HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution_10-80/81_09/22/1981 RESOLUTION N0. 10 -80/$1
A RESOLUTION OF THE VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA, FLORIDA,
TO EXPEDITE PROMPT PERMITS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION AND U.S. ARMY CORPS
ENGINEERS FOR A LOOP WATER MAIN CROSSING OF THE
INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY TO JUPITER ISLAND.
WHEREAS, the proposed water main crossing at the Highway.707
bridge is now revealed to be a potential hazard to public health and safety,
with risk of lost water pressure for fire protection, due to
the danger.of rupture of parallel pipelines necessarily spaced too closely
together; and
WHEREAS, Chiefs of Fire District No. 1 and Tequesta Police warn
that parallel pipelines crossing the Waterway near the bridge.can result in
disruption of water pressure at fire hydrants, can cut off domestic water
flow to Jupiter Island and Jupiter Inlet Colony, can expose seater to contam-
ination, and block access by emergency vehicles for long periods of time; and
WHEREAS, Tequesta Consulting Engineers, Gee & Jenson, have
discovered that parallel pipelines for the 707 bridge crossing would have to
be too close together for safety at two points: (1) a length of several
hundred feet east of U.S. Highway No. 1 crowded by the new 25 foot wide
turning lane, and (2) at the Waterway crossing where the two pipelines would
have to be in too close proximity; and
WHEREAS, in these two areas the parallel pipelines could not be
spaced widely enough apart due to lack of sufficient easement, with resultant
danger that rupture of one pipeline would simultaneously wash out the
paralleling line; and
WHEREAS, an alternative waterway pipeline paralleling the ENCON
force main sewer is blocked by the lack of sufficient easement space and
extreme difficulty of obtaining easements from the Coast Guard or Standard
Oil Co.; and
WHEREAS, Gee & Jenson Engineers, as well as Tequesta and Jupiter
Fire and Police Chiefs, and Tequesta's Water Superintendent, jointly point
out that, unlike parallel pipelines crossing at 707 bridge, a true free
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circul4ting loop crossing south of Martin County line will provide a safe
margin of reserve pressure for fire protection; and that the pressure would
be constantly sustained throughout the Jupiter Island water system, even if
there is-another break in the pipeline; and
WHEREAS, the loop system will bring balanced, uniform water
pressure from two directions, with additional water from Tequesta's two
largest well fields, preventing any recurrence of a water failure like that
which happened September 4, 1981; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Environmental Regulation has. regulatdyly
responsibility for protection of the public water supply; and
WHEREAS, state.and federal regulations empower the Department of
Environmental Regulation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue permits
for public utility pipelines crossing the Intracoastal Waterway where needed
in the public interest, for public' safety, fire protection and water purity-
for public health; and
WHEREAS, state and federal regulations provide for necessary
exceptions or variances to permit such public utility water pipelines, with
provision for mitigating measures for abatement of temporary disturbance of
seagrass in the narrow strip opened by a dredgeline; and
WHEREAS, Tequesta has made provision for sufficient protection
against turbidity during dredging to meet state and federal standards, and
further, has made provision for restoration of the displaced seagrasses by
Dr. Anitra Thorhaug, an authoritative marine biologist, with follow -up
replanting as needed; noting that such seagrass propagation by Dr. Thorhaug
is endorsed as eminently successful by Nathaniel Reed, Director of South
Florida Water Management District, who has 15 years of experience in success-
fully planting seagrasses in the Intracoastal Waterway at Hobe Sound; and
WHEREAS, permits for the Tequesta loop pipeline crossing were
issued over seven months ago by the Florida Department of Natural Resources,
the Governor, and the Board of Trustees administering the Internal Improvement
Trust Fund, which has jurisdiction over the Intracoastal Waterway and its
aquatic preserves; and
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WHEREAS, a letter of intent to deny the loop crossing permit was
issued over three months ago by the West Palm Beach district office of the
Department of Environmental Regulation, while simultaneously the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers rescinded its general permit; and
WHEREAS, there has been a delay of over one year and two months
since the first request for the loop crossing permit was made by Tequesta;
and
WHEREAS, any further delay presents an intolerable danger to
.residents of Jupiter Island and Jupiter Inlet Colony from sub- standard water
pressure for fire protection;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF THE
VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA, FLORIDA:
(1) That the Mayor and Village Manager of the Village of Tequesta
be authorized and directed to send letters to Warren G. Strahm, Director of
the Department of Environmental Regulation at West Palm Beach; James J. Barry,
Palm Beach County Health Department; and Haynes Johnson, District Engineer,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Stuart, urgently requesting that permits for
the loop Waterway pipeline south of Martin County line be granted without
further delay; copies of this to be enclosed with the letters.
(2) That Tequesta's Village Attorney be authorized and directed
to postpone the appeal hearing date in Tequesta's Petition for Formal Proceed -.
ing, for a period of not more than 45 days, allowing time for permits to be
issued.
(3) That Gee & Jenson Consulting Engineers be authorized and
directed to furnish each of the foregoing permitting agents a complete copy
of Dr. Anitra Thorhaug's marine biologic survey of the loop line site, with
restoration plan for re- establishing any seagrasses temporarily displaced
during the dredging process.
(4) That Gee & Jenson be authorized and directed to provide the
.aforesaid permitting agents with an engineering appraisal of the now known
risks and inadequacies of the proposed 707 bridge crossing with its vulnerable
parallel pipe system, together with a brief outline of the proposed engineering
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plan for installing the hydrologically superior loop pipeline, with protective
measures for curtaining the dredging, storing the spoil, and restoring the
grasses in accordance with reasonable directives and conditions attached to
the permits by federal, state and county agencies, subject to inspection as
the work progresses.
THE FOREGOING RESOLUTION was offered by Councilmember Little
who moved its adoption. The Resolution was seconded
by Councilmember Stoddard and upon being put to a vote,
the vote was as follows:
FOR ADOPTION AGAINST ADOPTION
Leslie A. Cook
Thomas J. Little
W. Harvey Mapes, Jr.
Carlton D. Stoddard
The Mayor thereupon declared the Resolution duly passed and
adopted this 22nd day of September A.D., 1981.
MAYOR OF TEQUESTA
W. H. Mapes, Jr. IV
ATTEST:
Cyrese olbert, Village Clerk