Data collection a
good step forward on Chiquita Lock
The city of
According to a prepared
statement issued by the city Friday, the municipality and the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection have found "common ground on future
plans for Chiquita Lock" in the southwest
Councilmember Pete Brandt
and city staff met with FDEP officials on Thursday to discuss options involving
the city's operation of the lock, and the results of the meeting were very
positive, according to the statement.
Specifically,
Councilmember Brandt said
the city would like -water quality tests permitting - to allow the lock to be
open to boat traffic from the river during inflowing tides. Pending additional
study and data analysis conducted by the city and presented to FDEP, this could
occur as quickly as a couple of weeks.
Long term, the city wants
to explore the possibility of removing the lock, hence the water quality
studies to make sure there would be no negative impact on state waters.
Finally, the city also
wants to make sure the waters behind the lock can meet state standards because
if the lock is removed, the South Spreader then will fall under state
environmental control.
Meanwhile, the FDEP has
agreed to make money available, perhaps as much as $100,000, from the GAC Trust
Fund. This will help pay for any temporary repairs needed for the lock,
including improvements to the lock's hydraulic operating system. That's what
got the state involved in the first place
Councilmember Brandt views
Thursday's discussions as a step forward in seeing whether removal of the
structure that separates the waters of the river and canal as many
We agree.
Collecting data and making
a science-based decision either way makes sense to us.
We look forward to
reporting the results.
- Breeze editorial