Jaleski questions town breakwaters

First, it was Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash.

Now Commissioner Gene Jaleski is questioning the breakwater project planned for the north end of the island to stave off massive sand loss.

The town, which is hoping to renourish the hotspot area near North Shore Road beach access with 600 cubic yards of sand, has submitted a long-term plan to hold the sand in that area.

The $1.5 million plan is to build four 130-foot-long breakwaters, which are offshore rock structures that protect an area from wave energy and deflect strong currents, 220 feet from the shoreline.

In an e-mail Jaleski sent to other commissioners and McClash titled “Bruce’s Breakwaters,” he called the breakwaters “a bad idea that shouldn’t be allowed to proceed until a thorough study of Longboat Pass has been completed.”

Jaleski said that his research shows that detached breakwaters can cause down-drift erosion.

“As a property owner at Longbeach I am not sure I want to be denied ever again having a robust, wide, sugar-sand beach, while my neighbors receive abundant beautiful white sand ... ”

Jaleski urged Town Manager Bruce St. Denis to consider a sand bypassing effort to feed sand onto the north end.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].