By Rachel Brown Hackney The Siesta Key Association (SKA) and Save Our Siesta Sand 2 (SOSS2) are using the recommendation of a state administrative law judge to ask the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to eliminate two areas of Big Sarasota Pass as potential dredging areas for the renourishment of South Lido Key. […]
By Rachel Brown Hackney SarasotaNewsLeader.com Sarasota Mayor Shelli Freeland Eddie convinced the majority of her colleagues in mid-January to keep $2.5 million set aside as an “insurance policy” in the event the proposed dredging of Big Sarasota Pass were allowed to proceed and resulting damage needed to be mitigated. Reporting on […]
By Roger Drouin Peter van Roekens and coastal scientist Richard Gilmore went out on Big Pass with Captain Paul Oversmith on an evening in late July. They were on the lookout for speckled trout, and they discovered the fish were mating in Big Pass and the juvenile trout were using the seagrass beds. […]
To the City of Sarasota and Sarasota County, I am shocked that the city of Sarasota still supports and plans to go forward with the Army Corps of Engineers plan to dredge Big Pass to re-nourish Lido Beach. The Army Corps of Engineers recommends dredging Big Pass to get sand for Lido Beach (1.2 million […]
By Rachel Brown Hackney SarasotaNewsLeader.com About six weeks before the hearing was set to begin in the case, a Florida administrative law judge ruled that it would be up to the Siesta Key Association (SKA), Save Our Siesta Sand 2 (SOSS2) and the Florida Wildlife Federation (FWF) to prove their contention that the U.S. […]
As an Aug. 22 appeal hearing approaches, Bob Luckner, a longtime pipeline engineer, represents the community as he studies the technical nuisances of a controversial project. By Roger Drouin Bob Luckner has forty-five years of experience as an engineer, specializing in permitting and project management, since graduating from Virginia Tech with a Ph.D. in Engineering […]
By Rachel Brown Hackney SarasotaNewsLeader.com The Siesta Key Association (SKA) has unveiled one of the key arguments it intends to make against the dredging alternative upon which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has settled for the proposed Lido Renourishment Project. During the nonprofit’s regular meeting on July 6, Robert Luckner, a member […]
By Rachel Brown Hackney The vice president of the Siesta Key Association (SKA) told members at the April 6 meeting that the organization expects to need another $80,000 to $100,000 as it pursues two types of legal challenges in the effort to prevent the dredging of Big Sarasota Pass to renourish South Lido Key Beach. […]
By Rachel Brown Hackney SarasotaNewsLeader.com A Florida administrative law judge has denied a motion by the Siesta Key Association (SKA) and three Siesta Key residents to delay an administrative hearing on petitions they and two other organizations filed in January. Their action responded to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Dec. 22, 2016 notice of […]
By Rachel Brown Hackney SarasotaNewsLeader.com The Siesta Key Association (SKA) filed a complaint in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court on March 9 in an effort to stop the dredging of Big Sarasota Pass to renourish South Lido Key Beach. The action came 50 days after the nonprofit notified the City of Sarasota, the Florida Department […]
