Posted on July 10, 2026
The project aims to prevent flash flooding and protect $290 million in property, but the design timeline pushed back to dredging in 2029.
SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Sarasota County commissioners approved a budget amendment Wednesday to spend nearly $14.7 million on dredging Hudson Bayou, a project officials say is critical to reducing flooding risks for surrounding neighborhoods.
The dredging is intended to prevent blockages that cause water to overflow, particularly along key evacuation routes prone to flash flooding, according to county documents.
Without intervention, county leaders say neighborhoods surrounding Orange Avenue, Alta Vista Elementary and Osprey Avenue will continue to face public safety hazards, infrastructure damage and declining water quality. The project is also expected to safeguard close to $290 million in property value and provide protection against a 100-year flood event.
The county already has a draft contract that is currently being negotiated as officials look at removing more than 80,000 cubic yards of sediment.
Officials had originally hoped to have final design and permit submittal for the project completed this summer, but that timeline has been pushed back to early 2027.
During Wednesday’s county commissioners meeting, Commissioner Mark Smith questioned the extended design timeline.
“The thing that stuck out to me is potentially a year for the design. Could you explain what goes into that? Buildings don’t take that long,” Commissioner Smith said.
Ben Quartermaine, Sarasota County’s Stormwater Department director, responded that several technical factors are driving the timetable.
“The schedule that we have for that preliminary bathymetry, sedimentation and geotech are what is elongating that design,” Quartermaine said.
Quartermaine also noted other considerations tied to the sediment removal itself. Especially considering county documents point to a project mission of providing durable resilence for “core Sarasota neighborhoods disproporationately affected by repetitive storm events and rising seas.”
“So there are some additional concerns or tasks I should say when we’re evaluating the sediment that we’re going to remove and particularly how we deal with that sediment,” Quartermaine said.
Smith emphasized the urgency of moving the project forward, citing the county’s recent stretch without a major storm.
“We’ve been very fortunate last year and so far fortunate this year. We’re on the clock,” Smith said.
The project is primarily funded through Resilient SRQ, a Sarasota County initiative managing millions of dollars in federal disaster recovery funds following the 2024 storms. An additional $1.3 million is coming from local surtax contributions.
