Resolution to be presented to District board at its Jan. 24 meeting
In unanimously approving their Dec. 17 Consent Agenda of routine business matters, as they met in Venice, the Sarasota County commissioners adopted a resolution requesting that the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) Board of Commissioners designate Midnight Pass on south Siesta Key a “public waterway.”
The resolution also calls for the pass’ “associated north and south channels to existing designated public waterways and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway” to be so designated.
County staff will present the resolution to the WCIND board for its consideration at a meeting set for Jan. 24, 2025, a county staff memo said.
Sarasota County Commissioner Ron Cutsinger of Englewood is the county’s representative on the WCIND board.
As its website explains, the mission of the WCIND is to “preserve and enhance the commercial, recreational, and ecological values of waterways” within the District. The WCIND counties are Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and Lee, the website notes.
A Sarasota County staff memo included in the County Commission’s Dec. 17 agenda packet explained, “Several migrating inlets on southern Siesta Key have been documented since the late 1800s.” Those are “Little Sarasota Pass (near the present-day location of Heron Lagoon), Blind Pass (located landward of Turtle Beach Park and Blind Pass Road), and Midnight Pass at the site of the present-day Palmer Point Park …”
A hurricane in 1921 closed Little Sarasota Pass and opened Midnight Pass, the memo continued.
“Over time,” the memo noted, “the Midnight Pass inlet meandered north,” eventually threatening “the homes at the south end of Siesta Key in the early 1980s. As a result, the affected property owners were allowed to close the inlet under the condition that a new inlet would be dredged farther south. Those efforts were unsuccessful. Sarasota County’s subsequent efforts to reopen the pass were also unsuccessful during the permit process.”
Then the memo pointed out that, during their 2023 retreat, the county commissioners adopted a 2024 Strategic Planning Policy Item titled “ ‘Continued Investment in Water Quality for Health of the Bay’ — with the following description: ‘Complete a study to assess the feasibility of options to restore a tidal connection between Little Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.’ ”
However, the memo continued, “Hurricane Helene in late September and Hurricane Milton in early October created a new inlet where the former inlet existed …”
The memo added that, on Nov. 19, the commissioners discussed that planning policy item and ended up directing county administrative staff to “ ‘[i]nvestigate putting Midnight Pass on the Inlet Management Protection Plan’ ” and to draft a resolution to officially designate the pass as a public waterway.
Inlet management plans and public waterway designations
The Dec. 17 staff memo also explained that “the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) may require the development of an Inlet Management Plan (IMP) during the regulatory process associated with coastal inlet projects. The intent of an IMP and the strategies outlined in the plan [are] to replicate the natural drift of sand that is interrupted or altered by an inlet so that each level of government can make all reasonable efforts to maximize inlet sand bypassing that will be designed to balance the sediment budget of an inlet and to be consistent with Section 161.142 [of the] Florida Statutes.”
(A Broward County document explains that the “[g]oal of bypassing is to capture sand on the updrift side of [an] inlet and move material to downdrift beaches.”
The Dec. 17 memo added that the “[above statute] pertains to public policy relating to improved navigation inlets.” It added, “Since IMPs are associated with a regulatory process, developing one for Midnight Pass may be required in coordination with future permit applications to maintain or improve the newly established inlet. A draft IMP for Midnight Pass was prepared associated with the [county’s] 2008 effort to obtain authorization to open the inlet.”
As for designating Midnight Pass a public waterway, the memo first explained that the WCIND is “a multi-county special taxing body … encompassing an estimated 1.8 million people. The district plays a pivotal role in the waterway projects that promote safe navigation from the ‘open water’ of the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) to the systems of secondary waterways. WCIND supports county and local governments in maintaining and enhancing public navigation channels, inlets, boating access facilities, waterfront parks, piers, and special structures as provided for in Chapter 374.976 [of the] Florida Statutes, and as outlined in Chapter 66A-2 [of the] Florida Administrative Code.”
Further, the memo pointed out, Section 4 of Chapter 98-526 of the Laws of Florida defines the “ ‘inland waterway’ as a ‘body of water which the [WCIND] board finds makes a significant contribution or has the potential to make a significant contribution to waterway traffic or waterborne commerce in the area served.’ The WCIND regularly uses the terms ‘inland waterway,’ ‘public waterway,’ and ‘public navigation channel’ interchangeably,” the memo noted.
“Sarasota County believes that the reopened inlet meets the intent of the definition, which would make WCIND funding available for the inlet’s maintenance or enhancement,” the memo added.
Further, the memo said, “The Regional Waterway Management System was a collaborative effort among the WCIND, its member counties, and the University of Florida Sea Grant College Program. Initiated in the late 1990s, the project developed an inventory of local waterways and their uses, and it served as the primary source of information used to define ‘public waterways’ as used by the WCIND. Although the program commenced after the closing of Midnight Pass, it did identify the channel extending from the area of the former inlet to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) between Jim Neville Marine Preserve and Casey Key. While the [Regional Waterway Management System] did not identify the north channel … there is a compelling interest in perpetuating the channel due to its proximity to the public boat ramp at Turtle Beach Park and the nearby commercial marina, thus significantly reducing the trip distance to Midnight Pass and minimizing overall impacts to seagrasses and threatened and endangered species, such as the Florida manatee,” the memo said.
“Establishing the public waterway designation for Midnight Pass and the channel from the inlet to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) and currently designated public waterways will enable the county to utilize WCIND Waterway Development Program funds for eligible activities related to waterway maintenance,” the memo continued.
For Midnight Pass to be designated a public waterway, the County Commission “must request such [action] by the WCIND Board of Commissioners through a resolution … The WCIND Board would then consider the request and act accordingly,” the staff memo pointed out.
County staff members “have been coordinating with the WCIND staff regarding this process and developing the locations of the requested channels,” the memo added.