On November 20, 2015, Bay County received notice that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had finalized the contract agreement to award $918,542.01 in order to fund the “Bay County NRDA Artificial Reef Construction 2015” project. The project originally consisted of the deployment of artificial reef modules in eight proposed offshore permitted areas (SAARS E through L). The reef permit areas are located within Florida state waters approximately 7 to 9 nautical miles (nm) south of the Panama City Beach Pier (Pier Park) and 11 to 16 nm southwest of the St. Andrews Bay Pass. These sites were proposed and selected by local fishing and diving stakeholders including the Bay County Artificial Reef Association. 

During the permitting process survey dives were completed for the proposed sites. Subsequently, FWC side-scan surveys of the proposed permit areas revealed live bottom scattered throughout the eight proposed sites. It is believed these sites can still be used for deployment but not to the intensity originally planned. FWC has agreed to support Bay County with completing permitting activities with the Army Corps of Engineers.

FWC is increasing the available funds for the project in the amount of $61,702.12 as a result of a May 2019 budget allocation change to utilize surplus funding.  They are also proposing to extend the entire project another year through December 31, 2020, to provide time to complete the project.  FWC has also reported to staff that they have extended grant agreement times for other Florida counties.

County matching dollars are not required, however, it is anticipated staff time will be required for deployment observation, reporting, purchasing, and other contract management activities, which are routinely conducted in completing artificial reef projects. As allowed per the contract, additional assistance may be used and paid for from the grant. It’s envisioned that multiple contractors will need to be selected and hired in order to accomplish the goals, timetable, and stipulations of the grant.

The project will be broken into small discrete phases and administered with the support of multiple BOCC departments including Planning and Zoning, UF/IFAS Cooperative Extension, Purchasing, and GIS. Terms of this agreement stipulate the deployment should be completed by December 31, 2020.  Bay County will continue to evaluate and monitor these reefs thus providing insight to improve future artificial reef deployments.

Staff recommends the Board approve amending the increase in funds and the extension of time (Exhibit 1).  For your reference, the previous agreement is attached (Exhibit 2).