Observer LONGBOAT
NEWS Liquid gold
NEIGHBORHOOD 1C
Holiday Hit
Shoppers seek Golfers donned bargains and festive fashions for memories at Colony sale. 3A. Frosty Frolic event.
diversions:
PEACE SIGNS
INSIDE | PAGE 1B
Painter Pamela Sumner shares her ancient Chinese secrets.
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
OUR TOWN PEOPLE, PICS & PLACES
beach profile
The Sand Man
By Kurt Schultheis | City Editor
+ Santa gets hand from little helper Both Santa and Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key bell ringer Edith Barr Dunn have a little helper on their hands. Alex Thompson, 20 months, stopped with her grandmother, Diane Cirksena, of Bayou Sound, to make a donation Dec. 7, at the Longboat Key Publix. It just goes to show you that you’re never too young to show your jolly generosity.
Courtesy photos
+ Lido Key resident celebrates 99 years
Lido Presidential resident Nancy Kivlin had a reason to be thankful on Thanksgiving — 99 of them. Kivlin celebrated her 99th birthday Nov. 24, with a luncheon at the Helmsley Sandcastle with her friends and neighbors. Kivlin is originally from Verona, Italy, and moved in 1930 to the U.S. She has lived at Lido Presidential for more than 25 years and has three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
SEE OUR TOWN / PAGE 2A
INDEX Calendar.................................17A Classifieds...............................12C Cops Corner...........................13A Crossword..............................11C Deal Us In..............................10C Key Real Estate.......................3C Opinion.....................................6A Vol. 33, No. 20 Three sections www.YourObserver.com
Thursday, DECEMBER 16, 2010
Just outside Town Manager Bruce St. Denis’ office sits a Local Government Award that was presented to the town in September by the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association. The shiny black award was based on Longboat Key’s current and historical efforts regarding sustainable beaches and was awarded to the Town Commission for its efforts in maintaining its beach-management plan. The irony of that award, which was presented just two months ago, is not lost on St. Denis. Never has the town manager’s beach-management plan, which he has implemented since 1996 at the direction of the Town Commission, been questioned and scrutinized on the level it is today. Worried that town taxpayers won’t approve an approximately $45 million island-wide beach project (for sand and north-end structures) question on the March ballot, the Town Commission is considering postponing the sand portion of the project until November 2012. That’s because three, past beach-project ballot questions that were approved never came close to approaching a $45 million price tag. In 1993, a beach bond question was approved for $9.73 million. In 1996, a beach bond question was approved for $4.27 million, and in 2006, a beach bond was approved for approximately $20 million. Combined, those three projects don’t add up to what the looming project could cost. Commissioners will review the new cost options at its 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16 regular workshop. Although the price tag is high, St. Denis thinks it could be a bad decision to delay the project. By delaying, the town could miss the chance to receive a $5 million credit from Port Dolphin LLC, a company that is
On the eve of the Town Commission’s decision on which beach renourishment project to choose, both the town manager, beach engineer and consultants back the town’s decision to dredge.
Rachel S. O’Hara
Town Manager Bruce St. Denis says the Islander groins installed last year are an example of an alternative technology that works. “CP&E permits alternative technology like these groins that they know the state will approve,” said St. Denis, noting that they were the first structures of their kind to be permitted in the state in 30 years.
See Page 6A for St. Denis’ sand scenarios placing a natural-gas pipeline through a patch of beach-quality sand to which the town has rights. And it will cost an additional $4 million to delay the beach project by a year. If the town receives the Port Dolphin credit and moves ahead with its beach project in November 2011, the entire beach project, including structures needed to hold sand on the north end, could be performed for about $36 million. “We would essentially be getting the structures for free,” St. Denis said. But the commission wants St. Denis to look into other ways to do beach projects, to make sure the town isn’t missing any opportunities to save money. But St. Denis says that’s exactly what he has done over the last 14 years.
EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICES The following projects, permitted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and dubbed “experimental projects,” have been considered failures. Most of these projects were permitted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. City Project Palm Beach Artificial offshore reef Vero Beach Artificial offshore reef Holmberg technology Captiva Island stabilizer Pensacola Beach nets Hillsboro Plastic tubes modules Stump Pass in Charlotte County Submerged groins
Beach alternatives
The town manager doesn’t believe there is any other way to do the project effectively than by using a Hopper dredge to bring sand to shore. And it appears that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), which is
Reason Labeled a failure, since removed Labeled a failure, since removed Labeled a failure, since removed Labeled a failure, since removed Currently being removed Labeled a failure, since removed
responsible for permitting all beach projects statewide, would agree with that assessment. Although FDEP officials declined to comment for this sto-
SEE SAND / PAGE 8A