Collier County issued a permit dated April 10, 2019 to George F. Young Inc., the engineering firm in Gainesville retained by DEP for the Boardwalk Expansion Project. Finally this meant that the engineer had satisfied the numerous requests “for more information” from Collier County. When Boardwalk Expansion Champion Tom Maish was handed a copy of the Collier County permit letter, he was dumbfounded – he’s been promoting this project for ten years!

So what’s next? Collier County’s permit letter states “Permits from other agencies having jurisdiction over this project shall be obtained prior to start of construction” and “A pre-construction meeting is required by code prior to the start of construction.” So, more permits are required to start the project.

On April 11 we were told by DEP that the Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) is waiting on comments from the Boardwalk’s neighbors, the Miccosukee Tribe. This comment letter is required to issue a USACE permit to DEP Bureau of Design and Construction (BDC). Until this is done BDC cannot bid the project out for construction. Keep checking our website for more updates.