County Commissioner Smith wins colleagues’ support for removal of as much sediment as feasible from Phillippi Creek
After hearing pleas that morning for more extensive dredging of Phillippi Creek than planned for the project they recently approved, the Sarasota County commissioners on Nov. 5 voted unanimously to direct Stormwater Department Director Ben Quartermaine and his staff to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on modifying the agency’s Oct. 8 permit to allow the maximum amount of sediment removal possible.
Altogether, nine people addressed the board members during the Open to the Public comment period that day, noting that the USACE permit does not allow the width of the county’s dredging initiative to exceed 50 feet, and it does not include the provision for the contractor to pull out materials that have filled up what are called the “oxbows” in the Southgate community. Over the years, as residents have testified, those channels of the canal have become so clogged with sediment that people can walk on them. Commissioner Mark Smith has talked about having stood on them in surveying the area at homeowners’ requests.
However, following a discussion that included not only Quartermaine, but also County Attorney Joshua Moye, the commissioners pulled back from asking Quartermaine to work with the USACE to try to enable a contractor to dredge the canal “from seawall to seawall,” as residents had phrased their request.
Quartermaine and Moye both explained the high likelihood of seawall damage if such action were pursued. Quartermaine pointed out that older seawalls, especially, would be vulnerable to being undermined. That could lead to their tumbling into the creek, he said, resulting in even more debris that would have to be removed from the waterway. Moreover, Moye emphasized, the county would be liable for the damage.
Quartermaine suggested that individuals who want to have sediment removed from the areas around their seawalls pursue such work through an assessment process, meaning they would pay for it. That method makes use of what is called a Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU). Only the affected property owners pay the assessments.
As The Sarasota News Leader has reported, during their regular meeting on Oct. 21, the commissioners unanimously approved two contracts with a firm based in Miami — Continental Heavy Civil Corp. — to dredge what county staff has referred to as the “high spots” in Phillippi Creek from just south of Tuttle Avenue to Beneva Road.
The contracts call for Continental Heavy Civil to receive $13,697,200.
Formally, the county Invitation for Bids for the high spot dredging said, “The intent and purpose of this Project is to provide dredging of approximately 12,054 linear feet of segmented channel, generally 50 feet (ft) wide, to -4 ft mean low water (MLW) …”
During his Nov. 5 exchanges with the commissioners, Quartermaine said, “The cut that we’re proposing will be adequate from a hydrologic perspective. I’m very confident in the modeling we’ve done …”
Quartermaine also pointed out of the seawall request, “That’s beyond a stormwater function.”
When Chair Joe Neunder asked him how certain he was that problems would occur if the dredging were to take place “seawall to seawall,” Quartermaine replied, “One hundred percent.”
Commissioner Mark Smith ended up making the motion that won approval. He agreed with the speakers that morning, he said: If a contractor is going to be working in the creek, it makes sense to have the contractor remove as much sediment as possible.
“We have the information that we need [to seek the permit modification],” Quartermaine told the commissioners.
‘So much more to the creek than just up the middle’
That morning, during the Open to the Public period, Southgate resident David Scott was the first of the Phillippi Creek advocates to address the commissioners.
After thanking them for the action they already had taken in regard to the dredging, Scott added, “Please, please, please: We need to have a plan in place to do the oxbows, the side canals. There’s so much more to the creek than just up the middle.”
About 100 homes stand on two canals in Southgate, Scott continued. “Half to three-quarters of them — probably three-quarters — have zero ability to have a boat in their own backyard. … Let’s make sure we address that.”
As for the plea for dredging close to the seawalls, Scott asked the commissioners to allow the homeowners to talk directly with representatives of Continental Heavy Civil, so more work can be accomplished.
The very next speaker, Ed MacKenzie, said of the dredging, “Let’s do it in its totality. … We will have the equipment there to do the project. … Why not do it correctly.”
He pointed out, “You don’t buy three tires for your car; you just don’t paint two of the walls in a room.”
MacKenzie then asked that the commissioners pass a motion directing staff to ensure that the dredging is done “to the maximum allowed and also open up the coves.”
Laura Odely, a resident of the Forest Lakes community who is a former regulator and environmental consultant — as she told the commissioners — also asked for a County Commission motion to direct county staff to pursue additional permitting so the oxbows, coves and channels on Phillippi Creek could be dredged.
Further, she was among several speakers who referenced the nearly $210.1 million in Resilient SRQ funds that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the county in January, to handle unmet needs resulting from the 2024 storm season. Odely expressed her thanks, especially, to Steve Hiatt, manager of the Resilient SRQ program, and his team, for their work. Then she indicated that the commission should make certain that the HUD money is used for “the comprehensive and complete dredging of Phillippi Creek.”
Odely also noted that she and Nadia Bowen, another Southgate resident who is a historian and documentary filmmaker, had provided to Stormwater Department Director Ben Quartermaine “live links to key historical and difficult-to-find information [Bowen] has amassed,” in the belief that those would be useful to getting the necessary permits for a more expansive dredging initiative.
Another member of the Phillippi Creek group, Kristy Molyneaux, reminded the commissioners at the start of her remarks that her home flooded with all three storms last year: Tropical Storm Debby in August, Hurricane Helene in September, and Hurricane Milton in early October.
Then she provided them a photo showing sediment buildup in the lower creek, which was what she described as “high spot” No. 1 for the contractor to tackle.
That is downstream of her home, she continued, adding that, since the 2024 storms, she has seen “numerous boats get stuck in the channel here.”
She added that she understood that the plans originally called for the sediment to be removed in a 50-foot-wide swath in that area.
However, Molyneaux emphasized, “This area right here is 357 feet wide. … Quite frankly, neither a 30-foot nor a 50-foot dredge width is going to address the massive amounts of sediment built up. A 30-foot dredge width,” she pointed out, “would be equivalent of doing a 6-inch drainage path in a roadside ditch.”
Further, Molyneaux characterized the dredging plans as “a band-aid dredge solution.”
When Spencer Anderson, then-director of what was the county’s Public Works Department, still was in charge of stormwater work, she added, she asked him whether a dredge 50 feet wide would be enough, “and he said, ‘No,’ ” Molyneaux told the commissioners.
“It’s common sense,” Phillippi Creek resident David Ochs added, “that greater dredge widths mitigate flood levels more than [30 feet of width].”
The budget and the liability issue
As part of his routine report to the commissioners on Nov. 5, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis asked Stormwater Director Quartermaine to provide them an update on the dredging.
First, Quartermaine extended his appreciation to the Phillippi Creek residents who have been collaborating with county staff most of the year. “They’ve been really helpful,” he said.
Moreover, Quartermaine praised his staff members for their work, noting that their engineering efforts were as good as any that outside consultants would have produced.
The model that staff had created, he continued, showed that “a 50-foot-wide, 4-foot [deep] dredge from Bee Ridge Road to Tuttle [Avenue] provides a measurable benefit,” but not as much benefit can be derived from that extensive an initiative between Bee Ridge Road and U.S. 41.
Further, Quartermaine said, the modeling had shown that dredging the oxbows would not have that much of an impact on stormwater conveyance in the creek, though he acknowledged, “Modeling is just one tool.”
Then, turning to the issue of the federal grant funds, he explained that HUD has additional stipulations in regard to reporting on environmental initiatives that neither the county nor the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) had included in its USACE permit application. (WCIND is hiring a contractor that will dredge the portion of Phillippi Creek from its mouth to the vicinity of U.S. 41.) Quartermaine added, “We do meet the [HUD] requirements.”
He reminded the board members that WCIND’s permit from the USACE allows it to dredge up to Tuttle Avenue. What county staff is proposing, Quartermaine continued — which staff has been discussing with USACE personnel — is to modify both the county’s and WCIND’s permits “to allow for additional areas” to have sediment removed. The extra details that HUD requires would be included among the modifications, he said.
After Commissioner Smith made a motion to direct staff to pursue the removal of sediment from other areas of the creek, Commissioner Teresa Mast agreed that, if the opportunity exists “to do what I would call a ‘thorough dredging,’ I think we need to take that opportunity to do that.” She noted the oxbows.
However, Mast expressed concern about the liability issue in regard to calls for dredging close to seawalls.
Moreover, she talked of the need for the board members to be “very fair and equitable” in using the HUD money for other areas of the county. As she has in the past, Mast pointed out that she has District 1 constituents — just as some of her board colleagues have South County constituents — who want to see waterways dredged in their areas.
That was when Quartermaine began talking about the need to maintain a buffer of “at least 10 to 15 feet” around the seawalls, to ensure “we don’t cause additional problems.”
He suggested that staff could provide information to the commission about how much the removal of sediment from other, specific sites would cost. Then the commissioners could decide how staff should proceed, he added.
In regard to the seawalls, Commissioner Smith asked whether county staff could require property owners to sign a document that would relieve the county of any liability if a structure were damaged.
County Attorney Moye explained at that point that, if a seawall collapsed, the county would have to pay to clean up the debris, as that would create a “bigger obstruction.” Moreover, Moye said, if a property owner refused to exempt the county from any liability, the potential would exist for that property owner to pursue legal action against the county if the owner’s seawall was damaged. Yet, Moye added, “We can look into [Smith’s suggestion about the liability waivers].”
Commissioner Ron Cutsinger concurred with the logic of getting as much work done as possible in the creek after the contractor brings in the equipment necessary for the dredging. Yet, he stressed, “I’m very concerned about any liability …”
It also would seem to entail a lot of work, he continued, for staff to have to determine which property owners on Phillippi Creek would need to sign waivers regarding seawall damage.
“I’m in favor of doing the oxbows without getting into that problem,” Cutsinger said.
Further, he pointed out, over the years, he has heard from constituents who have wanted the county to dredge privately owned areas. If the county agreed to allow that in Phillippi Creek, Cutsinger said, that would be unfair to his constituents.
Finally, Cutsinger indicated concern that modifying the USACE permits would delay the dredging — which, Stormwater Department staff indicated to the News Leader in late October, could get underway this month — and he expressed concern about the extra expense.
Commissioner Tom Knight pointed out that if the Phillippi Creek work — including the dredging of the oxbows — could be completed for less than the $45 million the commissioners had designated out of the HUD grant, then the remainder could be used in other areas, as Mast had discussed.
Still, he joined Mast and Cutsinger in a desire to see the cost estimates before making a final decision.
Smith ended up modifying his motion to call for staff to have the ability to remove all the sediment from Phillippi Creek in an effort to restore it to its original limits that date to the 1920s. “I would like to get as much sediment out of the creek as physically possible,” he said.
Chair Neunder seconded the motion.
Yet, after further discussion, the board members agreed that it would be better to rephrase the motion to give Quartermaine and his staff as much flexibility as possible, in accord with regulations in the County Code, in expanding the dredging plans.
Neunder concurred with that modification.
Quartermaine said he took the motion to mean that he and his staff would identify the areas outside the 50-foot-wide dredging corridor and then provide the commissioners a cost estimate for the extra facets of work.
The motion passed 5-0.