Town to assist Key Club Moorings channel dredge

Longboat Key Club Moorings has been trying to dredge an area outside of its channel, which is used by both marina users and Bay Isles homeowners, since December 2005.

The accumulation of sediment just outside the entrance of the channel in the Intracoastal Waterway causes boats to run aground.

To clean out the sediment, Key Club Moorings needs to dredge 150 cubic yards of sediment, or roughly seven dump trucks full of material.

The marina has all the required permits to perform the work.

But to perform the $60,000 dredging project, the channel needs to be lengthened an additional 500 feet, which requires a sovereign submerged-lands easement from the state and tacks on $90,000.

In order to avoid the $90,000 charge, the town would have to be a co-applicant with the Key Club Moorings on the dredge permit.

The Town Commission agreed to sign off on the permit after hearing the marina’s condominium association would not hold the town accountable both during and after construction.

Participation on the permit also does not commit the town to sponsoring any future dredging in the channel or any maintenance in the area.

Town Manager Bruce St. Denis told the commission that many boaters in the area use the channel to stay at the marina or purchase fuel there.

“There is a direct public benefit to the town participating in this project,” St. Denis said.
Commissioner George Spoll, a Bay Isles resident, told the commission that he believed the hot spot just outside of the channel was an error made by the community’s original developer.

“It’s in the interest of the whole community to correct the error,” Spoll said.
Director of Longboat Key Club Moorings Marina Operations Dennis Matthews said the work will take approximately a week to perform and will begin in the next month, once the easement is received.