The Army Corps has applied for permits to the FDEP and has released their
latest Environmental Assessment (EA). http://goo.gl/WFGVJY . This has started a
45 day count down period for comments which ends May 14th. The City
and Army Corps presented their plan at City Hall on April 15.
What is Save our Siesta Sand doing?
A meeting has been scheduled at the St. Boniface Church Community Center 5615 Midnight Pass Rd. Siesta Key where the potential impacts of the Army Corps plan on Siesta Key and navigation will be presented. The meeting is sponsored by the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, the Siesta Key Village Association, the Siesta Key Association and the Siesta Key Condominium Council. It will be held from 5:30 to 7 pm on May 11th. The Moderator will be Mark Smith who will introduce the presenters. They are Laird Wreford, Manager of Coastal Resources; Rob Patten, President of Coastal Dunes, Inc.; Jono Miller, Charter Fellow of the Florida Natural Resource Leadership Institute and Peter van Roekens, Chair of Save our Siesta Sand & the Boaters’ Coalition. These brief presentations will conclude with a presentation by Dr. Robert Young, Director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines & Professor of Coastal Geology. The presentations will be followed by a Question and Answer Session. We hope to see you there.
What can you do?
Apparently the Army Corps has concluded that there are no findings of significant impact caused by this project and therefore a FONSI (Finding Of No Significant Impact) has been issued for this project. Their rationale is based on the following statement “This EA is “tiered” off of the 2002 EA; a FONSI was signed for the 2002 EA on September 17, 2002.” We of course reject this rationale for a number of reasons including the obvious fact that many things have changed during the ensuing years. We will continue to insist on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which will require a current and thorough examination of all the issues in the Big Pass area.
We are convinced, based on the results from other inlets that have been dredged, that residents, businesses, boaters and lovers of Siesta beaches should be very concerned. Sign our petition today. Also letters and emails do matter and should be sent before May 14, 2015 so they become part of the record.
What is Save our Siesta Sand doing?
A meeting has been scheduled at the St. Boniface Church Community Center 5615 Midnight Pass Rd. Siesta Key where the potential impacts of the Army Corps plan on Siesta Key and navigation will be presented. The meeting is sponsored by the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, the Siesta Key Village Association, the Siesta Key Association and the Siesta Key Condominium Council. It will be held from 5:30 to 7 pm on May 11th. The Moderator will be Mark Smith who will introduce the presenters. They are Laird Wreford, Manager of Coastal Resources; Rob Patten, President of Coastal Dunes, Inc.; Jono Miller, Charter Fellow of the Florida Natural Resource Leadership Institute and Peter van Roekens, Chair of Save our Siesta Sand & the Boaters’ Coalition. These brief presentations will conclude with a presentation by Dr. Robert Young, Director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines & Professor of Coastal Geology. The presentations will be followed by a Question and Answer Session. We hope to see you there.
What can you do?
Apparently the Army Corps has concluded that there are no findings of significant impact caused by this project and therefore a FONSI (Finding Of No Significant Impact) has been issued for this project. Their rationale is based on the following statement “This EA is “tiered” off of the 2002 EA; a FONSI was signed for the 2002 EA on September 17, 2002.” We of course reject this rationale for a number of reasons including the obvious fact that many things have changed during the ensuing years. We will continue to insist on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which will require a current and thorough examination of all the issues in the Big Pass area.
We are convinced, based on the results from other inlets that have been dredged, that residents, businesses, boaters and lovers of Siesta beaches should be very concerned. Sign our petition today. Also letters and emails do matter and should be sent before May 14, 2015 so they become part of the record.
Address them to:
Colonel Alan M. Dodd
|
|
District Commander
|
|
Jacksonville District
|
Attention: Aubree
Hershorin, Ph.D.
|
U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers
|
|
701
San Marco Boulevard
|
|
Jacksonville, FL 32207
|
|
alan.m.dodd@usace.army.mil
County and City Commissioners Commissioners@scgov.net Thomas.Barwin@sarasotagov.com |
|
We are also scheduling meetings at the various condominiums to raise awareness of the issues at stake here for Siesta beaches and also for navigation in Big Pass. If your association or neighborhood would like us to spend some time with you and answer questions that you may have, please write to us at SOSS2@Earthlink.net and we will schedule a time.
The only thing that will stop the Army Corps from dredging Big Pass is legal action. We believe we can defeat this proposal once and for all, but we need substantial funding to do this. It will cost between $60,000 and $100,000 if there is an appeal after we win our case. We are on our way to raising this money but we need every contribution you can make whatever the size. Your contributions are tax deductible.
Please help. If you want to donate or get on our mailing list go to our website www.SOSS2.com If you want to volunteer, send email to SOSS2@earthlink.net
Please make out your tax deductible check today to SOSS2, Inc. and mail it to:
SOSS2, Inc.
5300 Ocean Blvd. STE 201
Sarasota, FL 34242
Please include your phone number and email address so that we can send you documentation of your donation. If you are part of a condominium association, please provide their name so we can credit them. You can also donate via our website at www.soss2.com although we lose about 3% of your donation to processing fees. Whichever way you chose, please give as generously as you can.
The Board of Save our Siesta Sand
No comments:
Post a Comment