SARASOTA

Siesta Key group suing Army Corps over Big Pass dredging to renourish Lido Beach

Suit alleges detailed study to examine potentially detrimental effects was never conducted

Nicole Rodriguez
nrodriguez@heraldtribune.com
Sand is pumped in from the Gulf of Mexico onto Lido Public Beach on Nov. 19. Crews started the process of restoring the beach after the season's storms caused severe erosion to the beach. [Herald-Tribune archive / 2018]

SARASOTA — A citizens group fighting to stop a controversial dredging project to renourish eroded Lido Beach is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for allegedly violating the law by failing to conduct a vital study to examine the project’s potentially detrimental effects to Siesta Key.

Save Our Siesta Sands 2 on Friday filed a suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in an attempt to block the contentious project after the federal agency ignored a request 60 days ago from the group to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement to address economic and environmental concerns about the plan to dredge Big Pass to rebuild Lido Beach. The notice initiated a two-month period in which the Corps could have remedied the issue raised by the group or face litigation if it refused.

Before signing off on the project, the federal agency conducted a Final Environmental Assessment, which is not as comprehensive as an Environmental Impact Statement, according to the group’s St. Augustine-based land-use and environmental attorney, Jane West. The group cited concerns about the impact of taking sand from nearby sources, or “borrow areas,” that it says are needed to protect Siesta Key.

“The potential damage to Siesta Key, its residents and its businesses, as well as all the homes that could be impacted is substantial,” Save Our Siesta Sands 2 Chairman Peter van Roekens said Tuesday. “We believe that there are alternative sources (of sand) that can be used, and we’re concerned that this may be a major problem for Siesta.”

The suit claims the project violates the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, which in turn affects numerous areas of the Administrative Procedure Act, and is notably silent on how the project may exacerbate red tide conditions and the local economy, the 31-page complaint states.

“The Corps failed to prepare an EIS analyzing the significant adverse impacts of the authorized activities. Instead, it relied on an outdated Environmental Assessment and Biological Opinion,” the lawsuit states. “These analyses failed to consider critical recent information, including the increasingly precarious state of marine life in the region, and the current prolonged state of red tide and the effects it’s having on the marine and human environments in the area.”

The Corps of Engineers declined to comment on the suit.

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does not comment on matters in litigation," Army Corps Spokesman Gene Pawlik said in an email Tuesday.

The group previously challenged the issuance of the permits for the project in court, but lost. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection in June granted the city of Sarasota a permit to dredge up to 1.3 million cubic yards of sand from Big Pass to rebuild parts of the disappearing Lido Beach shoreline. A final order from DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein followed recommendations issued in May by administrative law Judge Bram D.E. Canter, who ruled the city and Corps should be issued the necessary permits for the project. Both Canter and Valenstein dismissed claims by Save Our Siesta Sands 2 and another opposing group, Siesta Key Association, that the project would negatively affect navigation and cause harmful erosion to Siesta Key.

The project is scheduled to go ahead as planned regardless of the lawsuit, city officials said.

"The USACE’s plans to start the long-term project in September have not changed,” Sarasota spokeswoman Jan Thornburg said in an email.

The city plans to start the project in September and complete it by the following hurricane season, which begins June 1. The initial renourishment would take 950,000 cubic yards of sand from Big Pass, and subsequent restoration projects would occur every five years, dredging about 500,000 cubic yards each time. The projected cost is $20 million to $22 million and will be funded with local, state and federal funds.

Erosion on Lido Beach has started to take a financial toll, impacting businesses and causing property damage along the barrier island. City officials estimate Lido Beach lost 15 feet of shoreline in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and Subtropical Storm Alberto, prompting City Manager Tom Barwin to declare a state of emergency.

In the meantime, the city has undertaken an emergency renourishment project, which began in November, with completion slated for sometime next month, city officials said. That project will use 150,000 to 200,000 cubic yards of sand from New Pass to rebuild the vanishing shoreline. The project cost of $3.9 million is being shared by the city, Sarasota County, the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The city’s funding portion is approximately $600,000.

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