The dredging projects for the Eastpoint Channel and 2 mile channel have taken a big step forward.
Special projects consultant Alan Pierce told county commissioners on Tuesday that the Department of Environmental Protection has now sent their notice of intent to issue the permits needed to dredge the two channels.
The permits will now be reviewed by the US Army Corps of Engineers to make sure they meet all of their requirements and they will have to be advertised for public comment for two weeks.
If there are no public concerns, which the county hopes there isn't, then the permits will be issued allowing the county to move forward on the long awaited projects.
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.
The rest of the funding will come from the Gulf Consortium, a group created after the BP oil spill which is distributing billions of dollars in BP oil spill money to counties that were hit hardest by the spill.
These dredging 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.
That channel will be dredged from just west of the Eastpoint boat ramp to Barbers Seafood on the East, the original length, width and depth of the channel.
The two mile channel will be dredged from the mouth of the Apalachicola River to the Olin B. Ward waterfront park.
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