By Rachel Brown Hackney A number of Siesta residents have questioned the fact that the City of Sarasota has paid some of the expenses of the Lido Key Residents Association (LKRA) as that organization has fought the Siesta Key Association Read More
Siesta Key Association questions FDEP’s intention to allow City of Sarasota to dredge New Pass without city’s having completed required inlet management plan
By Rachel Brown Hackney SarasotaNewsLeader.com As this issue of Siesta Sand was being published, the engineer for the City of Sarasota was expecting the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to issue its formal Notice to Proceed at any time Read More
If it looks like a boat channel…
By Rachel Brown Hackney www.SarasotaNewsLeader Soon after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Sarasota announced their plans for the dredging of Big Sarasota Pass to renourish a critically eroded area of South Lido Key Beach, Siesta Read More
Pleas for County Commission action
By Rachel Brown Hackney A Siesta property owner has been imploring the Sarasota County Commission to take a definitive stand against the plans of the City of Sarasota and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to dredge Big Sarasota Read More
SKA disagrees with Sarasota County attorney’s assertion that county has no jurisdiction over Big Pass
By Rachel Brown Hackney Sarasota County has no jurisdiction over dredging in the Gulf of Mexico in regard to beach nourishment projects, County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh reported to the County Commission on July 10. Commissioner Alan Maio raised the issue Read More
FDEP secretary grants permit for dredging of Big Sarasota Pass
By Rachel Brown Hackney SarasotaNewsLeader.com Two days after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida toured severely eroded areas of South Lido Key Beach, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Secretary Noah Valenstein granted the Joint Coastal Permit the City Read More
Army Corps of Engineers allocates funding for the long-term renourishment project planned on Lido Key
By Rachel Brown Hackney The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced on June 11 that it has allocated $13,462,000 to the long-term project designed to renourish a 1.56-mile stretch Read More
Call for elimination of two potential dredging areas in Big Pass
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 Read More
Sarasota mayor convinces majority of City Commission to keep Big Pass dredging ‘insurance policy’
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 Read More
‘David versus Goliath’ hearing wraps up; Advocates for Sarasota Big Pass expect judge’s decision soon
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 Read More