Florida Administrative Code › 18 - BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND › 18 - Departmental › Chapter 18-20 - FLORIDA AQUATIC PRESERVES › Section 18-20.004 - Management Policies, Standards and Criteria

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
The following management policies, standards and criteria are
				  supplemental to chapter 18-21, F.A.C. (Sovereignty Submerged Lands Management),
				  and shall be used in determining whether to approve, approve with conditions or
				  modifications, or deny all requests for activities on sovereignty lands in
				  aquatic preserves.
(1) GENERAL
				PROPRIETARY.
(a) In determining whether to
				approve or deny any request the Board will evaluate each on a case-by-case
				basis and weigh any factors relevant under chapter 253 and/or 258, F.S. The
				Board, acting as Trustees for all state-owned lands, reserves the right to
				approve, modify or reject any proposal.
(b) There shall be no further sale, lease or
				transfer of sovereignty lands except when such sale, lease or transfer is in
				the public interest (see subsection
				 18-20.004(2),
				F.A.C., Public Interest Assessment Criteria).
(c) There shall be no construction of
				seawalls waterward of the mean or ordinary high water line, or filling
				waterward of the mean or ordinary high water line, except in the case of public
				road and bridge projects where no reasonable alternative exists and except as
				provided in section  258.42(3) 
				(e)4., F.S.
(d) There shall, in no
				case, be any dredging waterward of the mean or ordinary high water line for the
				sole or primary purpose of providing fill for any area landward of the mean or
				ordinary high water line.
(e) A
				lease, easement or consent of use may be authorized only for the following
				activities:
1. A public navigation
				project;
2. Maintenance of an
				existing navigational channel;
3.
				Installation or maintenance of approved navigational aids;
4. Creation or maintenance of a
				commercial/industrial dock, pier or a marina;
5. Creation or maintenance of private docking
				facilities for reasonable ingress and egress of riparian owners;
6. Minimum dredging for navigation channels
				attendant to docking facilities;
7.
				Creation or maintenance of a shore protection structure, except that
				restoration of a seawall or riprap at its previous location, upland of its
				previous location, or within one foot waterward of its previous location is
				hereby exempted from any requirement to make application for consent of
				use;
8. Installation or maintenance
				of oil and gas transportation facilities;
9. Creation, maintenance, replacement or
				expansion of facilities required for the provision of public
				utilities;
10. Aquaculture;
				and
11. Other activities which are
				a public necessity or which are necessary to enhance the quality or utility of
				the preserve and which are consistent with the act and this
				chapter.
(f) For
				activities listed in subparagraphs
				 18-20.004(1)(e) 
				1.-10., F.A.C. above, the activity shall be designed so that the structure or
				structures to be built in, on or over sovereignty lands are limited to
				structures necessary to conduct water dependent activities.
(g) For activities listed in subparagraphs
				 18-20.004(1)(e) 
				7., 8., 9. and 10., F.A.C. above, it must be demonstrated that no other
				reasonable alternative exists which would allow the proposed activity to be
				constructed or undertaken outside the preserve.
(h) The use of state-owned lands for the
				purpose of providing private or public road access to islands where such access
				did not previously exist shall be prohibited. The use of state-owned lands for
				the purpose of providing private or public water supply to islands where such
				water supply did not previously exist shall be prohibited.
(i) Except for public navigation projects and
				maintenance dredging for existing channels and basins, any areas dredged to
				improve or create navigational access shall be incorporated into the preempted
				area of any required lease or be subject to the payment of a negotiated private
				easement fee.
(j) All private
				residential multi-slip docking facilities and commercial, industrial and other
				revenue generating/income related docking facilities require a lease from the
				Board in accordance with the application procedures and fees of chapter 18-21,
				F.A.C.
(k) Aquaculture and beach
				renourishment activities which comply with the standards of this chapter and
				chapter 18-21, F.A.C., may be approved by the Board, but only subsequent to a
				formal finding of compatibility with the purposes of chapter 258, F.S., and
				this rule chapter.
(l) Other uses
				of the preserve, or human activity within the preserve, although not originally
				contemplated, may be approved by the Board, but only subsequent to a formal
				finding of compatibility with the purposes of chapter 258, F.S., and this rule
				chapter.