Plan for Beach Re-Nourishment on Siesta Moving Forward

Longtime Siesta Key resident, Mr. Singleton, stepped up to the microphone Wednesday afternoon during the public comment section at the Sarasota County Commission meeting. He proceeded to recount the decay of the beaches on south Siesta since he moved here in the 1970s until a 2007 project that brought more than 100ft of sand to the area. 

Singleton said there is still massive sand erosion near the south end of the project.

Since March of 2007 when the final load of sand from the beach re-nourishment project was pumped onto south Siesta, there have been three monitoring events of the project. On Wednesday Laird Wreford, Coastal Resources Manager, presented the findings of the last monitoring event, which happened in August 2010. 

"There are very legitimate concerns expressed [about] the amount of sand loss at the south end of the project," Wreford said. 

The location is south of Point of Rocks and near Turtle Beach. 

While Wreford admitted there has been some severe erosion , the monitoring results from August, "depict an extremely positive picture."

More than 93 percent of sand from the 2007 project remains. The beach width is actually 20ft wider than the original design.

"Make no mistake, the erosion hotspot is significant," Wreford said. "Significant sand loss. Also quick to remind that you, this is something that was in fact not surprising." 

The question and discussion then turned to treatment of the beach erosion. Hot spot treatment or another beach re-nourishment project?

Wreford said hotspot treatment, on the surface, would seem like a quick fix but since the area lies in a coastal hazard area it, "requires a significant amount of authorization" from the state and the feds. 

Hotspot treatment, he added, would save the county money in the short-term, but it would need to be retreated quickly. He also said the time for treatment does not vary greatly between the two options. 

"The permitting that’s involved [with hotspot treatment], except for the very most simple types of hotspot treatment, are virtually the same type of permitting as re-nourishment," Wreford said.  

He recommended a full beach re-nourishment to the commissioners. "The time [is now] to move forward with at least preliminary work so that we would be in a position to move forward with actual construction in 2014/2015," Wreford said.  

"The hotspot approach makes no sense," said Sarasota Board of County Commission Chair Nora Patterson. "If they are going to take place at the same time it’s a waste of millions of dollars.

"I’d like to give Wreford instruction and move forward with the next nourishment," Patterson added. "... I think we need to start the process now."

There was little argument from the rest of the board and then it voted unanimously to allow Wreford to start the planning and design process for the re-nourishment project.  

One hang-up in the project - not unlike any new project now - is funding. Wreford said state funding that goes specifically toward beaches could be cut in half. 

Patterson said south Siesta gulf front residents contributed financially to the 2007 project, but any future project would need even more public contribution. 

Commissioner Jon Thaxton said no one knows even how the state will make the cuts. He said money could be reduced per project or the number of projects funded could be reduced. 

"Lot of wild cards still out there," he said.

"I feel like the percentage that was paid by the land owners, you’d have to build up a higher percent of participation," Patterson said. "If state [contributes] less, that argument becomes more important."

2007 Beach Re-nourishment Quick Hits

• 93% of sand remains from 2007 beach re-nourishment
• Beach width at the center is 129ft wide, which is 20ft more than the design called for
• Hard bottom impacts have been negligible
• Dune plantings have been successful
• There are erosion hotspots on north and south ends of the project. More severe at the south end