Statutes, requires that before a State Permit
can be issued that a Biological Assessment be made by DER and read into the
Minutes of the County Commission.
NOW BE IT RESOLVED, that the following Biological Assessment be read
into the Minutes of the County Commission and approved by that same body.
To construct a 74 boat slip marina with a boat ramp and fueling facility
by: excavating approximately 43,000 cubic yards of material landward of the
MHWL to create a 210 ft. by 580 ft. basin and portions of the circulation and
access channels; dredging approximately 373 cubic yards of material waterward
of the MHWL to create a 40 ft. wide, 300 ft. long by -6 ft. MLW deep access
channel and to connect to an existing 6 ft. wide channel a 8 ft. wide, 130 ft.
long by -3 ft. MLW deep circulation channel; placing 137 and 333 cubic yards
of rock landward and waterward, respectively, of the MHWL to create a
breakwater that will occupy 2,000 sq. ft. of submerged lands. Excavated
material will be placed landward and waterward of the basin on uplands.
The project site is located on Plantation Key near mile marker 88.25, US-l
in Section 8, Township 63 South, Range 38 East. The site is a tropical
hardwood hammock separated by a coastal berm from a narrow band of salt
tolerant vegetation. This grades waterward into a rocky intertidal zone,
a narrow meadow of marine macrophytes, and then a submarine forest of gorgonians.
The communities found on the site are unique to the Florida Keys.
The hammock on the property is a mature, second-growth forest with trees
up to 25 feet high. Vegetation includes gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba),
West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahogoni), poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum),
cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco), wild lime (Zanthoxylum fagara), Jamaica
dogwood (Piscidia pisci ula), pigeon plum (Coccoloba diversifolia), sweet
acacia (8cacia farnesiana , cats-claw (Pithecellobium unguis-cati), Florida
thatch palm~rinas parviflora), and century plant (Agave sp.). Disturbed
sites at the edge of the hammock contained papaya (Carica papaya), potato tree
(Salanu~ erianthum), sea myrtle (Baccharis halimifolia var. augustior),
and sapodilla (Manilkara zapoda). The coastal edge of the hammock contained
several additional plant species, including seagrape (Coccoloba uvifera),
Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthefolius), strangler fig (Ficus aurea),
leadtree (Leucaena leucocephala), prickly pear (Opuntia sp.), and grap nicker
(Caesalpinia crista). Within the hammock, the Florida Game and Fresh Water
Fish Commission, during their on site inspection recorded signs of or observed
gray squirrel, striped skunk, swamp rabbit, white-crowned pigeon, white-eyed
virea, yellow-shafted flicker, cardinal, small flock of feral peafowl, Carolina
anole, and eastern diamondback rattlesnake. The white-crowned pigeon is
classified as threatened by the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Between the hammock and the rocky shore is an area vegetated by salt
tolerant plants, including black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), white mangrove
(La uncularia racemosa), buttonwood (Conocarpus erecta), sea oxeye (Borrichia
arborescens , marsh samphire (Philoxerus vermicularis), sea purslane (Sesuvium
portulacastrum), sea blite (Sueda linearis), and railroad vine (Ipomoea ~
caprae var. emarginata).
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The rocky intertidal zone supports a variety of invertebrates, including
isopods; decapods such as snapping shrimp, Herbst's panopeums, calico crab,
and hermit crab; and gastropods such as the four-toothed nerite, bleeding
tooth, tessellate nerite, zigzag periwinkle and f~lse cerith. Birds observed
in the coastal area included little blue heron, ruddy turnstone, laughing gull,
and the threatened osprey, great white heron and brown pelican.
Waterward of mean low tide is a zone of patchy turtlegrass (Thalassia
testudinium) and a variety of macrophytic algae including Laurencia,
Penicillus, Halimeda, Dictyota, Padina, and Sargassum. In slightly deeper
water, and extending to the end of th~roposed channel alignment, is a rather
dense forest of gorgonians including sea plumes, sea fans, and sea rods.
This area also contains vase and loggerhead sponges, long-spined sea urchins,
fire coral, various small stoney corals, and scattered clumps of algae.
Completion of this project as proposed would destroy four acres of
tropical hardwood hammock. Several more acres would also be cleared and filled
in the construction of condominiums, parking areas, etc. Excavation for the
access channel will require the alteration of nearly one-third acre of marine
macrophyte and gorgonian communities.
The proposed basin is relatively shallow with a bottom that slopes from
-4 ft. MLW at the southern end to -5 ft. MLW near the access channel. The
basin's configuration and orientation and the incorporation into the project
design of a circulation channel should provide for high basin flushing rates.
The data provided by the applicant indicates a 90% water exchange in less than
4 days even under the worst conditions.
Furthermore, the applicant after discussions with the department's field
personnel modified the project by restricting fill near the shoreline thereby
preserving the beach halophytes. In addition a breakwater will be constructed
south of the access channel. This structure should help in preventing the
introduction of flotsam into the basin while providing a desirable habitat
for many marine organisms.
THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County Commission hereby
approves the Biological Assessment, read at their Regular Meeting, held
thi s 5th day of June 1979.
By
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OUNTY COMMISSIONERS
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