Renzo Downey
Putnam County might be an inland county, but the Senate wants to give the region a chance to join the state seaports council.
A bill from Sen. Keith Perry (SB 1038) would allow Putnam County to request a grant to conduct a port feasibility study and add the county to the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic Development (FSTED) Council. Senators approved the measure 37-1 on Thursday, sending it to the House.
Representatives from Florida’s 15 public seaports plus the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Department of Economic Opportunity currently make up the FSTED Council. Seaports on the council get access to state grants some transportation experts say have helped boost the state’s shipping industry since the council’s creation.
“This bill would enable Putnam County to obtain FSTED funding to build a multimodal regional transportation hub and port in the heart of a designated economically distressed community,” Perry told Senators.
Jacksonville Democratic Sen. Audrey Gibson noted part of Putnam County was in her district when she joined the Senate in 2011.
“I have family there, so I look forward to getting on the ship when it sails from the port,” Gibson said.
Perry told senators the port is one of the oldest in Florida. He previously told a Senate panel Palatka was a transportation hub starting in the early 1880s.
Palatka, along the St. Johns River, is home to the Putnam County Barge Port.
The Putnam County Commission has plans, with help from the Army Corps of Engineers, to dredge a 12-foot-deep, 5,000-foot-long channel to improve vessel navigation and safety and increase the number, size and capacity of vessels using the barge port. With storms over the last 10 to 15 years, a previous dredging has filled with silt to its current depth of 7 feet, TranSystems Vice President and former JaxPort CEO Rick Ferrin told the Putnam County Board of Commissioners in December.
“At that very shallow depth, it precludes use by anything other than very shallow-draft barges and recreational vessels, and that doesn’t do much for business,” Ferrin said.
Perry’s bill would, until July 2024, allow Putnam County to apply for a feasibility study on the possibility of establishing a port in the county. If the study comes back unfavorably, Putnam County would be removed from the FSTED Council.
An amendment approved Thursday clarifies that FSTED would have to approve Putnam County’s feasibility study.
The FSTED Council, housed within FDOT, helps implement seaport capital improvement projects at the local level. Grant funding under the program is limited to specific types of port facilities or port transportation projects. Included within that list is seaport master or strategic plan development or updates.
Since the Legislature established the council in 1990, the council and grants have been largely responsible for the growth of Florida’s seaports, Ferrin said in December.
“We’re not talking about tens of millions of dollars that have gone to ports or even hundreds of millions of dollars that have gone to ports. We’re talking about billions of dollars that have gone to Florida ports,” Ferrin said. “When you take a look at where the ports are today and where they were in 1991, the growth is absolutely immense.”
Tampa Democratic Sen. Janet Cruz was the lone Senator to vote against the measure.
A similar bill (HB 907), carried by Palatka Republican Rep. Bobby Payne, awaits a hearing in its final committee stop, the House Commerce Committee.
One comment
Larry Pope
February 11, 2022 at 1:24 pm
The eelgrass is gone in Lk George and St. Johns River. I think the Corps of Engineers over did the spraying and used the wrong chemicals – and/or too much. One report said the cause was from recent hurricane activity. I think this is just a convenient excuse . We’ve had hurricane activity for many years- the eelgrass doing OK. Ask the folks who know the area- who have lived on the river and have used it all their lives. The lake and river is being killed. Cover for the fish is nearly gone. Thank you for allowing these remarks.
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