Corps to redesign Lido groins

In response to residents’ concerns about the impact groins on Lido Key will have on waterway navigation and Ted Sperling Park, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is redesigning them to make them smaller.
The groins are part the Big Pass dredge project, which the U.S. Army Corps is proposing to shore up sand on Lido Key.

“They’re going back to the board, seeing if they can still make the project work and stay cost effective,” said Laird Wreford, coastal initiatives manager for Sarasota County.

The Army Corps is looking for the point at which the groins can be reduced while still serving their purpose of helping prevent beach erosion.

Wreford said the Army Corps hasn’t released many other details, such as how long the redesign will take or what effect it will have on the amount of sand needed for the project. The redesign does, however, set back the process for the independent peer review of the Army Corps’ study of the Big Pass dredge. The county cannot move forward to select a firm to review the study until the design has been updated.

“We’re gearing up for the peer review, to get the comfort level for our board and community,” Wreford said, but added, “If what’s being proposed is changing, we need to get those first before the peer review.”

Despite the news of the groin reductions, some Siesta Key stakeholders still have concerns about the dredge and the peer review.

Peter van Roekens with Save Our Siesta Sands 2 emailed the county Jan. 6 with concerns about the county’s library of pre-approved firms.

“Every one of these firms have major dependencies on the ACOE for funding and are unlikely to bite the hand that feeds them,” he said. “If someone’s livelihood depends on the Army Corps, they’re not going to risk their business by offending the Corps.”

SOSS2 would like to see the county put out a request for proposals to attract different firms that might be more independent from the Army Corps, Van Roekens said.

Wreford said these firms have already gone through the procurement process to be added to the list.
“What we have seen in our interactions with the firms — I don’t think they would express having a conflict of interest with the Army Corps,” he said.

Before any firm is selected for the review, it will have to state that it has no conflict of interest.

“Clearly there are firms that are directly connected with this project, and they wouldn’t be selected,” Wreford said. “We’d do anything in our power to vet that prior to hiring someone to do the work.”

SAND PLAN
The city of Sarasota announced Wednesday that the interim beach renourishment project to replenish sand on Lido Beach lost during Tropical Storm Debby in 2012 will begin Thursday.

This restoration project is a short-term solution to buy Lido a little time between now and when the Big Pass dredge is completed, which is still several years from completion.

Less than two miles of Lido Beach will receive as much as 197,000 cubic yards of sand from a shoal in New Pass in the next two months. Mid-March is the targeted completion timeline — before turtle-nesting season begins.

The project is expected to cost about $3.6 million, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the tourist development tax. In December Sarasota County approved funding for the city’s project with up to $1 million from the TDT.