(1) West Coast Inland Navigation District, also referred to as WCIND, was created pursuant to Chapter 23770, Laws of Florida (1947). WCIND is an independent, multi-county special taxing district composed of the Counties of Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee.
    (2) WCIND was created to implement the requirements and conditions imposed upon “”local interests,”” by the Congress of the United States of America, in its River and Harbor Act approved March 2, 1945, authorizing the improvement and construction of an inland waterway from the Caloosahatchee River, Florida, to the Anclote River, Florida. Part 211 of Title 33 – Navigation and Navigable Waters, of the Code of Federal Regulations, contains current regulations of the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, governing the Corps’ activities in connection with Federal civil works projects like the Intracoastal Waterway from the Caloosahatchee River, Florida to the Anclote River, Florida. These Federal regulations provide that no land shall be acquired on account of the United States except under a law authorizing such acquisition. (The Federal law authorizing the project is the River and Harbor Act approved by the Congress of the United States of America, on March 2, 1945.) The Federal regulations require local cooperation for civil works projects, meaning that local (non-Federal) interests are required to provide without cost to the United States, all lands, easements and rights-of-way for the construction of the projects. WCIND was created by The Florida Legislature in 1947 to provide the requisite local cooperation for the construction and maintenance of the waterway. WCIND is authorized to obtain by donation, purchase or condemnation and convey without cost to the United States, the necessary rights of way for said project together with suitable areas for the deposit of spoil material in connection with the work and its subsequent maintenance, all as contemplated and required by the Congress of the United States, and those acting by its authority.
    (3) WCIND is also responsible for undertaking programs intended to alleviate problems associated with its waterway, and is empowered and authorized to carry out waterway development projects specified in Sections 374.975 and 374.976, F.S.
Rulemaking Authority Florida Statutes § 374.976(2). Law Implemented 120.53(1)(a) FS. History-New 11-11-90, Formerly 16S-1.001.