“Lido Beach is back,” says David Marinich, manager at Gulf Beach Resort Motel on Lido Key.
The beach renourishment on critically eroded Lido Key is more than halfway done, but the project saw some serious delays due to bad weather.
Contractor Curtis Huggins with Coastal Dredging Company Inc. says one cold front after another since mid-November cost them more than 30 days of work. The good news is they’ve finished the public beach area and are now working along hotels and condominium complexes … where they’ve lost virtually all their beachfront.
The $3.9 million emergency project is building the beach up about four feet and extending the beach out about 150 feet into the water.
The work should be done by Feb. 12, but the contractor says he’s asked the city for a few more days.
This is a short-term solution to the erosion problem. Sarasota city leaders say the long-term solution is dredging Big Pass every five years over the next 20 years, but some Siesta Key residents oppose the idea and have sued the city. The case has been tied up in litigation for nearly two years.
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