Franklin County Commissioners on Tuesday signed an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers that should start dredging activities at the the Eastpoint Channel and 2 mile channel off Apalachicola this fall.
The Memorandum of Agreement assures that the county will pay the Corps 5 million dollars for dredging the Eastpoint Channel and Two Mile Channel.
The only catch is that the county doesn't have 5 million dollars for the projects but do expect to receive the money from the Gulf Consortium which is distributing billions of dollars in BP oil spill money to counties that were hit hardest by the spill.
They hope to have the agreement with the Gulf Consortium in the next few weeks.
The corps has agreed that it will not demand the money up front, but will instead let the county pay as each project is started.
Each dredging project is expected to cost around 3 million dollars – the Corps of Engineers already has one million dollars in hand from an allocation through congress.
Commissioners were a bit concerned about not having the 5 million dollars before signing the agreement with the corps, but were told that if they didn't sign the agreement then the channels wont get dredged.
These projects have been waiting for years and commissioners do not want to wait any longer.
The Eastpoint Channel hasn't been dredged since 1985 and is now so shallow most boats can't even use it except on high tide.
The Memorandum of Agreement was approved unanimously.
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