North-end groin approval faces one last hurdle

Longboat Key Commissioner Jack Duncan’s visit to Washington, D.C., last week might have helped speed up a federal permit for a much needed beach project on the north end of Longboat Key.

Duncan, who is president of Manasota League of Cities and was in the capital last week on league business, met with members of Congressman Vern Buchanan’s staff, to discuss the issuance of a federal permit for two groins on the north end of the Key.

T.J. Tatum, Buchanan’s press secretary, informed Duncan in a Feb. 13 email that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is waiting on the National Marine Fisheries Service to complete its endangered species consultation for sea turtles and fish before it can issue the permit.

“This is the only issue requiring resolution prior to the Corps taking action,” Tatum wrote in his email.
Buchanan’s office contacted the National Marine Fisheries Service Feb. 12 to see what could be done to expedite its consultation, but a winter storm shut down the office last week.

Tatum said Buchanan’s office will update the town on the status of the permit when it has more information.

“The hope was to gently nudge the congressman to keep things moving and try and protect those properties,” Duncan said.

Longbeach and 360 North condominium owners are worried about the lack of sand in the area. The town can’t perform a sand and structure project in the area any earlier than summer 2015.

Once the permit is received, Town Manager Dave Bullock and Public Works Director Juan Florensa said the town will put the beach project out to bid.

That beach project, they hope, will coincide with a project Manatee County hopes to perform next year, which will dredge the navigational channel in Longboat Pass on an as-needed basis. The county and the town have agreed to jointly apply for the multiyear permit. The agreement also allows the town to take the dredged sand from the pass for placement on the north end.

If the town receives the groin permit in the next six months, it could bid the project by the end of the year and start construction in summer 2015.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected]