Town begins sand speech

Town Manager Bruce St. Denis and Coastal Planning & Engineering President Tom Campbell took their beach project presentation pitch on the road Saturday.

Abut 50 people attended a Saturday, Jan. 22 Federation of Longboat Key Condominium Association meeting, held at the Water Club. The speakers explained why they feel voters should approve a $16 million sand-and-structures project on the March ballot.

Campbell said that before the Town Commission adopted the beach design portion of its beach management plan in 1995, the island was wrought with erosion.

“In 1982, there were a number of shoreline structures and groins around the Key,” said Campbell, noting that there were buildings in the water near Seagate and Far Horizons. “But since that plan has been adopted, and sand and structures have been placed where needed, we have the level of protection we want.”

St. Denis explained that before the beach-management plan was in effect, other area beaches suffered from the same problem the north end has now.

The town manager told the group he supports the $16 million beach project proposed for the north end of the island. The project will build some structures — yet to be determined — to help hold sand in the area.
Campbell said a groin that’s similar to what sits on the other side of Longboat Pass at the southern tip of Anna Maria Island might help hold sand there.

Two other groins that are proposed for North Shore Road might also help, Campbell said.

St. Denis told the group that the $16 million project might be able to be performed for $8 million, if both a $3 million surtax-funding option and a $5 million credit from natural-gas pipeline company Port Dolphin LLC is received next year.

St. Denis also said that changes might be coming to the town’s island-wide beach project.

“We know some areas erode more quickly than others,” St. Denis said. “Now we are trying to be more surgical with the sand and where it’s needed.”

L’Ambiance at Longboat Key Club Condominium Association President Larry Merriman asked St. Denis why all the taxpayers should pay for a beach project, even though not all of the residents need sand behind their homes.

St. Denis explained that for everyone to have a stable beach, sand needs to be put in various places island-wide.

“We want people to understand a stable beach means the same amount of sand leaving is the same amount they have coming in,” St. Denis said. “Every beach is dependent on everyone else’s beach.”

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected]