Braden River erosion repairs set to begin

LAKEWOOD RANCH — A walking trail behind Greenbrook Adventure Park separates a storm retention pond — and the homes that overlook it — from the Braden River.

But erosion damage from rainstorms, even mild ones, regularly causes water to overflow near the dividing line — the trail — and threatens to exchange water between the Braden River, the source of Manatee County’s water supply, and the pond.

“The water is getting dangerously close to the trail and the pond,” said Ryan Heise, Lakewood Ranch Town Hall operations manager. “If that happened — if the two bodies of water were to mix — we would have to redo the entire system: the pond and the trail. Will that actually happen? Maybe not. But it’s better to not let Mother Nature decide.”

Spectrum Underground Inc. will start repairs to the riverbank in the next few weeks.

The aftermath of Tropical Storm Andrea this summer provided the incentive for Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 4 to pay $75,000 for the repairs; overflows have occurred regularly for the past year. Town Hall’s operations staff has ordered some cosmetic repairs during that time, but nothing significant enough to stop damage.

Repairs will make an eroded slope above the Braden River less steep.

Heise’s in-house staff collected 400 tons of fill dirt — purchased for $3 per ton from Schroeder-Manatee Ranch — and delivered it in dump trucks to the project site.

The mounds of fill dirt sit near the riverbank now; it will be used to cover the slope.

Spectrum then will mount articulating concrete, a mat of black blocks that look like puzzle pieces, on top of the fill dirt.

“The goal is to make the slope more gradual,” Heise said. “We are rebuilding the lake bank so that water does not overflow.”

Once Spectrum begins the work, it will take less than a week to complete.

So far, the overflowing water has been a temporary nuisance. CDD 4 cannot stop anyone from using the trail when the area floods, although Heise and his staff close Greenbrook Adventure Park during heavy storms.

Heise hopes for a permanent solution.

“It’s kind of like your buying insurance for the destructive force of Mother Nature,” Heise said. “It’s money spent now to prevent more money spent in the future.”

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].