South Lido condominium residents have expressed concern about lack of sand over structure, along with lack of sand from recently concluded renourishment
On Sept. 18, 2013, Milan A. Mora, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) manager in charge of what was estimated to be a $22.7-million project to renourish Lido Key Beach with sand from Big Sarasota Pass, stood before attendees of a Sarasota County Coastal Advisory Committee meeting.
In discussing various facets of the plans, Mora pointed out that — at that stage of the process — three groins would be constructed on South Lido, to try to hold the sand in place between subsequent renourishment initiatives.
On the beach, he said, “They will be practically covered.” However, he added, enough of the structures should be visible to swimmers and people on jet skiers, for example, in the Gulf. A groin is “not a navigation hazard,” he pointed out.
In its review of multiple documents that the USACE ended up issuing in advance of the late 2020-21 renourishment effort, The Sarasota News Leader found references only to the groins having sand placed atop them.
In fact, Mora told the Sept. 18, 2013 audience that if the groins were installed and the federal government ceased authorizing funding for beach renourishment initiatives, “You’re gonna have some build-up of material here” on the southern end of Lido, thanks to the natural downdrift of sand — from the north to the south on the west coast of Florida.
Yet, by May 26, when leaders of the City of Sarasota celebrated the newly renourished Lido Beach, with sand dredged from New Pass, the southernmost groin was left uncovered. (Only two of the structures ended up being built, following a USACE design modification.)
As the News Leader previously reported, the contractor working for the USACE on this latest renourishment initiative did not even spread sand on the portion of South Lido in front of the Sarasota Sands condominium complex.
Andy Cummings, the USACE project manager, told Sarasota City Engineer Serge Kamiya via email on April 22, “Our coastal engineers feel that additional sand placement in the vicinity of both southern groins is unnecessary at this time for coastal protection. They are confident the sand placed to the north will work its way down there to satisfactorily fill the area in the future. I was there [on April 21] and I can see quite a bit of sand developing in the nearshore and shoreline around both groins. Placing more sand there now will likely cause it to move south of the groins sooner. It seems letting the area fill naturally will provide the most benefit.”
Nonetheless, just as Sarasota Sands owners and residents of other nearby condominium complexes have bemoaned the lack of sand on that part of the beach, they have questioned the safety of the public, given the groin’s presence with no covering.
In fact, the News Leader learned from residents that an incident took place in April, in which a person on the southern part of the beach apparently dropped something in the area of the groin and tried to extract it. That resulted in a call for county paramedics.
Sara Nealeigh, then the public information officer for the county’s Emergency Services Department, told the News Leader, “Sarasota County Fire Department personnel responded to assist a person on April 11, 2026 just before 7 p.m. There were no reported injuries or transports.”
Though the News Leader requested and received a copy of the relevant Sarasota County Fire Department report, it had no narrative to provide further details other than citing “Medical — Injury/Trauma — Fall” next to the line calling for the “Primary Incident Type.” It did note the fact that the location was 2100 Benjamin Franklin Drive, which is the address of the Lido Harbor South condominium complex. The latter buildings are immediately north of Sarasota Sands.
In response to a News Leader request this week for comments about the status of the groin, JP Rebello, public affairs officer for the USACE’s Jacksonville District Office, wrote the following in a June 11 email:
“Regarding the groin’s visibility, it is helpful to note that it is completely normal and consistent with standard coastal engineering design for these structures to be exposed. The key takeaway from a coastal engineering perspective is that an exposed groin is still actively performing its intended function.”
Rebello continued, “The purpose of these permeable structures is to act as a physical barrier that slows the rate of longshore sand transport. Groins assist with sediment retention within the project area and extend the life of the beach nourishment cycle. The groins remain structurally sound and continue to perform as designed to protect the shoreline, whether they are fully covered or partially exposed.”
Finally, he wrote, “With regard to high tide visibility and public safety, coastal groins are commonly used to retain sand along erosional portions of Florida’s coastlines. As with any coastal environment, we always encourage beachgoers and boaters to maintain awareness of their surroundings and observe any local safety signage, particularly during high tide. The City of Sarasota, as the local sponsor, manages day-to-day beach operations, including any necessary safety markers or signage associated with the structures.”
The groins, from engineering and monitoring perspectives
In soliciting bids on the 2020 Lido Key Beach Renourishment Project, the USACE including the following details in its formal advertisement:
“Upon completion of backfilling [the groins], the Contractor shall perform a final grading of the beach fill berm affected by construction of the groins. The intent of the final grading is to ensure that the sand berm configuration is in general compliance with the elevations and slopes of the project design,” prior to the contractor’s demobilization from the site.
The document added, “The beach shall be graded and dressed with a dragged pipe or equivalent so as to eliminate any pockets, ridges, or depressions in the beach surface.”
A News Leader review of images of Lido Beach via Google Earth found that the groins were barely perceptible by their shading in a view of the shoreline taken in November 2021. However, in the aftermath of the 2024 hurricane season — when Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck the Sarasota County coast — the groins are visible.
In January 2022, the USACE issued a Post-Construction Physical Monitoring Report on what formally was called the 2020 Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project on Lido Key. That report was a requirement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), as part of the permitting process for the initiative involving the removal of sand from Big Sarasota Pass.
The document explained, “The Physical Monitoring Plan (PMP) (USACE, 2016) is directed primarily toward accomplishing systematic measurements of the beach profile shape. Profile surveys of Lido Key, Longboat Key and Siesta Key documented beach and dune conditions which allowed the engineer to monitor project performance, observe seasonal and storm-induced variability in profile shape, and assess the need for design adjustments. Engineering analyses using these surveys were vital to understanding the effects of renourishment activities and the monitoring area’s overall evolution.”
Then the document pointed out that the total volume of sand placed on Lido Beach was 683,084 cubic yards “of beach-compatible sediment [that] was hydraulically dredged from two borrow areas within the Big Sarasota Pass’s ebb tidal delta …” The “project area consisted of approximately 1.4 miles of coastline, located between R-36.5 and R-44,” the report added. Those numbers are part of a monument system that is used to designate specific locations on a shoreline; no physical structures are used for reference.
That report also noted, “The first groin was constructed at FDEP monument R-42.5 between [Feb. 16 and March 24 2021].” The second, to the south, was constructed at FDEP monument R-43.1 between March 12 and April 29, 2021.
Then the report said, “Following construction, the seaward limit of both groins remained well landward of the MHW [mean high water] line and were completely buried within the beach fill following backfill operations.”
That sentence is consistent with the comments that USACE Project Manager Milan Mora made to the Sarasota County Coastal Advisory Council in September 2013.
The monitoring document also explained that the southernmost groin, “would have a total length of approximately 650 feet.” The height of each groin was to be 4 feet NAVD, it added, referencing a measure of elevation used on shorelines.
Moreover, the report noted again that, following construction, both groins “were completely buried within the beach fill following backfill operations.”