Town requests beach-quality sand

Town Manager Dave Bullock has made it clear the town of Longboat Key is interested in sand for the Key’s shore that the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) plans on dredging out of the Intracoastal Waterway near Longboat Pass later this year.

In an Aug. 16 email to WCIND Executive Director Charles Listowski, Bullock states the town is interested in receiving beach compatible sand that’s dredged from the boat channel.

WCIND will discuss the project at an Aug. 26 meeting in Venice and town officials will be in attendance to officially request some of the sand that’s dredged from the project.

WCIND has also received a state permit for a flood shoal sand trap in Longboat Pass near Jewfish Key. The trap, if it’s installed after WCIND receives a federal permit, would trap between 40,000 and 60,000 cubic yards of sand that’s swept off the north end of the Key and deposited in a large sandbar near Jewfish Key that’s a popular spot for boaters to anchor on the weekends.

WCIND is working on a permit for the sand trap because that same sand also makes its way into the Intracoastal Waterway, clogging up the boating channel and forcing the district to perform expensive dredging projects.

The trap would be installed in a shallow depression in the waterway and intercept sand before it makes its way to the Jewfish Key site.

That project is at least a year away from being built.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].