Longboat Key, Manatee County to Share Longboat Pass Sand

Five groins could be added to Gulf shore to slow down erosion

LONGBOAT PASS — Manatee County and the town of Longboat Key intend to share sand dredged from Longboat Pass to renourish eroded beaches in both jurisdictions.

The county and town alternate occasional dredging of the pass between the north end of Longboat and county-owned Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island. The county is the next recipient of dredged sand from the waterway linking Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

County Parks and Natural Resources Director Charlie Hunsicker told county and town commissioners last week that the county expects to get about 70,000 cubic yards of sand from the pass for Coquina Beach.

“The remainder will be available to the town,” Hunsicker said.

A survey needs to be conducted to determine the total amount of sand that may be available, he noted.

Longboat is currently seeking permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Florida Department of Environmental Protection for a “north end structural stabilization project.”

The Gulf beaches on the north end of the key are a “highly erosive zone,” Issac Brownman, Longboat’s public works director, told the commissioners.

North of two existing concrete groins (shoreline structures that are perpendicular to the beach and restrain sand that would otherwise drift with the current) the town would like to build three rock groins on Greer Island, a county property. About 140,000 cubic yards of sand would be added there.

The town also seeks permission to add two rock groins south of the existing groins to better protect residential areas, where the Gulf is already at seawalls. About 40,000 cubic yards of sand would be added there.

Longboat initially projected the cost for the five structures at $14 million, when the town thought it might have to bring in sand by truck. That cost should be considerably less if it can get sand from the pass instead, Brownman said.

The town is also planning to dredge a channel between Greer Island and the key’s northern neighborhoods and shift back sand from the island that has drifted eastward and collected on both sides of the bridge on Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Greer Island (also known as Beer Can Island) is a popular destination for boaters, who anchor there, and beachcombers who get there by foot. It has no roads, parking or facilities.

After a joint meeting of the commissions in February 2018, the county started paying $60,000 annually to Longboat for law enforcement on Greer Island, a county property within the town limits. It also started providing twice weekly garbage cleanups on the island.

_{Source: heraldtribune.com}