County Commission to discuss issue again at upcoming meeting
On Feb. 10, after a Phillippi Creek resident renewed a plea for the Sarasota County Commission to ensure that the middle of the waterway is dredged to a width of 30 feet, Commissioner Mark Smith made a motion to that effect, only to eventually agree with his colleagues that they first should discuss the issue at more length.
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis indicated that he would try to schedule those talks for the next regular board meeting, which is set for March 3.
During the Open to the Public comment period at the start of the Feb. 10 meeting, Kristy Molyneaux reiterated a number of points that she made to the board members on Jan. 27.
A member of SAND (Supporters for Action Now in Dredging) and a sister organization called the Phillippi Creek Coalition, Molyneaux began, “I respectfully ask you to make and pass a motion today to instruct the county staff to immediately solicit for dredging in the middle section of Phillippi Creek,” which — as she maintained on Jan. 27 — is possible under the terms of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) permit that was approved last year.
That removal of sediment could be done, she continued, while staff pursues the work to secure a USACE permit for what has been characterized as “the maximum allowable dredge” in the creek.
Further, she reminded the board members that Stormwater Director Ben Quartermaine “is recommending a course of action that would delay any sediment removal in the middle section until approximately December, after another hurricane season.”
She added, “Ben says his main reason for delay is it would be more cost-effective to wait and combine the middle-section dredge [with] the maximum allowable dredge, because the county would pay only one mobilization fee.” She was referring to the expense of getting a contractor’s equipment in place.
“Here’s where it’s very important,” Molyneaux continued, noting, “I hope I can get all of your attention”: The mobilization for the upper creek cost $1 million, she said; the expense for the lower creek was less than $200,000. The latter amount also covered the cost of demobilization, she pointed out.
“If the county proceeded now with the permit they have while machinery is on the creek,” Molyneaux continued, “the mobilization fee could be as low as $100,000.”
She reiterated that statement.
“This seems like a reasonable extra cost to dredge the middle section now, before [the 2026] hurricane season.”
Yet, Molyneaux noted, “Ben says there’s no urgency to dredge the middle section, because it naturally widens and deepens, and, hence, it’s not affected by flooding. Yet, it is the middle section that flooded three times [in 2024].”
She told The Sarasota News Leader in an email that the middle part of the waterway is considered to be the section from just upstream of the U.S. 41 bridge to the bridge over Tuttle Avenue.
Molyneaux also pointed out to the commissioners that almost all of those who experienced flooding in conjunction with the 20224 storms’ strikes live in the middle section. In fact, she added, “One of the narrowest areas of Phillippi Creek — about 65 feet wide — is in the middle section, just downstream of Bee Ridge.”
Numerous portions of the middle section are less than 100 feet wide, she stressed, while multiple areas in the upper creek are more than 100 feet wide.
Residents in the middle section, she noted, are concerned about the increased water flow — and its velocity — “into the undredged middle creek,” after the dredging has been completed in the lower creek.
Showing the board members a slide depicting sediment in the middle section, Molyneaux further emphasized, “It is only getting worse. It slows water down” and leads to the deposits of even more sediment.
All she wanted, Molyneaux repeated her initial statement, was for a board member to make a motion to call for the dredging of the middle section with the permit already in hand.
Because of the number of people who had signed up for the first Open to the Public period on Feb. 10, Chair Ron Cutsinger primarily limited the speakers to those addressing topics on the agenda that were slated for discussion purposes. He informed the audience members that most of them wishing to talk about other issues would have to wait until the final Open to the Public period, after the board members had concluded the rest of the business on the Feb. 10 agenda.
A recap of Quartermaine’s Jan. 27 remarks
During an update to the commissioners on Jan. 27, Stormwater Director Quartermaine reminded them that the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND), based in Venice, is responsible for the dredging of Phillippi creek from its mouth to U.S. 41.
As for Phase 2 — “the maximum allowable dredge” of Phillippi Creek — Quartermaine pointed out that he and his staff “have been meeting with our dredge engineers, our consultants, FDEP and the Army Corps.”
Then he explained, “There are environmental and ecological concerns that I have to consider when we’re doing this.”
Phase 1, Quartermaine emphasized, “has the biggest impact in terms of hydrologic function, impact to the floodplain.” Phase 2, he continued, “is really more creek restoration …”
Quartermaine had provided details about the dredging in a Jan. 22 memo to the commissioners.
In an Feb. 10 email to the board members, County Administrator Lewis told them, “I wanted to recirculate the [Jan. 22] memorandum from the Stormwater director on [the] Max allowable dredge.” He had attached it to the email.
“As directed by the Board,” Lewis added, “the topic will be scheduled for a discussion item with a presentation.”
The next regular commission meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 3, at the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice. It stands at 4000 S. Tamiami Trail.
Criticism and more pleas
During the final Open to the Public period that day, the News Leader counted eight other speakers who urged the commissioners to proceed with the dredging of the middle section of the creek.
Among them, Raeanne Malone — who noted that she has lived in Southgate for 23 years —urged the commissioners not only to authorize the dredging of the middle section of the waterway, but also of the “oxbows,” segments of the waterway that surround homes in Southgate.
She criticized the Jan. 22 memo that Stormwater Director Quartermaine had provided the commissioners, saying it “failed to mention the three high spots in the middle of the creek from Tuttle [Avenue in Southgate] to [the] Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar. They are not included in the Phase 1 dredge,” which is underway, she stressed.
Moreover, Malone pointed out that, during their Jan. 27 meeting, when the commissioners talked with Quartermaine about his Jan. 22 memo, “No one on this board asked for alternatives or requested details.”
None of the commissioners expressed concern “over how changing established timelines of great public interest could harm public trust, which is easily eroded,” Malone continued. No one asked Quartermaine for documentation to support his recommendation, she added.
Marian Pomeroy, a past member of the county’s Stormwater Environmental Utility Advisory Committee (SEUAC), pointed out that she had spent nine hours in Venice that day, waiting to offer her 3 minutes of remarks. “We’re afraid of flooding,” she told the board members.
“I’ve lived on Phillippi Creek since 1990,” Pomeroy stressed. “I didn’t move there anticipating that [over the succeeding years], the county wouldn’t do any maintenance in the creek and that we would be prioritized behind every other project,” she continued.
Then Pomeroy criticized commissioners for talking, during the Board Reports part of the meeting, about the fact that county residents in other areas are waiting for dredging, too. “[Phillippi] Creek hasn’t been dredged in 26 years,” Pomeroy told them, “and my portion of it has never been dredged.
“Nothing’s being done in Southgate to improve water flow,” Pomeroy emphasized, noting that she had seen a video on the county website that provided information about the removal of a railroad trestle in the Pinecraft area to improve water flow in Phillippi Creek. That project is going to result in more water in her part of the creek, she added.
“And if we ever do get another hurricane rain season, we’re toast!”
Last year, during the first workshop the commissioners held on stormwater issues, she continued, “You all said this is an emergency; all boots on the ground. I’m not seeing it.”
‘’The prudent thing to do’
During his report to his colleagues as part of the meeting that day, Commissioner Smith said, “I do believe we should, as a board, give staff direction to move forward with the dredging of the middle of the creek, since it’s already permitted … The delay is going to bring us right into hurricane season, if not beyond.”
He added that the project seems to be “the prudent thing to do.”
Yet, he acknowledged, “I don’t know if the board wants to discuss that further.”
Commissioner Joe Neunder asked whether Smith was referencing Molyneaux’s call for the board to direct staff to solicit a contractor for the work.
Smith confirmed that that was correct.
Smith made a motion directing staff to proceed Immediately with the procurement effort for the dredging of the middle section, while staff is pursuing the permit for the “maximum dredge.” Neunder seconded it.
Smith said he wanted to make sure “we have [that section] as cleared as possible before hurricane season.”
“We’re constantly talking about money,” Neunder pointed out. Thus, when an opportunity arises to save the county money, “We want to explore those opportunities.” He was referring to the figures Molyneaux had cited that morning.
Neunder told his colleagues that he has been hearing from Phillippi Creek residents who have the same view of the situation as Molyneaux.
He did talk about wanting more discussion of the proposal, however, noting that county Stormwater Director Quartermaine was not present that day at the board meeting.
County Attorney Joshua Moye pointed out that the county would have to spend extra money on the dredging in the middle section, even if it does have the permit for the work. Therefore, Moye recommended that the board members engage in a formal discussion of the proposal during an upcoming meeting. He also referenced the need for a modification of the USACE permit to reflect the additional dredging.
Responding to Smith’s motion and Moye’s remarks, Commissioner Tom Knight added, “It sounds commonsense, but it isn’t free.”
Moreover, Knight reminded his colleagues, a lot of canals in the county need dredging — a point that he and Commissioner Teresa Mast have made multiple times during discussions about stormwater work.
Knight agreed with Moye about the scheduling of a discussion item, so the board members could engage again with Quartermaine. “I, for one, won’t make strategic operational decisions without having our expertise in here,” Knight said, along with details about the extra expense and how that would be covered.
Further, Knight reminded his colleagues that they directed County Administrator Lewis last year to hire a stormwater director, and Quartermaine brought decades of experience to the position. Knight added that Quartermaine “is putting us in the right position for the future.”
In response to a question from Commissioner Mast, County Administrator Lewis said that the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND), which is based in Venice, holds the permit for the dredging of the middle portion of Phillippi Creek.
“I think it has to come back as a discussion item when Ben is here,” Mast told her colleagues after hearing Lewis’ comment. Nonetheless, she stressed, “I’m happy to have that conversation …”
She also pointed out, “My entire district is saying, ‘When is it our turn [for dredging]?’ ”
Cowpen Slough in her District 1 territory is another high priority, Mast noted.
“We’ve got to be very equitable across the board in these conversations,” she told her colleagues.
Chair Ron Cutsinger concurred with the proposal for the issue to be placed on an upcoming agenda as a discussion item.
Commissioner Smith then agreed to revise his motion to call for a discussion of his proposal, adding that he would like to be able to do that at the next regular board meeting.
Neunder again seconded the motion.
Neunder added that it will be of greatest importance to him for Quartermaine to offer an explanation about hydrology — “how water moves” — in the context of residents’ concerns about the volume of water moving through Phillippi Creek after WCIND’s contractor completes the dredging of the lower portion of the water body.
The board members unanimously approved Smith’s motion.