Longboat selects new coastal engineers

Longboat Key has new options for coastal engineering services.

Town Manager Dave Bullock has approved a committee’s recommendation to negotiate master consulting agreements with four engineering firms:

• Olsen Associates Inc., of Jacksonville;
• Aptim Environmental & Infrastructure Inc., of Baton Rouge, La.;
• Humiston & Moore Engineers, of Naples; and
• Taylor Engineering Inc., of Tampa.

Seven firms had submitted proposals for the town. The three not selected by the committee were Coastal Engineering Consultants (of Naples), Atkins North America Inc. (Wesley Chapel) and Stantec Consulting Services Inc. (Sarasota).

The selection committee included Public Works Director Isaac Brownman, Projects Manager James Linkogle, budget analyst for the town’s finance department Sandi Henley and Justin McBride, executive director of the West Coast Inland Navigation District.

At a meeting Aug. 16, committee members discussed each proposal and subsequently allotted points to each firm based on qualifications such as personnel, resources, experience and timeliness of project completions. The committee recommended the town negotiate agreements with the four highest-scoring firms.

Bullock approved the committee’s recommendation on Friday.

Master agreement negotiations with each of the selected coastal engineers will include work assignments for each firm, Bullock said.

The town manager said current and upcoming projects that require a coastal engineer include:

• The North End Shoreline Stabilization Project;
• Extending the sand-saving groin at the Key’s south end at New Pass;
• Identifying an offshore source of sand; and
• The next beach renourishment project.

Responsibilities of a coastal engineer include project design, collaborating with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, permitting, construction oversight and multi-year monitoring, Bullock said.

The town’s last coastal engineering agreement with three firms lasted about five years, Bullock said, and he expects the new one will likely last just as long. Of the three the town has done business with previously, only Olsen Associates is a holdover to the new agreement.