The public comment period for the RESTORE Spill Impact Component “Pot 3” Draft State Expenditure Plan (SEP) is open now through March 2. The public is invited to review the draft SEP, register for webinars on February 1 or February 15, or provide feedback online.
Florida’s 23 gulf coast counties formed the consortium to meet requirements of the RESTORE Act to develop a state expenditure plan for economic and environmental recovery of the gulf coast in Florida following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The proposed projects, programs, and activities included in the Florida SEP were developed through a county-driven process in which each of the 23 member counties independently determined how they would use their allocation of Florida’s spill impact component.
In July 2016, Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners authorized directing the county’s full spill impact component allocation (approximately $12.7 million) toward the Santa Rosa Sound Water Quality Improvement Program, and in February 2017 identified septic to sewer conversion along Soundside Drive (Soundside B) as the priority project. The program also includes septic-to-sewer conversion in Holley by the Sea and the Navarre Beach Wastewater Treatment Facility effluent relocation and reuse project.
The draft SEP includes a sequencing and implementation strategy which depicts expected annual allocations for each county over the 15-year payout and indicates Santa Rosa County can expect full funding for the priority project, Soundside B septic-to-sewer conversion, within the first three years of funding. For more information, contact Erica Grancagnolo, RESTORE Act coordinator, 850-981-2019 or ericag@santarosa.fl.gov.
