Phillippi Creek dredging will begin soon to alleviate flood threats

If all goes according to plan along Phillippi Creek, stormwater should flow more freely within its banks next year, reducing the flood threat after downpours in neighborhoods along its banks.

In the works since not long after 2024’s devastating tropical-weather season delivered wave upon wave of rain and rising waters along the waterway on the periphery of Sarasota’s city limits, a dredging plan to eliminate shallow choke points is ready to begin.

The latest step: Tuesday’s approval by the Sarasota County Commission of contracts with a Miami company to begin the multi-step dredging project. Although no start date is specified, the contract calls for completing the job in 180 days or less, with a further 30 days to address “punch-list” concerns. Stormwater Division Director Ben Quartermaine said in a previous meeting that work would likely begin four to six weeks after contracts were finalized.

In addition to finalizing agreements with Continental Heavy Civil Corp. to dredge a 50-foot wide passage to a depth of 4 feet from Beneva Road in Pinecraft to Tuttle Avenue in Southgate, commissioners also approved an amendment to their recently adopted budget to allocate $14.48 million for “Phillippi Creek High Spots Stormwater Conveyance Dredging.’’

A further phase of the project, Tuttle to Bee Ridge Road, is still to come, said Quartermaine, adding the permit application for that stretch could be revised to include residential canals that connect to the creek, often referred to oxbow canals.

But more than move money and approve legal documents, what commissioners did was set in motion the means by which residents along the south- and westward-flowing creek can rest easier when storms threaten.

“I know there are people out there listening, and that means a lot,’’ said Commissioner Mark Smith. “As far as capacity, the more capacity we have, we create, the less chance anyone gets flooded.’’

Phillippi Creek runs just over 7 miles from Beneva Road between Fruitville Road and Bahia Vista Street to its mouth at Little Sarasota Bay, just west of Tamiami Trail. Its watershed, though, covers about 56 square miles, ranging as far north as University Parkway, as far east as Rothenbach Park and as far south as Clark Road. Dozens of branching canals find their way into the creek’s main channel.

And therein lies the historical problem.

Runoff from the watershed ultimately brings sediment of all sorts to Phillippi Creek, depositing it along the way and reducing its effectiveness as a stormwater drainage artery. County analysis shows the sedimentation to be dredged not only is the result of natural forces over decades, but also material washed into the creek by the recent storms themselves. Studies show a portion of the creek as shallow as 2 feet. Residential canals are sometimes walkable.

At issue for months was a permit the Army Corps of Engineers required as original work, not ongoing maintenance. That hurdle was cleared earlier this month, a fact delivered via email by Sarasota County Watershed Planning Manager John Morgan on Oct. 9, a day after county commissioners approved moving $7.8 million more than originally budgeted into the Stormwater Department. “I have some great news to share!’’ he wrote to residents. “The (U.S. Army) Corps (of Engineers) came through and late yesterday afternoon, issued our permit.”

It was a major victory for the county’s not-even-6-month-old Stormwater Department, spun off in July from the Public Works Department in the face of public discontent.

“I said this may be the most highly anticipated savior since Jesus Christ — and with a bit of Moses in there — and that we don't need you to part the water, Smith said at the time. “You need to part the sand.’’

Bulked up with millions in additional funding and tasked with a higher level of service, the department sought the county’s first such increase since 2022.

Instead, County Commissioners rejected the fee increase and said they would rely on millions in storm aid and $18 million in departmental reserves.

Up and running through the heart of 2025’s quiet hurricane season, the new department is “laser-focused” on Phillippi Creek, Commissioner Tom Knight said, but broader work is underway to assess countywide needs and find funding solutions for all of them. County Administrator Jonathan Lewis said the Sarasota County delegation in Tallahassee has also been receptive to potential alternative funding sources.

Lewis said that should be an ongoing process. Quartermaine said some results of that progress in some areas is in the final stages. 

“We’ll come back to you with recommendations on what to do in the other creeks,’’ Quartermaine said.

For now, though, Phillippi Creek is taking center stage, Quartermaine said, adding county staff has already met with the contractor in the field to scope out and main initial preparations for creek-access points and sites to gather dredging discharge before its ultimately removed.

“Any resource the contractor needs to ensure this project goes smoothly and quickly, that will be our priority,’’ he said. “Any equipment, any staff time necessary.’’