SARASOTA, Fla. -- Over the years, Will Irvin has seen the beach disappear at his Sarasota Sands condominium on South Lido Key.
Irvin remembers seeing 100-150 yards of beach 14 years ago when he bought his property. He compared the beach this year to last year.
“There’s no comparison. Last year we noticed the water line was starting to move closer,” said Irvin. “This beach used to run be walkable at high tide to north point of Lido Key. Not anymore!”
Sarasota Sands property owners have a sliver of beach for a beach chair and umbrella or to play in the sand but their neighbors up the way –they have even less.
“We have a dire situation and areas experiencing property damage,” said Tom Barwin, Sarasota’s City Manager.
Barwin said residents can get a permit to place sandbags or to add their own sand. The city’s short-term plan is to dredge New Pass off North Lido Key in November after turtle nesting season. But first there’s hurricane season to survive.
“Any kind of storm surge of any significance we have the threat of seeing the Gulf of Mexico breaching our shoreline, really flow into the streets of Lido Key,” said Barwin.
The city estimates Tropical Storm Alberto washed away 5 to 7 feet of beach last week more than Hurricane Irma’s 4.6 feet of shoreline.
“Now it’s eroding into our dunes,” said Barwin. “We didn’t have much to spare to start with because of this ongoing challenge to get the beach renourished,” said Barwin.
The city’s long-term plan has been to dredge Big Pass on the south end of Lido to make it navigable and reclaim the sand that washed away. But Siesta Key, which shares the pass, has kept the city tied up in court over environmental concerns for several years.
Earlier this month, a judge ruled in favor of the city and Army Corps of Engineers to receive the necessary permits.
“We hope the litigation will stop so we can complete the renourishment of the beach,” said Barwin.
Irvin added, “If there’s no significant environmental impact, no reason to delay this.”
We reached out to the Siesta Key Association for comment but did not get a response.
The City of Sarasota hopes to get the final permit order from the Department of Environment Protection in a few weeks provided there isn’t an appeal.
As of now, the beach is open and so are concessions.
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