WCIND board endorses inlet management plan

The West Coast Inland Navigation District board unanimously approved a letter Friday, March 30, requesting that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection consider the Longboat Pass Inlet Management Plan, developed jointly by the town and Manatee County and a WCIND study of Longboat Pass, as the official inlet management plan for the Pass.

Town Manager David Bullock told the Longboat Key Town Commission at its Monday, April 2 regular meeting that the decision could be important when it comes to permitting and for funding.

Public Works Director Juan Florensa agreed the approval of the letter is significant because the WCIND is the local sponsor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which must permit the project. The approval means that WCIND will work with the town and Manatee County to implement the plan.

“We have a single blueprint,” Florensa said told the Longboat Observer. “In the past, there was some coordination but I think it could have been improved.”

The Town Commission agreed in November to begin the permitting process for the recommended groin structures but has asked for flexibility in terms of the number, size and locations of the structures. The Manatee County Board of Commissioners voted last week to move forward with the plan’s recommendations.

Bullock said that funding could come in still undetermined increments from the town, county, WCIND and FDEP.

“I think it’s safe for us to assume that the town of Longboat Key will pay a significant portion for the cost of certainly the structures and maybe at least part of the dredging,” Bullock said.

The $125,000 Longboat Pass Inlet Management Study was jointly commissioned in 2010 by the town and the county to reveal why the channel in Longboat Pass is moving southward and provide solutions for the north end’s ongoing erosion issues. Coastal Planning & Engineering conducted the study and recommended a combination of solutions, including the construction of a terminal groin on Beer Can Island and two permeable groins on the north end.