With Midnight Pass having remained open, Sarasota County administrator advises FDEP that county intends to keep it that way

Commissioners discuss steps to pursue in wake of Hurricane Milton’s restoring flow between Gulf and Little Sarasota Bay

County Administrator Jonathan Lewis has sent a letter to the secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), pointing to the recent hurricanes’ reopening of Midnight Pass on south Siesta Key and the county’s intent to keep the waterway open.

“It is our determination that this new feature meets the definition of an ‘inlet’ per [Section 62B-41.002(10) of the Florida Administrative Code],” Lewis wrote in his Nov. 6 letter to FDEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton. (As it turned out, Hamilton resigned from the position just a day later, on Nov. 7. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Alexis Lambert, chief of staff of the state’s division of bond finance since 2018, to succeed Hamilton, the Tampa Bay Times reported.)

Lewis added in the letter, “[T]he County will keep the inlet open. Management of this inlet per the requirements of [the Administrative Code] will be considered contingent on site conditions and recommendations based on ongoing monitoring and modeling efforts,” he wrote.

County staff already had implemented a monitoring program “to collect critical data,” he continued, and staff is “developing a hydrodynamic model of the Sarasota Bay system,” including Little Sarasota Bay, Roberts Bay, Big Sarasota Bay and Blackburn Bay, “down to Venice Inlet and offshore areas in the vicinity of inlets. The model is being set up to evaluate the water levels, currents/flows, flushing/exchange within [Little Sarasota Bay] and the adjacent inland waters,” he explained.

“We will keep the Department informed of our actions,” Lewis added, “and we look forward to consulting further with the FDEP as the situation evolves.”

Lewis noted that he had attached to the letter a profile cross section of the inlet.

‘Where do we go from here?’

Lewis’ action followed a discussion that the Sarasota County commissioners conducted during their regular meeting on Oct. 22 — the first since Hurricane Milton struck the county on Oct. 9.

As of the latest information he had received, Commissioner Joe Neunder noted, Midnight Pass was 7 to 8 feet deep, though he was not certain about the width.

“Where do we go from here, now that Mother Nature through the Act of God has opened that particular area?” he asked Lewis. “Can we work on getting a permit to keep that open?”

Neunder then referenced the decision that the commissioners made in early September, following a county consultant’s report. On a unanimous vote, the board members agreed to ask that the Sarasota County Legislative Delegation pursue passage of a bill in the 2025 session that would allow for creation of new inlets.

The consultant told them on Sept. 10 that state law forbids such action.

“It’s probably good to still keep [that issue] on the table,” Neunder added on Oct. 22.

“We’ll continue to watch it,” Assistant County Administrator Mark Cunningham replied, referring to Midnight Pass. “Hopefully,” he added, “it will stay open this time.”

The waterway had been closed since 1983 until Hurricane Helene, in late September, pushed a strong enough storm surge through the barrier island to restore the pass. Though that channel closed just a couple of days later, the reopening resulting from Hurricane Milton’s strike on Siesta Key on Oct. 9 has kept the channel flowing.

The restoration of a channel between the Gulf and Little Sarasota Bay has been a top priority of the commissioners since Neunder and Commissioner Mark Smith were elected to the board in November 2022. The commissioners have emphasized that the action would improve the quality of water in the bay.

“I’d like to see if there’s consensus on this board … to go ahead and start looking … for that permitting process to keep that pass open,” Neunder continued on Oct. 22.

“Nature wanted it open,” then-Commissioner Neil Rainford responded. “Frankly, I think the water’s already getting better [in Little Sarasota Bay],” based on residents’ reports, Rainford added. “We need to do everything we can to keep this moving forward. … Nature did us a huge favor; saved us a lot of money.”

Commissioner Smith, who lives on Siesta Key, pointed out that the reopening of Midnight Pass “was probably the silver lining of getting hit with two hurricanes.”

He had been out in the waterway, Smith continued. It appears to be about 30 yards wide; “maybe a little more,” he said. While he was there, Smith added, he saw the tide coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. “It was wonderful to see that clean Gulf water back in Little Sarasota Bay.”

Smith also expressed his support for any board action that could result in the waterway’s remaining open.

“It has been brought to my attention,” Neunder pointed out, that the University of Florida has offered its services, “free of charge,” to undertake what Neunder called “geo-mapping” of the sand on the bottom of the waterway, along with testing of that sand.

If his colleagues agreed, he continued, he would like for the board to request formally that the county accept the resulting data and collaborate with University of Florida representatives in using that data in an effort to maintain the newly reopened pass.

County Administrator Lewis told the commissioners that Public Works Director Spencer Anderson already had been working on related issues, though Lewis added that he was not sure about any contact that Anderson may have had with the University of Florida. Nevertheless, Lewis said, “We always like good data …”

Then Commissioner Ron Cutsinger wondered aloud about the effect of the reopening of the pass on the board’s request that the county Legislative Delegation seek the change in state law in regard to inlets.

Lewis responded that manmade assistance likely would be needed to keep Midnight Pass open.

In accord with that, he continued, “I really think we need to keep going down the other path [in regard to seeking Delegation support], because what Mother Nature gave yesterday, she can take away tomorrow.”

Two days after the meeting in Venice — on Oct. 24 — Lewis emailed the commissioners, attaching several photos of the reopened pass. He wrote “To continue moving forward with the [board priority for restoration of the inlet between Little Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico], Spencer Anderson was onsite today reviewing the status of the opening.”

Lewis added that staff would continue work on keeping the water flowing between the Gulf and Little Sarasota Bay, and he promised future updates to the commissioners.