Longboat Key examines dredging to fix Greer Island erosion

North Shore Road resident Maureen Merrigan often enjoys Greer Island, also known as Beer Can Island. She walks its beaches. She fishes and paddles kayaks in its cove.

As sand has built up on the island’s east side, nearly connecting it with the mainland, it has become more difficult for her to enter the lagoon on a watercraft. She said that during low tide, she risks damaging her equipment.

She also noted there’s nothing she can do about it.

“If there is garbage on Greer Island, I can go out and pick it up. If there’s a meeting to attend, I can attend the meeting,” Merrigan said. “But what I can’t do is dredge that canal and keep that canal open.”

Merrigan said only the officials she was addressing — the Town Commission — can do that.

Merrigan was one of about 50 Key residents, many from the north end, who attended Monday’s commission workshop meeting to voice concerns about the state of Greer Island. The meeting included a presentation from Cliff Truitt and Jenna Phillips of Taylor Engineering Inc., updating commissioners on Longboat Key’s Canal Dredging Feasibility Study.

Some residents recalled the lagoon at Greer Island when it was a space frequented by manatees and dolphins, noting that the water no longer sees such animal activity. If the spit on the east side connects to the mainland, these residents said they worry the lagoon will become like a stagnant swamp, a breeding ground for mosquitos and other pests.

Truitt and Phillips identified 16 of the Key’s canals as “priority canals,” or those most in need of dredging. This list includes Canal 1A, which connects the lagoon of Greer Island to Sarasota Bay.

The estimated dredge volume of the townwide project is 20,000 cubic yards. Construction is estimated to cost between $600,000 and $1 million, plus up to $200,000 for design and engineering fees.

The Taylor representatives also discussed a separate plan dubbed the Greer Island Beneficial Use Project, which proposes dredging a higher volume of sand from the east side of Greer, where the spit is nearly connecting with the mainland.

The sand from this dredge would then be used to deter erosion on Greer Island by reinforcing the sliver of land on the area’s west side, which separates Greer Island’s lagoon from the Gulf of Mexico. Concern has grown among residents that this sliver will be subject to a breach, potentially flooding the lagoon with saltwater, killing the area’s mangroves, which thrive on brackish water, and subjecting residences to wave action.

The Greer Island Beneficial Use Project has an estimated dredge volume of 5,000 to 25,000 cubic yards. Construction is estimated to cost between $400,000 and $1 million, plus up to $150,000 for design and engineering fees.

In the end, the Town Commission advised town staff to move forward with both dredging projects. Funding scenarios for the townwide project, which includes treating Canal 1A as a regular canal, are expected to be presented this summer, with a construction timeframe slated for the summer and fall of 2018.

The Taylor representatives and town staff theorized the Greer Island Beneficial Use Project may take longer due to an increased need for permits. Town Manager Dave Bullock said this project will be in conjunction with the North End Shoreline Stabilization Project, which aims to enact both short-term and long-term solutions for addressing erosion at the Key’s north end.

Bullock ended the discussion with a statement he admitted is unpopular.

“While Greer Island hasn’t shown its highly fickle nature for a long time, it is an ephemeral place,” Bullock said. 

“As much as we love it, it could wash away one day in a storm and be a small island again."