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Established in 1937 and reauthorized in 2000 by the Florida
Legislature, the five member St. Augustine Port, Waterway
and Beach District Commission functions in accordance with
its original charter "to acquire, develop, improve, and
maintain navigable waters, port facilities, and properties
for the conduct of the port’s business". The enabling
legislation empowering the Port District to improve and manage
the navigability of the waterway systems within its jurisdiction
has been largely implemented in collaboration with federal,
state and local entities, with funding by grants as well as
taxes levied annually on properties within the District boundaries.
The St. Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach District Master
Plan, developed in 1993 and updated in 2005, provides a comprehensive
review of the District’s resources, activities and future
challenges.
Major waterway systems within the District boundaries include
the St. Augustine and Matanzas Inlets, Salt Run, and the Tolomato,
Matanzas and San Sebastian Rivers. Significant portions of
these waters to the north and south of St. Augustine are a
part of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research
Reserve (GTMNERR). There are three federally maintained channels
within the District; these include the St. Augustine Inlet,
the San Sebastian River, and the Intracoastal Waterway (ICWW),
which traverses the Tolomato and Matanzas Rivers. The U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in cooperation with the Florida
Inland Navigation District (FIND), periodically conducts bathymetric
surveys and performs necessary dredging of the ICWW to ensure
safe passage of recreational and commercial vessels. Likewise,
the channel within the St. Augustine Inlet linking the ICWW
with the Atlantic Ocean requires periodic maintenance dredging;
this is carried out by the USACE in partnership with the St.
Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach District. The Port District
is also the local sponsor for the federally-maintained channel
in the San Sebastian River; however, no maintenance has been
required for this channel since the original dredging operations
in 1956. In 1997 a major study of the St. Augustine Inlet
sponsored by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
and the Port District was completed by Taylor Engineering,
Inc. This work, The St. Augustine Inlet Management Plan, provided
a detailed delineation and analysis of the physical and environmental
features of the inlet and adjacent sea bottom, beaches and
shorelines influenced by the inlet, and recommended corrective
measures to mitigate identified erosive impacts of the inlet.
Other activities sponsored or otherwise supported by the
Port District during the past 15 years have included: (1)
the design, installation and maintenance of aids to navigation
(i.e., channel markers) in Salt Run; (2) the establishment
of a minimum wake zone in Salt Run; (3) the sponsorship of
a hydrographic survey in the Matanzas River; (4) discussions
and feasibility studies to address the need for additional
boat ramps; (5) the sponsorship of a shoal removal feasibility
study in Salt Run; (6) the support of dredging at the north
end of Salt Run in coordination with the USACE, FIND and the
Department of Environmental Protection; (7) the support of
sea turtle nest monitoring during the Salt Run dredging project;
(8) the engineering design and permitting for a kayak and
canoe launch at Lighthouse Park; (9) participation in a feasibility
study for a federal navigation channel in Salt Run; (10) the
issuance of recommendations to the Coast Guard for ICWW channel
realignments in the vicinity of the Bridge of Lions; (11)
the support of rehabilitating the Bridge of Lions and providing
design features that optimize navigation safety; (12) the
identification and removal of derelict vessels in cooperation
with the City of St. Augustine; (13) the convening of several
workshops to discuss anchorage issues and management alternatives
of same; (14) the support of waterway patrols by various law
enforcement entities; (15) the development and publication
of the St. Augustine Waterways Guide through Florida Sea Grant*;
(16) the support of a feasibility study for a boardwalk along
the San Sebastian River; (17) the support of site reconnaissance
and construction of an offshore artificial reef; and (18)
the support of the "Trashbuster" waterway cleanup
program of St. Johns County.
(*) Available at the St. Augustine City Marina
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