- April 27, 2024
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Sarasota County has engaged a firm to complete the third party independent review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s plans to dredge Big Pass, but some Siesta Key residents remain skeptical.
Laird Wreford, the county’s coastal initiatives manager, updated members at Thursday’s meeting on the status of the review, which was approved in August. The county had to delay the timeline for the review until after the Army Corps redesigned its dredge plan.
The county has hired Atkins, a global coastal engineering firm, to review the corps dredge and look for potential effects on boat navigation, Ted Sperling Park on South Lido, and Siesta Key’s beaches.
“It’s not one Key versus the other,” Wreford said.
Several residents expressed concern with the selection of Atkins, because it has worked previously with the Army Corps and lists the corps as one of its clients on its website.
Wreford said most reputable firms have also worked with the Army Corps, and so far Atkins has no current conflict of interest.
Catherine Luckner, who serves on the SKA board and has acted as the group’s watchdog for environmental issues, said that Siesta should try to trust the county’s process.
“We worked very hard to get the county to pay for this,” she said.
Wreford is also on the agenda during a meeting of island associations, including SKA, The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, the Siesta Key Village Association and the Siesta Key Condominium Council at 5:30 p.m. Monday, during which speakers will discuss potential impacts of the Lido project. The program is being held in the St. Boniface Church community center.
Robert Young, the coastal ecologist Save Our Siesta Sand 2 has hired to study the dredge plans, will speak as part of panel moderated by architect and Siesta leader Mark Smith.
Sarasota County Commissioner Paul Caragiulo, who attended the SKA meeting, said the troublesome aspect of the Army Corps dredge is that the scope of work and volume of sand being taken is much larger than other renourishment projects.
“What's causing us anxiety is… this one is different,” he said.
The Army Corps has filed the permit application to the State of Florida for the project. Wreford said once Atkins is under contract, the county will be writing to the state to alert it to the county’s effort to independently review the corps’ plan and list the county’s concerns with the project.
“If the county officially objected, it’s hard to imagine they would issue the permit,” Wreford said.
Luckner encouraged the audience to write to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection by May 14, when the period for public comment will end as part of the corps permit process.
Wreford said the county has initally estimated Atkin’s contract to be between $15,000 and $50,000—however Nora Patterson, former county commissioner, told Caragiulo that the county should expect to pay up for more work.
“I feel very uncomfortable when we say we want something around $15,000,” she said. “Don’t skimp on this one.”
SKA donates to summer program
Richard Hinkson, a county beach patroller for 16 years, made a short speech to SKA about the junior lifeguard camp organized by the beach patrol each summer.
Although lifeguarding and beach patrol are a division of Sarasota County’s Emergency Services department, the junior lifeguard camp is voluntarily operated by the county’s lifeguards and EMT staff and runs completely on donations.
SKA made a $500 donation to the camp, which has two sessions in the summer.
