First step still will focus on ‘maximum allowable dredge’
On June 9, Sarasota County Stormwater Director Ben Quartermaine has recommended to the County Commission that, to maintain the current timeline for what has been designated as the “maximum allowable dredge” in Phillippi Creek, permitting for a second, related project be handled separately.
On June 17, although Quartermaine referenced the relevant memo during his presentation of his department’s proposed 2027 budget, none of the board members indicated disagreement with his permitting plans. (See the related article in this issue.)
“Recent survey efforts identified eight (8) emergent shoal areas within the Phase 2 limit,” Quartermaine pointed out in the memo. “These features have formed over time through sediment deposition and natural channel migration.”
Those areas, he continued, “introduce additional considerations beyond the scope of a traditional maintenance dredging project, including bank excavation, potential environmental resource impacts, property ownership questions associated with accreted lands and bank restoration. Collectively, these issues are expected to require additional agency review and permitting coordination.”
Therefore, Quartermaine proposed that, “[t]o maintain the overall project schedule and minimize permitting risk,” he believed the permitting effort should be divided into two distinct reviews …”
The first he said, would focus on the “removal of accumulated bottom sediments and restoration of hydraulic conveyance [water flow] and navigational capacity between U.S. 41 and Beneva Road. That would include the planned dredging with the 10-foot offset from the creek’s edge, to ensure that damage does not occur to private structures such as docks and piers.
The project would avoid “major channel modifications” and excavation of banks, Quartermaine noted.
What he designated Phase 2A for permitting purposes would include a “future sump area adjacent to the Southgate Community Center”; removal of the eight emergent shoals; the evaluation of bank excavation; the design of channel modifications; and the development “of a restoration baseline to guide future creek maintenance efforts.”
During a March 3 appearance before the County Commission, as it conducted a regular meeting that day in Venice, Quartermaine mentioned that plans for Phase 2 included deployment of sediment sumps in the waterway, to make removal of sediment easier in the future. That day, he explained that the Phase 2 permitting process included a focus on the ecological functions of the creek, including the presence of seagrasses and oyster beds, along with other habitat — issues that were not part of the Phase 1 initiative.
Quartermaine also noted on March 3 that Phase 2 would include the dredging of two “oxbows” in the Southgate community. Those are areas where the water used to flow around homes; sediment buildup has made it possible for people to walk on those oxbows, residents and commissioners have indicated.
In the June 9 memo, Quartermaine further explained, “This phased permitting strategy allows the primary dredging project to proceed while additional technical evaluation and agency coordination are completed for the more complex Phase 2A elements.”
As he noted on June 17, he still anticipates that a contractor for Phase 2 can be secured before the end of this year, with the work to begin in early 2027.
He added in the memo that he would expect the Phase 2A permit package to be submitted in the fall of this year.
Both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection must issue permits for the work, as indicated on the Phillippi Creek Dredge pages on the county website.
Quartermaine did point out in the memo, “If permitting and agency coordination proceed favorably, staff will evaluate opportunities to incorporate portions of the Phase 2A work into the Phase 2 construction contract … Bid documents will be prepared to support this approach.”
He also wrote, “Should significant permitting constraints arise, staff will return to the [County Commission] with additional recommendations regarding implementation of the Phase 2A work.”