Commissioners also request frequent updates from staff regarding maintenance of ‘hot spots’
An April 8 Sarasota County Commission agenda item — regarding removal of a dam on Phillippi Creek — prompted board members to reiterate their concerns about whether county staff is taking the necessary steps to ensure that stormwater maintenance and related projects are being done as quickly as possible.
In fact, Commissioner Ron Cutsinger asked that County Administrator Jonathan Lewis have Public Works Director Spencer Anderson provide regular reports to the board members about the status of county stormwater maintenance projects, especially those related to what staff has identified as the most critical areas of concern — the approximately 200 “hot spots.”
Lewis said that Anderson could make those reports available on a weekly basis.
The April 8 public hearing on the dam proposal brought four people who reside on Phillippi Creek to the R.L. Anderson Administration in Venice. There, they renewed their own and their neighbors’ concerns to the commissioners about the urgency of removing materials from that waterway that led to repeated home flooding during the 2024 storm season.
The agenda item preceded Chair Joe Neunder’s call for another stormwater workshop for the board in May, prior to the next session that Lewis and staff had planned, which could have come as late as June 4, as The Sarasota News Leader has reported.
During the Open to the Public comment period shortly after the start of the April 8 meeting, the Phillippi Creek residents expressed a mix of appreciation for steps that the commission already has taken and apprehension about the timeline for others, given the traditional June 1 start of hurricane season.
Among them was Nadia Bowen, who said that if the dam were eliminated, about 150 homes no longer would be considered to be standing in a floodplain.
Moreover, Bowen told the commissioners, “We really want this to be done as quickly as possible, obviously,” with hurricane season just eight weeks away.
The very first speaker that morning, Deb Hays, said, “I really want to thank you all for your efforts to really make it safe for me to continue to live in my home [on Phillippi Creek].” Hays asked that the board members “please keep the communication flowing, pun intended,” and let all Phillippi Creek residents be involved in the county’s planning for removal of sediment and other materials in the waterway.
Construction or demolition?
The item for April 8 was listed under the heading Presentation Upon Request, meaning that staff had not found it to be controversial, so no report had been planned for the board, unless a commissioner requested one.
To that end, Commissioner Mark Smith told his colleagues, “I’m a bit confused … My understanding is that we were just going to be removing the dam.” Yet, the backup materials, he said, referred to “partial construction,” as well.
Paul Semenec, the county’s senior manager for stormwater, then stepped to the podium to answer questions.
Semenec said that staff anticipates “that the entire structure will be removed,” along with sediment in the creek, between Tuttle Avenue and Webber Street.
He explained that staff included the term “partial construction” because staff does not have all of the necessary funding for the project. The money that staff was asking the board to approve that day, Semenec added, would pay for the design of the project and the permitting process. That amount was $1,131,091, with $304,290.70 awarded from the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). The latter money will come out of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), which is federally funded, FDEM’s webpages explain.
Semenec also told the commissioners that if any of the $1.1 million were left after the design and permitting were completed, it would be set aside for the construction. Staff would be exploring the potential of other grants to help with the funding, he added.
The staff memo in the April 8 agenda materials explained, “A historical dam lies approximately 3.6 miles upstream of the Phillippi Creek confluence with Roberts Bay. This dam was used as a salinity gate for agricultural purposes prior to the conversion of lands for residential use. Approximately 100 feet of the dam remains, extending from the [northwest] side of Phillippi Creek and causing suspended sediment to deposit upstream and downstream of the structure. This increased sedimentation from upstream erosion reduces channel conveyance capacity, increasing the risk of flooding to the surrounding residential areas, degrading water quality, and [causing] further erosion. There are several homes within the region that have repeatedly flooded or are on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) repetitive loss list. Additionally, this dam has degraded the project area’s overall natural stormwater conveyance and ecosystem.”
The memo further pointed out, “Removing the historic dam barrier and reinforcing the creek embankments will mitigate the risk of channel erosion and creek flooding in the project area and downstream, reducing the risk of future damage to structures along the creek. The proposed project will increase protection against stormwater flooding, improve creek water quality, and reduce channel erosion. The mitigation measures will reduce the risk of future damage, bodily injuries, and loss of life. Activities for this effort will include conducting a study to determine the effect of removing the dam on sediment transport upstream and downstream, design and permitting the removal of a remnant dam, and any associated activities such as stream restoration or dredging.”
“What is the construction part of the project?” Commissioner Smith asked.
The removal of sediment and the dam and the construction of a sump, to keep sediment from continuing to build up in that part of the creek, Semenec replied.
“In my business,” Smith responded, “a demolition isn’t construction, per se; neither is hauling stuff away.” Smith is a long-time architect.
Semenec then showed the board members a slide in the agenda materials, using the overhead projector. He noted that the horizontal section in red denoted the remnant of the dam, while a blue lobe slightly above the red area is county property where the sediment sump would be installed.
The intention, Semenec continued, is “to excavate [material] to form more of a lagoon. … [Additionally,] any sediment flowing downstream,” he said, “would be captured in that sump, and then county staff could maintain that [area] on a regular basis.”
“We’re talking shore-to-shore and all the islands [in the creek in that area]?” Smith asked, referring to the excavation plans.
“It hasn’t been designed yet,” Semenec said of the project. Nonetheless, Semenec added that “the project … is to provide a 4-foot deep channel at mean low water. … The current proposal is to have very gentle, 10-foot side slopes up to the banks.”
Smith pointed out that he understood from stormwater expert Steve Suau, a former county employee who has his own consulting business, that the county has cross-sections of the creek that show the waterway as it was originally designed and constructed. When Smith asked Semenec whether the plans call for returning the creek to its original appearance, Semenec replied that that is the intent.
In fact, Semenec explained, the cross sections that Smith had referenced “were used in the early 1990s — 1992 — to develop the original stormwater model for the Phillippi Creek Basin.”
Staff has provided those cross sections to a West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) consultant working on that organization’s plans to dredge a portion of Phillippi Creek. The cross sections, Semenec indicated, would assist in the county’s plans for dredging from where the Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar stands “all of the way to Beneva Road.” The board members have made it clear during past discussions that they want the creek dredged to Beneva.
The WCIND project will extend from the mouth of the creek to U.S. 41, Commissioner Cutsinger, who represents his colleagues on the WCIND board, has explained.
Timeliness of the timeline?
Semenec also pointed out on April 8 that the WCIND dredging is separate from the dam initiative. “Then again,” he added, “the two projects might marry up, depending on the permitting timeline.”
When Smith asked how soon the dam initiative would begin, Semenec told him that if the commissioners approved the April 8 agenda item, staff would proceed with hiring a consultant to update a 2018 study necessary to the work. After that step, Semenec continued, “The study design and permitting could take up to a year …”
“Oooookay,” Smith responded. “You can understand the frustration of the folks that have been here and are living on the creek and don’t want to be up the creek,” Smith told Semenec.
“I suppose dynamiting [the dam] isn’t an option,” Smith added jokingly, “but we need to move quickly.”
“Understood,” Semenec said. County staff has been analyzing the bathymetric study that the consultant for WCIND has conducted in preparation for the dredging of Phillippi Creek that that organization will undertake, Semenec added. “We will be identifying areas that we can address before this hurricane season.”
Commissioner Tom Knight asked Semenec, “What type of relief would this area get if it’s going to take a year or two to get the permits [for the removal of the rest of the dam]?”
Staff still is looking into the potential of removing sediment from the creek on an emergency basis, Semenec replied.
Noting that he had spoken that morning with about 10 residents who live on Phillippi Creek — including those who addressed the board members — Semenec indicated, “I will ask WCIND to instruct their consultant to include [that neighborhood in the organization’s] dredge project.”
Emphasis on the ‘hot spots’ and regular reports from staff
Chair Neunder then pointed out that he recalled the commissioners having told staff to begin the emergency permitting process to help residents along Phillippi Creek before hurricane season begins. Community residents continue to express considerable concern about the upcoming hurricane season, Neunder added. “What tools do we have to be able to move this a little bit quicker down the road?”
Semenec then noted the board’s decision earlier this year to allocate $75 million for waterway dredging, out of the most recent federal grant funds for dealing with unmet county needs resulting from the 2024 hurricane season.
“I’m not involved with that,” Semenec said of the grant process, “but that is the first step, and really major step, to get Phillippi Creek addressed.”
Steve Hyatt, the manager in the county’s Office of Financial Management who is overseeing the work on that grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has explained that the process necessitated a 30-day public comment period following the commission’s approval of the Draft Action Plan for the funds. Hyatt also has said he will be back before the board during its April 22 meeting, to discuss the public comments staff will have received and to work with the commissioners if they desire to amend the Draft Action Plan on the basis of those comments.
After the plan has been submitted to HUD, Hyatt has pointed out, HUD will have 45 days to review it and offer any comments about needed changes. If all goes well, Hyatt has added, staff could be ready to launch the plan in June.
The commissioners “appreciate all the effort that is being made,” Commissioner Teresa Mast told Semenec. Yet, she continued, residents continue to contact the board members to stress the urgency of the county’s dealing with “hot spots” that need maintenance before hurricane season starts. “The anxiety levels do rise pretty significantly,” she added, “as the days tick away.”
She then asked whether the board members could get reports in regard to whether staff has identified all of the “hot spots,” for which maintenance could be expedited because of the emergency nature of the situation.
When all the plans are in place, Semenec replied, the Public Works staff will let the county administrative staff know, so “an open dialogue [can take place] with the residents.”
“My hope is that the strategy is ready to go because I feel confident that this board’s going to make the money available,” Commissioner Knight added.
“Do we have money in our Stormwater Utility [fund] to do some emergency dredging?” Commissioner Smith asked.
“I believe that we do have the available funding,” Semenec responded.
Commissioner Cutsinger stressed that WCIND is moving “at light speed” to get its Phillippi Creek dredging project completed.
Moreover, Cutsinger concurred with Knight in that the commissioners would “provide those resources to [staff]” for the emergency dredging. “I don’t want anybody to think we’re dragging our feet on this.”
In response to a question from Knight about the need to address problems on other waterways before the next hurricane season begins, Semenec said that staff already is analyzing Upper Cow Pen Slough.
When Knight then asked whether staff has been “prioritizing what needs to be done,” Semenec told him, “Normal maintenance activities are occurring,” with the focus on the 200 “hot spots.”
“Can we get an update on a regular basis?” Commissioner Cutsinger asked.
“Spencer [Anderson of Public Works] can provide that report,” County Administrator Jonathan Lewis responded, adding that Anderson could prepare one each week. Lewis noted that staff triages maintenance of the 200 hots spots “before every [storm] event.”
Cutsinger added that he wanted the reports to include updates on permitting for specific projects, as well.
Commissioner Smith ended up making the motion to approve the dam project as presented that day, and Commissioner Mast seconded it. It passed 5-0.