Town makes progress in debris cleanup after hurricanes Helene, Milton

Cleaning up debris on Longboat Key isn’t as simple as sending out fleets of dump trucks.

The town’s cleanup efforts involve three different “types” of roads: the state-owned Gulf of Mexico Drive, public neighborhood roads and private neighborhood roads. Each requires a different method of cleanup. 

Despite jurisdictional challenges, Town Manager Howard Tipton said the cleanup crews have made visible progress along Gulf of Mexico Drive after almost three weeks of hauling. 

Gulf of Mexico Drive is a state highway, and it’s the state’s responsibility to make at least two passes for each type of debris. First is construction and demolition debris, then vegetative debris. 

According to Tipton, the state completed its first sweep of construction and demolition debris on the Manatee County side on Oct. 27 and began its second pass shortly after. The first pass on the Sarasota County side was also recently completed. 

Vegetative debris pickup has also begun along Gulf of Mexico Drive with one pass completed on the Sarasota County side. Completion of the second pass of vegetative debris will be a big help in ensuring safer driving.

“There’s still some line of sight issues coming out of some of the driveways and entrances because the vegetative material is so high,” Tipton said.

After the two passes of construction and demolition debris and vegetative debris are completed, the state will work on clearing the sand piles from Gulf of Mexico Drive. The other types of debris are more important to go first, according to Tipton. 

“Sand is kind of the last thing to go. It’s kind of the least problematic,” he said. “Construction debris doesn’t look good, probably doesn’t smell good. And the vegetative stuff blocks line of sight.”

Even after the state completes the two required passes, Tipton said the town will still need to do some work before the roads look normal again. 

“There will have to be some final cleaning because some of the areas are a little rough,” Tipton said.

Public vs. private roads

Behind Longboat’s main road, there are both public and private neighborhood streets. Public roads, being controlled by the town, are subject to cleanup through the town’s two private debris cleanup contractors. 

DRC Emergency Services and Ceres Environmental are the two contractors that the town hired to pick up the debris on public roads, not including Gulf of Mexico Drive. 

However, only four privately owned roads are a part of the town’s debris contracts. This is because the roads are slim and excessive debris would make them impassable and potentially unsafe. 

Other private roads in private neighborhoods would not be a part of the contract and therefore need to handle cleanup on their own. 

Tipton said some residents have argued that all private roads should be included since all residents pay taxes, but that’s not exactly what’s going on. 

“We’re not using any local taxpayer dollars to clean this stuff up,” Tipton said. “It’s all federal at this point.”

If the town’s debris contractors collect all the debris within a 90-day time frame, the town would be eligible for possibly 100% reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Tipton is confident that the contractors will meet this goal and the town’s work will be covered by federal dollars.

Tipton said he met with representatives from FEMA alongside Mayor Ken Schneier and other town staff to request help for the private roads in the town. In an email sent by Schneier to some residents, Schneier outlined two possible approaches. 

First, the town could try to amend the existing program to allow contractors to pick up in private neighborhoods after work is done on public roads.

“The Town would need to collect information from each community supporting that community's need for pick up and that might take more time to orchestrate than we have,” Schneier said in the email. 

Another possibility is for the private neighborhoods to apply for reimbursement separately, and Schneier said the state seems willing to help advocate for the reimbursement. In this case, the private neighborhoods would need to contract their own debris collection companies and then apply for reimbursement. 

Tipton said this reimbursement could come from FEMA in a similar way that the town would receive reimbursement for the publicly-owned roads, but the applicants would be the neighborhoods. 

“There is no guarantee this approach will work, but it seems to provide the best opportunity for private road neighborhoods to get at least some recovery for their debris removal costs,” Schneier said in the email.