Beach project will begin next month

An emergency beach project that will bring 133,000 cubic yards of sand to the north end next year won’t begin until Feb. 21 at the earliest.

Residents on the north end of the island originally thought they were getting their beach back for Christmas.

The project has been delayed four times because of permitting issues with the dredge coming from the northeast.

In a Jan. 28 e-mail to the Town Commission, Town Manager Bruce St. Denis explained the dredge will set sail for Longboat Key on Feb. 18 if it passes inspections.

Town staff had been working to receive a permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection all year. The permit would allow the town to rebuild either the entire beach profile or a 200-foot-wide beach that used to exist there from Broadway to north of North Shore Road.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].