Sand loss prompts beach warning

The sand loss at the North Shore Road beach access doesn’t surprise Longboat Key Public Works Director Juan Florensa. The town spent $4.5 million on an emergency beach project that placed 133,000 cubic yards of sand, which were distributed from just south of Broadway to just north of the North Shore Road beach access toward Beer Can Island. The project was intended as a one-year solution to preserve the beach through hurricane season before long-term solutions are pursued.

But last week, sand loss prompted Public Works staff to place orange tape blocking off the steep drop-off and guiding beachgoers toward a safe beach-access path. Staff continues to monitor the situation on a daily basis, according to Florensa.

“You can still access the beach, but we wanted some sort of a warning,” he said.

Still, the popular beach access is likely to close early next week for 60-to-90 days for the repair of a seawall at the western terminus of North Shore Road. The town has obtained a Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) permit for the project, which, according to Florensa, could prevent the nearby road from being undermined in the event of high water.

As for erosion, Florensa said he could not estimate how much sand from the beach project, completed in June, has been lost because much of the placed sand is now underwater, rather than on dry beach. He said that the sand has achieved its intended purposes and that although
the elevation of the beach has gone down, the width is still there.

“Just because you see there is a lot of erosion, that does not mean that all of the sand will be gone,” he said.

Day at the beach
The findings of the long-awaited Longboat Pass Inlet Management Study will be discussed at a Longboat Key Town Commission special workshop beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3. Coastal Planning & Engineering Inc. (CP&E) President Tom Campbell will present the study, which was commissioned in hopes of revealing why a channel in Longboat Pass is moving southward and what can be done to stop the island’s north-end erosion. The commission will also discuss the town’s current Comprehensive Beach Management Plan, which CP&E is updating and plans to present to the commission in February 2012.