Sarasota City Manager Responds to LSPOA

Sarasota City Manager Tom Barwin (white shirt and cap) meets with LSPOA members on severe beach erosion

Editors note:  This is the swift response we received from Sarasota City Manager Tom Barwin to our letter sent to all city leaders urging action to stem the erosion of North Lido Beach.  Barwin met with LSPOA members last Sunday (May 13) at the Pavilion to discuss what steps we can take to become part of the ongoing beach management discussion.  LSPOA's letter to the City follows Barwin's response.

On another note, LSPOA has also reached out to the media, and today, Sunday May 20th, a Herald Tribune reporter will be meeting with LSPOA board members and Beach Erosion Sub-Committee members at noon at the Pavilion. 

All members are invited to attend and show their support for saving North Lido Beach.

Dear LSPOA,

We are in receipt of your correspondence.   Our staff will be outlining the steps, permits, processes and/or obstacles to expand the shoreline protection program to the more northerly section of Lido Key, which we will share with you once completed.  

As I mentioned in our Sunday morning meet up a couple of weeks ago I have been exploring the concept of a representative citizen committee to meet regularly to continuously monitor, study, and plan our future efforts toward keeping the entire Lido Key shoreline protected, along with area inlets, and passes, as well as working with our neighboring communities to evolve wise long range plans and the financial capacity to make sure all of the beaches in Sarasota County remain in good shape in the years and decades ahead.  

Perhaps your association might have someone interested in being a part of this shorter term effort to lay out not only a short and mid range plan, but also a longer range vision and plan that can be implemented and managed in a timely fashion.   We will be remiss if we do not attempt to move away from emergency to emergency to a stable, sustainable, pro-active shoreline/beach protection preservation plan with a deep understanding of the entire situation based on facts, science, and continuous – reliable monitoring.    

As sea levels are projected to continue to rise in the years ahead we must, excuse the pun, rise to the occasion and truly understand how to best manage this challenge.  

As we work through the processes I am hopeful that the renourishments currently permitted/planned will help with the north shore by A) decreasing the funneling effect of stronger currents which has resulted in the scouring of the north beach as the New Pass boating channels have filled in, and b) seeing some of the sand from the soon to be renourished sites in central and south Lido drift/migrate back to the north shore through periodic current flows which occasionally see waves/currents flowing to the northeast.    This combination should  slow, hopefully stop and potentially reverse what we have seen over the past year.

I am hopeful we can have a more detailed response summarizing next steps, back to you within a couple of weeks.

Thanks and look forward to seeing your around town and on the beach.  Best wishes for a wonderful weekend.

From Sunny Sarasota,

Tom Barwin

City Manager

City of Sarasota

1565 First Street

Sarasota, FL 34236

Phone: (941)954-4102

Fax: (941)954-4129

May 17, 2018

The time has come for us to speak up.  We’ve spent the past two years watching as our neighbors to the south on Lido Key have fought valiantly to save their beach.  South Lido Key has waged and just recently won a lengthy court battle over the sand renourishment issue.  

But South Lido Key isn’t the only portion of this important barrier island in dire need of sand. North Lido Key has already lost almost all of its beach. Over the past two-years we’ve lost more than 23-feet of protective dunes.  In just the past week alone, four-additional horizontal feet of dunes have been scoured from the Gulf shoreline. The protective dune system is collapsing at an unprecedented rate.

During high tide, the mile-and-a-half north of Lido Key’s public beach is now virtually impassable. During low tide, tourists who regularly walk north Lido must now weave around once high and dry downed trees and tangled branches, and often turn back. And this unprecedented sand loss is occurring in the absence of storms of any kind.  With Hurricane season now upon us, the future of any North Lido beach remaining appears dim.

Much of this historic sand erosion began after sand was dredged from the ebb shoal in 2015 that for years has protected North Lido Beach.  Has this past dredging caused these current sand scouring conditions? And if so, what is the City of Sarasota prepared to do about it?

As members of the Lido Shores Property Owners Association, (LSPOA) representing 120-homes on North Lido Key, we want to be included in the on-going conversation about preserving Sarasota’s Lido Key beach.  That includes the entire barrier island, from Ted Sperling Park on the south end to North Lido Park and New Pass on the north.   

Our neighborhood Pavilion, an iconic landmark for North Lido Beach walkers, now sits just 5-feet from falling into the Gulf.  More importantly, with the catastrophic loss of dunes, we’re now seeing more flooding onto Westway Drive, threatening not only homes and property values with damaging salt water, but also a wastewater pumping station that handles sewage. The next storm surge will likely infiltrate the city drainage system not designed to handle salt water.

We ask that Sarasota City leaders take notice that Lido Key, all of it, is in grave jeopardy.  Our public beach deserves to be saved.  North Lido beach needs to be included in any beach management plans moving forward.  On behalf of the Lido Shores Property Owners Association (LSPOA) and all those who use our public beach, we urge you to take immediate action to save Lido Key beach.

Sincerely,

LSPOA Board of Directors

Lynn Carvel, President

Ken Abt, Vice-President

Roberto Arguedas, Secretary

Lee Edstrom, Treasurer

Anne Essner, 

Mary Lee Bischoff

Gail Barzman

Richard LaBrie

Bernard Melanson

Carol Bowen

Andrew Vac