Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: Leonard Vialpando
Department: Resilient Environment Division: Administration
Information
Requested Action
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MOTION TO APPROVE Tenth Amendment to Agreement RLI 022100-RB, between Broward County and Foth Infrastructure & Environment, LLC for coastal engineering consultant services for the Port Everglades Sand Bypass Project, to increase the total not-to-exceed compensation by up to $2,043,844; to add services for queen conch relocation and monitoring, and additional water quality monitoring required by state and federal permits; authorize the Mayor and Clerk to execute same; authorize the County Administrator, after review for legal sufficiency by the Office of the County Attorney, to execute further amendments to the Agreement that do not impose additional financial obligations on the County; and authorize the County Administrator to take all necessary administrative and budgetary actions to implement the Agreement as amended. (Commission Districts 4 and 6)
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Why Action is Necessary
In accordance with Broward County Procurement Code Section 21.47(a), action by the Broward County Board of Commissioners is necessary to amend contracts.
What Action Accomplishes
Authorizes additional consultant services for permit-required queen conch relocation and monitoring and additional water quality monitoring for the construction of the Port Everglades Sand Bypass Project (“Project”).
Goal Related Icon(s)
☒County Commission
☐Go Green
☐MAP Broward
Previous Action Taken
This is the Tenth Amendment to the Agreement in 23 years. A detailed Agreement history is provided as Exhibit 1.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE RESILIENT ENVIRONMENT DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
This item supports the County Commission’s goal of Resilient Community, “ensuring accessible, seamlessly integrated investments in renewable energy, sustainable practices, manufacturing, resilient infrastructure and environmental protection.”
Section 3.3 of the Original Agreement, approved on January 8, 2002 (Agenda Item No. 18), allowed the County and Consultant to negotiate additional scopes of services, compensation, time of performance, and other related matters for future phases of the Project. Details of the Agreement history, individual tasks, and compensation are provided as Exhibit 1. This Tenth Amendment (Exhibit 2) authorizes additional queen conch relocation and monitoring and additional water quality monitoring for the Project. The Tenth Amendment adds a total of $2,043,844 to the previous maximum not-to-exceed compensation, bringing the full Agreement amount to $19,171,388.
Due to the recent listing of the queen conch under the Endangered Species Act, formal consultation for the Project was reinitiated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure protections for queen conch were added to the Project. The National Marine Fisheries Service approved a Queen Conch Relocation and Monitoring Plan, which will be included in a new Biological Opinion for the Project and requires pre- and during-construction queen conch relocation and monitoring.
The Project has been a priority project of interest for decades to address chronic shoreline erosion south of the Port Everglades Inlet (“Inlet”). The Inlet and the associated Federal navigation project create a complete barrier to littoral drift of sand from north to south, impacting the southern Broward County shoreline. Most sand naturally transported from north of the Inlet is either: 1) impounded and deposited north of the Inlet; 2) deposited in the Inlet channel; and/or 3) transported offshore and lost from the system. The effect is sand depletion and chronic shoreline erosion south of the Inlet (i.e., the Segment III shoreline).
The need for artificial sand bypassing at the Inlet has been the subject of numerous investigations by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and Broward County for over fifty years. These investigations consistently recognized the barrier that the Inlet presents to littoral drift along the southern Broward County shorelines and identified artificial sand bypassing as the only method of physically transferring sand across the Inlet.
The Project will create and modify northern Inlet infrastructure to collect and store sand sufficient to support the economical recovery and transfer of beach compatible sand to the shoreline south of the Inlet. The Project includes the construction of a sand trap on the north side of the Inlet and the periodic transfer of sand across the Inlet every two to four years. A portion of the rubble spoil shoal located about 800 feet north of the Inlet will be removed to reduce sand accumulation along the north shoreline and make sand available in the sand trap for transfer to the beaches south of the Inlet. All bypassed sand will be placed within the alongshore and cross-shore limits of the Broward County Shore Protection Segment III fill template. The County anticipates that 100,000 to 225,000 cubic yards of sand will be bypassed across the Inlet each event, thereby reducing the scale and frequency of future Segment III beach nourishment projects.
Implementation of sand bypassing at Port Everglades is a crucial part of the County’s long-term regional beach management goals. It is the most sustainable approach because it conserves and optimally utilizes the sand already in the system, reducing the size of future projects that currently rely on track-hauling sand sourced from mines in the central part of the state. Construction of the sand trap is anticipated to commence in the fall of 2025. The remaining project elements, including jetty improvements, rubble clearing, and mitigation, will be advertised as separate contracts.
Construction components of the Project are eligible for 75% cost share by the State, with staff applying for project reimbursement via the State’s annual Local Government Funding Request (“LGFR”) process.
This item has been reviewed and approved as to form by the Office of the County Attorney.
Source of Additional Information
Dr. Jennifer Jurado, Deputy Director and Chief Resilience Officer, Resilient Environment Department, (954) 519-1464.
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
Support for this item increases payment for Consultant Services for the project by up to $2,043,844, with $1,435,690 in approved services and $608,154 in withheld services, for a total maximum not-to-exceed Agreement cost of $19,171,388. Funds are budgeted in the Beach Program Capital Fund of the Resilient Environment Department. Costs for services incurred by the County and delivered under this Tenth Amendment are subject to partial reimbursement by the State of Florida.