Midnight Pass update scheduled for Sept. 9 County Commission meeting
Just a day after the Sarasota County Commission unanimously gave formal approval to an agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for a $500,000 grant to improve water quality in Little Sarasota Bay, the commissioners also voted unanimously to try to seek more funding from the state during the 2026 legislative, session to try to maintain a higher level of water quality in that bay by keeping Midnight Pass Open.
Although the vote on the grant award was placed on the board’s Aug. 26 Consent Agenda of routine business matters, Commissioner Mark Smith pulled it so he could ask a few questions of staff.
Spencer Anderson — previously the director of the county’s Public Works Department and now the county’s transportation director — explained that the funding was an appropriation for the state’s 2025 fiscal year, which began on July 1, 2024. “That was before the pass was open,” he noted.
After Hurricane Helene initially created a new Midnight Pass in late September 2024 — and then Hurricane Milton reopened the waterway after it subsequently closed — “We went through a long, lengthy process … to negotiate terms of the grant with the state,” Anderson said, “and we’ve now provided the agreement for board execution today.”
He then explained, “This grant is intended to provide reimbursement of things we’ve already done with the pass since July 1 of 2024. … Moving forward, we’ll use this [money] for environmental studies,” including the collection of data regarding tides and currents, as well as for “preliminary design and permitting for activities that we plan …”
On Sept. 9, Anderson noted, staff has scheduled an in-depth discussion about the pass with the County Commission. Staff activities that have been undertaken in regard to Midnight Pass will be part of the focus of that agenda item, he added.
Commissioner Tom Knight expressed his thanks to Anderson for “making sure that we have access to that money,” given the fact that the Public Works staff was working on the agreement at the same time that it was focusing on recovery from the 2024 storm season. “Thanks for your hard work on this, Spencer,” Knight added.
(Before the County Commission in late spring approved the creation of a new Stormwater Department — removing stormwater responsibilities from the Public Works Department — County Administrator Jonathan Lewis pointed out to them that the action essentially would leave only transportation issues for Public Works to handle.)
During the discussion, Commissioner Smith referenced an email that he indicated Siesta Key resident Mike Evanoff had sent to all of the board members. Smith said it contained several requests related to Midnight Pass.
(Evanoff has served as chair of the nonprofit Restore Midnight Pass Now!!, whose goal was the reopening the pass; the waterway was closed by private individuals in 1983, with county approval, because the shifting of the pass was threating their homes. The homeowners were supposed to oversee the creation of a new pass, but that never took place, county staff has pointed out.)
Among the actions Evanoff had proposed, Smith noted during his exchange with Anderson, was that the county engage an engineering firm immediately to design an environmentally sound solution for keeping Midnight Pass open.
When Smith asked for Anderson’s thoughts on that idea, Anderson responded that staff already had asked the engineering firm with which the county has been working on Little Sarasota Bay/Midnight Pass issues “to collect another set of tide and current data, which will help us with the permitting side, which will be a subsequent work assignment” for the firm. The goal is to design measures primarily to improve the water quality, Anderson said. Navigation is a secondary matter, he stressed.
The grant funds were allocated, Anderson pointed out, to improve the water quality of Little Sarasota Bay; that effort entails studying the north and south ebb channels.
Then Smith indicated that Evanoff also had asked about the county’s implementing an inlet management plan. “Are you in the process of performing that?” Smith asked Anderson.
“Absolutely,” Anderson replied. The initial phase of that work, he continued, is creating an emergency inlet management plan. That will be part of the Sept. 9 discussion, too, he said.
Later, if the pass needs to be dredged, Anderson pointed out, “A formal inlet management plan would be developed as a part of that permitting process. There really isn’t an inlet management plan,” he noted, “until the state formally adopts that as part of a permit condition.”
More details about the grant
A county staff memo included in the agenda packet for the Aug. 26 meeting, which was held in Venice, explained, “Sarasota County submitted a 2023 State Appropriation Project Request for funds to initiate feasibility and concept planning for the reestablishment of a tidal connection at Midnight Pass. Once established, the intent was to maintain its integrity and monitor subsequent water quality improvements within Little Sarasota Bay, for which there was significant support from residents, businesses, and environmental groups alike.”
The memo further noted, “The 2024 hurricane season brought historic rainfall and storm surge to Sarasota County with four major storms affecting the area; Invest 90L (June 11-12, 2024), Tropical Storm Debby (August 5, 2024), Hurricane Helene (September 26, 2024), and Hurricane Milton (October 9, 2024). Hurricanes Helene and Milton resulted in the natural reopening of Midnight Pass. Monitoring observations post-Hurricane Milton suggest that it is currently a stable tidal inlet system.”
The memo also said, “Moving forward, the intent is to direct feasibility and concept planning, environmental studies, regulatory coordination and preliminary engineering for water quality improvement projects within Little Sarasota Bay (LSB) based on the current open pass condition. The data acquired will serve immeasurable value to
regulatory and academic institutions as well as the public, as the current conditions have not existed for over 40 years and thus have never been studied at the level possible today. The projects, along with the new tidal exchange, are expected to improve water quality within LSB.”
A decision to seek more state funding
During the Aug. 26 meeting, Commissioner Smith also asked Anderson of the Transportation Department whether the board members should make another request to the state for funding “for whatever our plans are here for the future.”
Smith noted that Rob Lewis, director of governmental relations for the county, would be addressing the commissioners the next day, seeking any further board requests for the 2026 session of the Florida Legislature, which will begin in January.
“I’m actively working with Rob on appropriations requests,” Anderson responded. More funding for Little Sarasota Bay/Midnight Pass could be added to that list, Anderson indicated.
Chair Joe Neunder expressed his appreciation for Anderson’s attention to detail, adding with a big smile that instead of the waterway’s continuing to be called Midnight Pass, people had begun referring to it simply as “the Pass.”
“I like that,” Neunder added and then joked that the county was going to seek a trademark of the name, with T-shirts designed to bear it in the future.
Neunder concurred with Smith’s point about the potential of seeking more funding from the state in 2026. “We’re all very hyper aware that this particular endeavor is near and dear to most Sarasota County residents,” Neunder continued of keeping Midnight Pass open.
On Aug. 27, during a review of the county’s legislative priorities for the 2026 session — which is scheduled to begin on Jan. 13, 2026 — Smith brought up Midnight Pass.
Rob Lewis, the director of governmental relations, told the commissioners that he had listened to the Aug. 26 discussion. “It’s certainly within the purview of the board today,” Lewis said, to approve an amendment to the other priorities that focused on the maintenance of Midnight Pass, to ensure that it stays open.
“I think you’d want to include language related to its current status,” Lewis added.
“You hit it right on the head, sir, as usual,” Smith responded.
Then Commissioner Teresa Mast told Lewis, “I want to make sure we don’t put ourselves in a corner here” by focusing solely on the maintenance issue.
Lewis replied that if the commissioners were agreeable to giving him and County Administrator Jonathan Lewis latitude in crafting the language, they would work to model the 2026 funding request on the one filed with the Legislature a couple of years ago, regarding the health of Little Sarasota Bay.
“We’ll make sure that we have language that’s broad enough,” Rob Lewis continued, to encourage another positive response from the Legislature.
With Lewis’ saying that a motion would be needed, Smith made it, calling for adding to the board’s 2026 legislative priorities a grant request for not only the maintenance of Midnight Pass but constant surveillance of the waterway in an effort to ensure a higher level of water quality in Little Sarasota Bay.
Commissioner Mast seconded it, and the motion passed 5-0.
“You guys all know my No. 1 thing when I got here,” Chair Neunder began, was reopening the pass. “Mother Nature was kind enough to do that.”
Then Neunder pointed out, “Midnight Pass is near and dear for water quality and for so many people in the community.”
During a related discussion that was part of the Aug. 26 meeting, Lewis told the commissioners that the county’s Planning and Development Services Department would be assuming oversight of the Midnight Pass and the Little Sarasota Bay issues, as it was not appropriate for the new Stormwater Department to handle those responsibilities.