SARASOTA

Siesta Key group plans to sue feds over Lido Beach renourishment project

Concerns voiced about possible environmental effects from dredging of Big Pass

Nicole Rodriguez
nrodriguez@heraldtribune.com
Lido Shores residents have expressed concern about beach erosion that has shrunk the beach and is threatening a pavilion. [Herald-Tribune staff photo / Carlos R. Munoz]

SIESTA KEY — A citizens group fiercely opposed to a dredging project to renourish critically eroded Lido Beach has notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of its intent to sue the federal agency for allegedly breaking the law by failing to conduct a key study to examine the project's potentially devastating effects to Siesta Key.

Save Our Siesta Sands 2 on Friday formally provided the federal agency a required 60-day notice of its intent to sue after the Corps ignored a request from the group to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement to address economic and environmental concerns about the plan to dredge Big Pass and rebuild Lido Beach. The notice initiates a two-month period in which the Corps can remedy the issue raised by the group or face litigation if it refuses.

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 Environmental Assessment failed to analyze the economic impacts of the dredging and also wholly failed to even consider red tide issues,” West said in an email to the Herald-Tribune. If the Corps "conducts an EIS that more comprehensively considers other borrow areas as alternatives, and opts for a borrow area that doesn’t impact Big Pass Shoal, then yes, Save Our Siesta Sands 2 would refrain from pursuing litigation.”

West also argues the project breaks several federal laws.

“The project violates the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, which in turn affects numerous violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and is notably completely silent on how the project may exacerbate red tide conditions and the local economy,” she said in a statement on Friday.

The Army Corps of Engineers declined to comment on the potential lawsuit.

The group previously challenged the issuance of the permits for the project in court, but ultimately 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.

“We are concerned that the project will have significant environmental and economic impacts in and around the project area, and that the project will negatively impact navigation of recreational and commercial watercraft passing through the areas affected by the project,” Save Our Siesta Sands 2 Chairman Peter van Roekens said in a statement. “We must prevent this damage from happening and we are speaking for thousands of Siesta Key residents, visitors and business owners who feel the same way.”

The city plans to start the project by spring and complete it by next hurricane season, which begins June 1, 2019. 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.

City Manager Tom Barwin called the group’s attempt to halt the project “disappointing.”

“We’ll refer the matter to our attorneys. If indeed there is additional litigation, it’s disappointing,” Barwin said in an email. “It is critically vital that whatever, if any, legal action is taken, the case must be expedited for the protection of the city’s infrastructure, property and economy.” 

Erosion on Lido Beach has started to take a financial toll, impacting businesses and causing property damage along the barrier island. Private properties on Lido Beach sustained some damage from Subtropical Storm Alberto in May, and the concession stand at the pavilion has suffered economic losses.

City workers in August installed a series of jumbo bags filled with 500 tons of sand around the pavilion after city officials noticed nearby dunes, which serve as a natural barrier from the ocean, began to disappear from erosion that has plagued the shoreline in recent months. The bags will remain around the pavilion though hurricane season, which ends Nov. 1, city officials said.

City officials estimate Lido Beach lost 15 feet of shoreline in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and Alberto, prompting Barwin to declare a state of emergency.

The city plans to start an emergency renourishment project sometime next month, using 150,000 to 200,000 cubic yards of sand from New Pass to rebuild the shoreline.

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