ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — As Sarasota County contractors gear up to make emergency repairs to Manasota Key Road, which was washed out by Hurricane Idalia, some neighbors there have called for a more permanent fix instead.
"Please, please do the right thing. What you want to do makes no sense. Listen to the public," homeowner Terry Philpot said.
In August, Idalia destroyed around 1,600 feet of Manasota Key Road just before Blind Pass Park.
The damage cut off access to some homes by car and to parts of Englewood Beach from Sarasota County. Currently, residents and emergency responders are forced to take a 16-mile detour into Charlotte County to get back up toward the cut-off area.
The county is using nearly $4 million from state and federal funds allocated for hurricane damage repairs.
The road has been washed out by storms several times, including in 2013 and 2017.
"There is the water and there is their proposed new road and this isn't even a hurricane. This is just mother nature saying bring it," said Philpot in a video recording shared with 10 Tampa Bay.
That's why he and some of his neighbors want the county to press pause on those emergency repair plans. They said it is a Band-Aid solution and spending such funds on repairing the road amounts to pouring money down the drain.
"We have issues where the tide is coming up, it's washing out what we have there right now. You put in the new road, our thoughts are it's going to get washed out within a matter of time. We get a really good storm and it's gone," he said.
"It was a good 12 hours of constant storm surge. The road washed out in what was supposed to be a non-event," said Marc Silberstrom, another neighbor.
The neighbors have suggested other options for the money citing a 2020 study that recommended a "no-build" approach to the road.
"There's hardening of the road, there's a bridge to let the inlet that 30 years ago came in and out. Just rebuilding it in order to get that road open quickly is a waste of $4 million in taxpayer dollars and as a citizen and a taxpayer is very concerning," Silberstrom said.
County officials, however, said that by law, they are restricted on what to use the money for and how long it can sit unallocated.
"What we're doing are emergency repairs and all we can be reimbursed for from the federal and state hurricane emergency funds is to replace what was there before," said Spencer Anderson, the Sarasota County public works director.
"That does not prevent us though from looking at it in the future to provide more resiliency for that roadway," Anderson said. Anderson added that implementing the repairs to get the road back to a functional state is also about access for emergency response.
"That's a major inconvenience and safety factor for the residents that live in that area and that's what we are working on to get resolved," he said.
The contractor, DeMoya Highway Infrastructure LLC, is responsible for having repaired the Sanibel Causeway which was destroyed by Hurricane Ian. They rebuilt that road in 15 days and will start moving equipment into their staging area near Blind Pass Park this week.
Despite that laudable feat, neighbors like Silberstrom and Philpot are still not swayed.
"They need to stop. Take time out to slow this down, and get input from various organizations, and engineering organizations. Whether it comes from the county or the state or the federal government, waste is waste and this is just waste," Silberstrom said.
"Just listen to us and at least give us the benefit of the doubt, that's all we're asking for please," Philpot pleaded.
County officials said the work is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
Blind Pass Beach will remain open but sections in nearby parking lots will be closed off to be used as a construction staging area. The area will also be closed to all pedestrian and bicycle traffic.