the city's canal dredging in Lauderdale isles starts January 12, 2015
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please read this carefully: LIWMD, the City, and the dredging contractor have all received calls and emails from neighbors who want to know why no dredging is occurring close to their docks. This project is "maintenance dredging," and its purpose is to maintain the center 20 feet of the canal for navigation. The area by your dock will not be dredged. The City's engineering drawings, which we have included on this site, specify where dredging will occur. The dredging contractor is required to follow those drawings and those are the only areas they will dredge. The dredging profile shown below indicates how the canal will be dredged. The area on either side of the 20 foot center channel slopes up at a slope of 2:1 to 4:1. so there will be some dredging on either side of the 20 foot center channel in order to establish this slope. The drawing requires that no dredging can occur within 10 feet of the seawall, which would include your dock.
We have stated the fact for over a year on this website, as well as at LICIA General Meetings, that only the center third (20 feet in our neighborhood) of the canals will be dredged. This is the standard that the City uses for dredging ALL of the residential canals in Fort Lauderdale. It was established years ago by the Marine Advisory Board in conjunction with the City Engineer. Please do not call the dredging contractor's office or talk to the the dredge operator to request dredging by your dock. By their contract with the City, they cannot do so.
DREDGING UPDATE: April 30: According to the City, the dredging on the Barracuda Canal should be completed the beginning of the week of May 4. Then work on the final canal, the Albacore, will start. The Albacore dredging should take 1 or 2 days. So the entire project which was supposed to be completed by April 30th, will finish just a few days late. This is quite good, considering the number of days back in January and February when weather and boats blocking access to the canals caused several days of delay. Although all the canals have not had a final "as-built" survey to verify that the contractor properly performed the dredging, the canals that have been surveyed so far have been to the city's specifications. If you have any concerns or questions regarding this project, direct them to the City's Project Manager, Herb Stanley, at 954-828-6801.
DREDGING UPDATE: March 30: The information flow from the City for this project has become virtually non-existent at this point. Quite by accident, we were notified last week that the schedule for the two canals has been changed. The Barracuda Canal will be started on March 30th, and is scheduled for approximately 13 days. This canal requires the most dredging of all the canals in Lauderdale Isles, with over 700 cubic yards of material to be removed. After that, the last canal of the project will be the Albacore Canal. The last two canals will be dredged hydraulically. The Dolphin Canal was completed on Friday, March 27.
If you have any specific questions regarding the dredging project, please direct those questions to Herb Stanley, the City's Project Manager, at 954-828-6801
DREDGING UPDATE: March 16: The Turtle Canal was completed last week. Then work on the Dolphin Canal started last week, using the hydraulic dredge. The mechanical dredge will no longer be used. After the Dolphin Canal is complete, the hydraulic dredge will be moved to the Alabacore Canal for approximately three days of dredging, and then to the Barracuda Canal for approximately 17 days. It is hoped that the entire project will be finished by mid-April. The hydraulic dredging is much more efficient than mechanical dredging.
The City's Engineering Department is still analyzing the "as built" surveys of the canals that have been completed, to ensure that the work has been done in accordance with the City's original drawings.
We have received several emails from neighbors on completed canals, asking when they can move their boats back to their docks. If you have the same question, feel free to call the City's Project Manager, Herb Stanley at 954-828-6801 for the answer.
We want to thank the neighbors who have volunteered their yards for the hydraulic dredge hoses to be run up to the water-tight truck in the street.
DREDGING UPDATE: March 2 Starting Monday, March 9, Gator Dredging will be adding a second dredge to the project. This will be a hydraulic dredge, which is 10 feet wide. The pumps on the dredge will transfer the material from the canal up to a water-tight truck on the street, through a pair of 6 inch hoses. This type of dredging eliminates the need to constantly run the dredge to the boat ramp in order to unload. However, the contractor needs to run two hoses through neighbors' yards up to the street. Hydraulic dredging will be used in the Dolphin Canal starting Monday, March 9 for approximately 10 days, and it is estimated that 315 cubic yards will be removed from the Dolphin. Then it will be used in the Barracuda Canal, starting around March 23, for approximately 17 days. The Barracuda requires the most dredging of all the canals in Lauderdale Isles, with over 700 cubic yards of material to be removed. The contractor will be coming down the lanes on either side of the Dolphin and the Barracuda, looking for neighbors to volunteer to allow the hoses to run through their yards up to the street. This activity will not cause any damage to your yard, dock, driveway, etc., so if you're interested in volunteering your yard, call Gator Dredging at 727-527-1300 and speak to Brett Sapp, Operations Manager for the project.
The mechanical dredge will continue working on the three other canals: Bluefish(should be completed by Friday, March 6), Turtle (starting approx March 6 for 3 days), and Albacore(starting March 11 for 3 days).
We hope to have the results of the surveys of the first four canals on Monday, March 9, and will post that information on the site when we receive it. The project has been progressing smoothly for the past 10 days.
DREDGING UPDATE: Feb 18 The City Survey boat completed the survey of the Sailfish Canal to verify that the dredging was done in accordance with the City's specifications. The results of the survey are being reviewed by Public Works now. There were 241 cubic yards of material removed from the Sailfish.
The dredging of the Rockfish Canal was completed on Monday, Feb. 16th, and a total of 333 cubic yards of material was removed. It will be surveyed next.
The Pompano Canal was completed in one day, on Tuesday Feb 17th, with 35 cubic yards removed. It will be surveyed after the Rockfish
The Marlin Canal was started on Thursday, Feb. 19th and should be finished in 2 more days.
Weather is always a factor for the dredging: Today, Feb 20th, no work will take place due to high winds.
The next canal will be the Bluefish Canal, which is estimated to take 9-10 days, with 368 cubic yards to be removed.
We have been told that there will be two dredges in operation during the week of March 9th. The second dredge will be a hydraulic dredge which is 10 feet wide, and it will be used for the balance of the project. We are awaiting details from Gator Dredging as to how the hydraulic dredging is done, and will post that info here when we receive it.
DREDGING UPDATE: Feb 4 Work on the Sailfish Canal was completed on Friday, Jan 30th. On Tuesday, Feb 3, the City's Survey Crew launched their boat in order to verify that the Sailfish Canal dredging was properly done in the correct areas. There are a lot of steps in the dredging process. For instance, a city inspector checks how many cubic yards of material are offloaded each time from the barge to the dump truck. The cubic yardage is again checked by an inspector at the landfill site when it is dumped.
The work on the Rockfish Canal was started on Monday, Feb 3rd. This canal is scheduled to have 465 cubic yards of material removed. (The Sailfish Canal was 235 cubic yards.) The schedule shows 13 days of work on the Rockfish.
There will be delays. As we have already seen, there have already been several unforeseen delays due to a dead manatee, unknown underwater cable, offload site redesign, mechanical problems, and a neighbor at the mouth of the Sailfish who brought in and docked an oversize boat over the weekend, thereby blocking access to the canal by the dredge for a day. So the project will have plenty of delays.
Many neighbors have been very cooperative with the dredge operator, and moved their boats back and forth on their dock as necessary so the operator could maneuver. If you're home while the dredging is taking place, please tighten the dock lines on your boat so the barge has the maximum amount of room to get by.
Who's Next: After the Rockfish, the next canal will be the Pompano with 39 cubic yards, expected to take 3 working days, and then the Marlin with 88 cubic yards, expected to take 5 working days. Remember, all these numbers are approximate.
DREDGING UPDATE: Jan. 24
A few delays were encountered with the project during the start-up week of Jan 12 - Jan 16: A dead manatee was found tied to the boat ramp dock ( details on this will be in the Feb. LICIA newsletter) and an unknown underwater cable had to be investigated. Also, after bringing the first load of dredged material over to the boat ramp for transfer to the dump truck, it was determined that the level grassy area to the west of the ramp would be best for off-loading. All these issues took a few days to resolve.
During the next week of Jan. 19- Jan. 23, serious work was done on the Sailfish Canal. It was thought that the Sailfish Canal would be finished toward the middle or end of the following week. According to the City's Engineering plan, 235 cubic yards of material would be removed from the Sailfish.
Some other noteworthy information at this point:
- The next canal to be dredged will be the Rockfish Canal. The Rockfish has 465 cubic yards of material to be removed. According to the schedule, this should take approximately 13 working days.
- The dredge operator told us he has had great cooperation from many of the neighbors on the Sailfish Canal. They would come out and move their boats around as necessary to allow the dredge easy access and easy maneuvering. The dredge needs to turn around when it leaves the canal and heads to the boat ramp with a full load of material.
- The material being dredged is "good soil," being comprised of mostly grainy sand with some black mud. (See pics below)
- Even though the dredge is 16 feet wide, it is difficult at times for it to be maneuvered down the canal, especially due to boats with very loose dock lines. It is requested that neighbors shorten their docklines and secure their boats tight to the dock when the dredge is in their canal. Remember: he needs to turn around to leave the canal.
-The dredge pusher tug monitors VHF Channel 9 - If, for some reason, you need to transit the canal with your boat while they are working in it, call them and discuss your moves. The crew is very cooperative.
- PVC pipe markers are placed in the canal prior to the dredging in order to guide the dredge operator. So if you see PVC pipes in your canal, you know work will start there "soon."
- Here are some pics of the operation
BASIC INFO ABOUT THE DREDGING PROJECT
After many years of working with the City's Public Works Department, LIWMD is pleased to announce that the dredging project is finally a reality. This project is being managed by the City of Fort Lauderdale. The contractor who is doing the actual work is Gator Dredging of Clearwater, Florida. The purpose of this website page is to keep the neighbors of Lauderdale Isles up-to-date as the project progresses. All the information contained herein is provided by the City of Fort Lauderdale & Gator Dredging. PLEASE NOTE: The Lauderdale Isles Water Management District is NOT involved in the engineering of the project, nor the actual day-to-day dredging activities, and our only participation is to do our best to keep you informed about the project via this website, as we receive info from the City and Gator Dredging.
We have structured this page in a "question and answer" format. We have also included pages from the City's Engineering Department, including the actual plans for each canal. You can see that only nine of the ten canals in the Isles are being dredged. The Cobia Canal did not require any dredging.
The Details Page
This page gives you a very good overview of the entire project. It summarizes how much material will be dredged from each canal and includes a cross section which shows the dimensions and depths to which dredging will be done. We recommend you look it over closely; it will answer most of your questions about "how deep, how wide," etc.
After many years of working with the City's Public Works Department, LIWMD is pleased to announce that the dredging project is finally a reality. This project is being managed by the City of Fort Lauderdale. The contractor who is doing the actual work is Gator Dredging of Clearwater, Florida. The purpose of this website page is to keep the neighbors of Lauderdale Isles up-to-date as the project progresses. All the information contained herein is provided by the City of Fort Lauderdale & Gator Dredging. PLEASE NOTE: The Lauderdale Isles Water Management District is NOT involved in the engineering of the project, nor the actual day-to-day dredging activities, and our only participation is to do our best to keep you informed about the project via this website, as we receive info from the City and Gator Dredging.
We have structured this page in a "question and answer" format. We have also included pages from the City's Engineering Department, including the actual plans for each canal. You can see that only nine of the ten canals in the Isles are being dredged. The Cobia Canal did not require any dredging.
The Details Page
This page gives you a very good overview of the entire project. It summarizes how much material will be dredged from each canal and includes a cross section which shows the dimensions and depths to which dredging will be done. We recommend you look it over closely; it will answer most of your questions about "how deep, how wide," etc.
How deep & how wide? (in case you didn't want to look at the above drawing)
The canals will dredged to a depth of 4 to 5 feet below mean low water. This is a city-wide specification. The center third of the canals will be dredged to this depth. As our canals are 60 feet wide, this means that the center 20 feet of the canal will be dredged to this depth.
What kind of dredge will be used?
Gator Dredging will use a 16 foot-wide barge with an excavator mounted on it ( see the picture at the top of this page). They have advised that this barge has plenty of rubber fenders on each side. When the barge is filled with dredged material, it will then move to the boat ramp at Riverland Woods Park, where the material will then be loaded onto water-tight dump trucks for transport to a designated drying and/or landfill site.
Will I have to move my boat? ( The BIG question)
If your boat and dock do not extend more than one third of the canal's width into the canal, then you shouldn't need to move your boat. As you know, this "one third" rule is the City Code for Lauderdale Isles: Our canals our 60 feet wide, so your boat at your dock cannot extend more that 20 feet into the canal. HOWEVER, if your boat extends more than 20 feet into the canal, you may have to move it. Gator Dredging has checked the first seven western canals in the Isles, and they have advised that the following locations have boats that need to be moved, per an email we received on December 30th from them:
---------------------------------------------------------
Turtle Canal
2607 Tortugas Ln
2612 Whale Harbor Ln
Both of these homes are a crossed the canal from each other. Only need one of them moved to get by.
Bluefish Canal
2684 Marathon Ln-No issues at this point but I’ve seen in the pictures where he has boats clogging the channel. Home owner needs to be aware of the project and needs to leave me at least 20 feet of clearance in the canal.
Bluefish Canal
2436 Marathon Ln
2437 Key Largo Ln
Both of these homes are a crossed the canal from each other. Only need one of them moved to get by.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Note that there will be more locations requiring boats to be moved. After the above email, it was determined that several very large boats at the mouth of the Dolphin Canal will probably need to be moved. We have been told by Gator Dredging and the City that they will try to provide 30 days notice to homeowners where boats will need to be moved. So take a look at your boat NOW & if it's going to be close to the "20 feet", it might be a good idea to make plans for moving it. Remember the barge is 16 feet wide.
What is the schedule?
The preliminary schedule is that the work starts the week of Jan 12th and will finish the end of April. We are awaiting an updated schedule and will post it here when we receive it. The canals will be scheduled working from the west to the east. However, because there is the need to move some boats in the Turtle Canal(per the above email), the contractor will start with the second western-most canal, the Sailfish Canal. It is expected that the Sailfish Canal will take 9 days to complete. We will provide more specific scheduling info when we receive it
Will a canal be navigable while it's being dredged? ( I may want to take my boat out on the river)
Dredging will be done during normal business hours, Monday thru Friday. During those times, a turbidity curtain will be placed across the mouth of the canal to prevent sediment-laden water from flowing out into the river. If absolutely necessary, Gator Dredging will remove the turbidity curtain, so that you can leave or enter the canal with your boat. They will have a small boat on scene to provide guidance in such situations. Update: The turbity curtain is not being placed across the mouth of the canal. They are deploying it close to the dredge. See the pics above.
Will the boat ramp at Riverland Woods Park be available during the project? ( I may want to launch my boat there)
The boat ramp will be available for use at all times EXCEPT when the barge is unloading dredged material into trucks at the ramp. Also note that things will probably be crowded at the boat ramp. UPDATE: The ramp is not being used for the dredging operation, so the ramp is available all the times, but it's crowded.
If I am required to move my boat because of its size, where can I take it?
Where you take your boat is your responsibility. We suggest you talk to neighbors across the street (on the next canal) to see if they can help you. Or why not take a nice cruise down to the Keys for a week?
I rent my dock and the renter's boat can't be moved. What do I do?
The renting of residential docks in the City of Fort Lauderdale is contrary to the City Code.
Will I receive any notice prior to the start of dredging in my canal?
We are told that the City is preparing a flyer that will be delivered to all the homeowners on a given canal three or four days prior to the start of dredging on that canal. We will also post any updates we receive on this website.
CHECK THIS WEBSITE FREQUENTLY FOR UPDATES, WHICH WILL BE PROVIDED AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE.
The canals will dredged to a depth of 4 to 5 feet below mean low water. This is a city-wide specification. The center third of the canals will be dredged to this depth. As our canals are 60 feet wide, this means that the center 20 feet of the canal will be dredged to this depth.
What kind of dredge will be used?
Gator Dredging will use a 16 foot-wide barge with an excavator mounted on it ( see the picture at the top of this page). They have advised that this barge has plenty of rubber fenders on each side. When the barge is filled with dredged material, it will then move to the boat ramp at Riverland Woods Park, where the material will then be loaded onto water-tight dump trucks for transport to a designated drying and/or landfill site.
Will I have to move my boat? ( The BIG question)
If your boat and dock do not extend more than one third of the canal's width into the canal, then you shouldn't need to move your boat. As you know, this "one third" rule is the City Code for Lauderdale Isles: Our canals our 60 feet wide, so your boat at your dock cannot extend more that 20 feet into the canal. HOWEVER, if your boat extends more than 20 feet into the canal, you may have to move it. Gator Dredging has checked the first seven western canals in the Isles, and they have advised that the following locations have boats that need to be moved, per an email we received on December 30th from them:
---------------------------------------------------------
Turtle Canal
2607 Tortugas Ln
2612 Whale Harbor Ln
Both of these homes are a crossed the canal from each other. Only need one of them moved to get by.
Bluefish Canal
2684 Marathon Ln-No issues at this point but I’ve seen in the pictures where he has boats clogging the channel. Home owner needs to be aware of the project and needs to leave me at least 20 feet of clearance in the canal.
Bluefish Canal
2436 Marathon Ln
2437 Key Largo Ln
Both of these homes are a crossed the canal from each other. Only need one of them moved to get by.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Note that there will be more locations requiring boats to be moved. After the above email, it was determined that several very large boats at the mouth of the Dolphin Canal will probably need to be moved. We have been told by Gator Dredging and the City that they will try to provide 30 days notice to homeowners where boats will need to be moved. So take a look at your boat NOW & if it's going to be close to the "20 feet", it might be a good idea to make plans for moving it. Remember the barge is 16 feet wide.
What is the schedule?
The preliminary schedule is that the work starts the week of Jan 12th and will finish the end of April. We are awaiting an updated schedule and will post it here when we receive it. The canals will be scheduled working from the west to the east. However, because there is the need to move some boats in the Turtle Canal(per the above email), the contractor will start with the second western-most canal, the Sailfish Canal. It is expected that the Sailfish Canal will take 9 days to complete. We will provide more specific scheduling info when we receive it
Will a canal be navigable while it's being dredged? ( I may want to take my boat out on the river)
Dredging will be done during normal business hours, Monday thru Friday. During those times, a turbidity curtain will be placed across the mouth of the canal to prevent sediment-laden water from flowing out into the river. If absolutely necessary, Gator Dredging will remove the turbidity curtain, so that you can leave or enter the canal with your boat. They will have a small boat on scene to provide guidance in such situations. Update: The turbity curtain is not being placed across the mouth of the canal. They are deploying it close to the dredge. See the pics above.
Will the boat ramp at Riverland Woods Park be available during the project? ( I may want to launch my boat there)
The boat ramp will be available for use at all times EXCEPT when the barge is unloading dredged material into trucks at the ramp. Also note that things will probably be crowded at the boat ramp. UPDATE: The ramp is not being used for the dredging operation, so the ramp is available all the times, but it's crowded.
If I am required to move my boat because of its size, where can I take it?
Where you take your boat is your responsibility. We suggest you talk to neighbors across the street (on the next canal) to see if they can help you. Or why not take a nice cruise down to the Keys for a week?
I rent my dock and the renter's boat can't be moved. What do I do?
The renting of residential docks in the City of Fort Lauderdale is contrary to the City Code.
Will I receive any notice prior to the start of dredging in my canal?
We are told that the City is preparing a flyer that will be delivered to all the homeowners on a given canal three or four days prior to the start of dredging on that canal. We will also post any updates we receive on this website.
CHECK THIS WEBSITE FREQUENTLY FOR UPDATES, WHICH WILL BE PROVIDED AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE.
INDIVIDUAL DREDGING PLANS FOR EACH CANAL
The City's dredging plans for each canal give you a good feeling for how much material will be dredged from a particular canal, where most of the dredging for that canal will take place, etc. We will be adding the plans for more canals as the project progresses. To see the plans for a given canal, click on the canal name below:
TURTLE CANAL
SAILFISH CANAL
ROCKFISH CANAL
POMPANO CANAL
MARLIN CANAL
BLUEFISH CANAL
DOLPHIN CANAL
ALBACORE CANAL
BARRACUDA CANAL
The City's dredging plans for each canal give you a good feeling for how much material will be dredged from a particular canal, where most of the dredging for that canal will take place, etc. We will be adding the plans for more canals as the project progresses. To see the plans for a given canal, click on the canal name below:
TURTLE CANAL
SAILFISH CANAL
ROCKFISH CANAL
POMPANO CANAL
MARLIN CANAL
BLUEFISH CANAL
DOLPHIN CANAL
ALBACORE CANAL
BARRACUDA CANAL