Status of proposals discussed during County Commission’s second stormwater workshop
Sarasota County’s Public Works Department may need to use county funds for what commissioners characterized this week as an emergency dredging to eliminate sediment and sandbars in part of Phillippi Creek, to protect residents’ homes from a repeat of the damage that resulted repeatedly during the 2024 hurricane season.
With formal authorization from the commissioners for staff to “do what’s necessary” to open up a channel in the portions of the creek that a regional organization has no legal jurisdiction to address, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis said during the board’s March 12 stormwater workshop, staff would endeavor to get the project done.
Lewis indicated that one goal would be to utilize that regional organization, the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND), to handle the design and permitting for the undertaking at the same time it is working on plans to dredge Phillippi Creek from the mouth of the creek to U.S. 41.
Spencer Anderson, director of the county’s Public Works Department, said the initial objective would be to use enough county funds for the design and permitting process for the dredging from U.S. 41 to Beneva Road.
Given comments that the commissioners had made about the urgency of the work, Lewis suggested they could make a motion to allow staff to work with WCIND. If they were willing to do that, he said, he would provide them an update during their next regular meeting, which will take place on March 26. Then, Lewis added, they could ratify their March 12 action.
“I think we all agree 100% with the approach,” Chair Joe Neunder replied.
Commissioner Mark Smith made the motion, and Commissioner Teresa Mast seconded it. The motion passed 5-0.
On Feb. 25, the board members agreed unanimously to dedicate $75 million out of a $210,094,000 grant that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the county early this year for the “dredging of major waterways,” to prevent future storm-related flooding of homes countywide that are situated on or near creeks. The top priority is Phillippi Creek, given the testimony that dozens of residents have provided to the board about their experiences during Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
However, during the March 12 stormwater workshop — the second this year — County Administrator Lewis reminded the board members that the HUD money has to be tied back to the 2024 storms; it cannot be used for emergencies. Steve Hyatt, a member of the county’s Office of Financial Management who is managing what is called the Resilient SRQ program for use of the latest HUD grant, is trying to figure out how that federal money can be utilized in an eligible manner for the Phillippi Creek situation, Lewis stressed.
In the meantime Lewis pointed out, nothing stops the board from spending the necessary money out of county funds that already are available.
“This is an emergency,” Commissioner Smith emphasized more than once during the discussion. Smith advocated for “digging a trench from [U.S.] 41 all the way to Bahia Vista Street,” to enable the water to flow in Phillippi Creek until a more comprehensive dredging project can be completed.
“I think that there’s a lot of anxiety out there,” Commissioner Tom Knight noted. Addressing members of the audience who had offered remarks during the Open to the Public period at the start of the workshop, Knight said, “We hear you. We all do”
The county, the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers all have provisions for emergency authorization orders, Anderson of Public Works replied. For locations where dredging permits have been approved in the past, he said, it is not as difficult to obtain new permits. He could look into the potential option that Smith had suggested, Anderson said.
“I just think we have to get this creek clear,” Smith pointed out, “and then come back and do a final dredge.” He believes the county should find some emergency funds for that initiative, he added. “We’re in the middle of March,” he said. “June 1 is around the corner.”
Hurricane season officially starts on June 1.
Because bathymetric data for the creek in its current condition already has been produced in conjunction with a WCIND consultant’s work, Anderson indicated, county staff can target the high spots in Phillippi Creek for removal. His team already is at work on that, he added.
Status of the WCIND plan and the county’s proposal
Commissioner Ron Cutsinger, who represents his colleagues on the board of the WCIND, confirmed again this week that that organization is planning to dredge Phillippi Creek from U.S. 41 to the mouth of the waterway, as that length of the creek within WCIND’s jurisdiction. The organization has the funds for that project, he added.
“The urgency of getting this done is clearly known,” he stressed. “Every effort is being made to move very quickly on this.”
Yet, Anderson of the Public Works Department told the commissioners that he was not certain the WCIND undertaking “can be completed by summer.”
Additionally, Cutsinger reported, the WCIND has completed its survey of the creek up to the predominantly Amish and Mennonite community of Pinecraft — in the area of Beneva Road and Bahia Vista Street in Sarasota. A feasibility study regarding the amount of cubic yards to be removed from the creek is underway, Custinger said.
Pinecraft residents, too, experienced significant flooding from Phillippi Creek during the 2024 storm season, as evidenced by photos and videos taken in the community.
Anderson also noted that he and his staff have been working with the members of the county’s Planning and Development Services Department and WCIND on the comprehensive dredging project that the commissioners have endorsed.
WCIND has hired a consultant to handle its work, he pointed out. County staff won WCIND agreement for that consultant to survey the rest of Phillippi Creek up to Beneva Road, Anderson added. However, he said, that survey will not include the dredging of what residents in the Southgate community have described as “oxbows,” where the creek has so much sediment that new islands have formed.
The oxbows are “remnant portions of the original creek,” Anderson explained.
Nonetheless, he said, “It is fully our intent to have these surveyed” for a future project, even though concern has arisen about seawalls in that area of the creek. That situation must be evaluated first, he added.
Anderson emphasized that the cost of the dredging beyond U.S. 41 will be “very dependent on how we manage the dredge spoils,” specifically in regard to where they will be deposited.
‘Bank-to-bank’ versus dredging the main channel
During the discussion, Anderson also explained that when the county undertakes a dredging project, it focuses on the main channels of waterways. “We would not typically” dredge up to docks and boat lifts on private property, he added.
Generally, homeowners in a community collaborate on applying for a single permit for work outside the main channel, he explained. Moreover, he said, they have to pay for that dredging.
“My interest would be bank to bank,” Chair Neunder told Anderson, though Neunder acknowledged he had no idea what the expense would be, instead of just dredging the channel. With the bank-to-bank initiative, Neunder added, “the sheer volume of water” would be able to flow, which he characterized as prudent in planning for future storm events.
In the case of Phillippi Creek, Anderson pointed out, the WCIND consultant can work with residents on the extension of the dredging outside the main channel.