Lido Key Properties Upbeat as Beach Restoration Goes Full Swing

September 8, 2020

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Lido Key Properties Upbeat as Beach Restoration Goes Full Swing

Thankfully, there are great reasons to remain upbeat despite the current global pandemic. The Judy Kepecz-Hays team entered a Lido Key beachfront listing on the pending-sales column just this August. On another happy note,the Lido Beach renourishment has also started in earnest, thus protecting values of Lido’s coastal properties.

The total cost of the beach renourishment project is about$19.5 million. Work on this project began July 18, with the start of sand dredging from Big Pass for the beach restoration.

This renourishment requires 700,000 cubic yards of sand now being pumped from Big Pass to South Lido Beach. The project’s dredging phase is expected to be completed late this fall. After this phase, crews will then build two sand retaining groins, which should be finished by May 2021.The Lido public beach will remain open as the work gradually proceeds northward.

The beach renourishment will help protect the Lido Key shoreline and nearby infrastructure as well as wildlife, said Tom Barwin, City Manager for Sarasota.This project is“the most environmentally sensitive”and long-term approachto shoreline protectionfrom erosion and storms, he added.

Mile-long Restoration Already Complete

Dredging of sand from New Pass in the north was also undertaken in an earlier short-term beach restoration in Lido Key. Completed in April 2019, this project entailed a $3.9 million spending. It covered a mile-long southward stretch starting from the Pavilion at the Lido public beach. It was financed through city, county, and state funding as well as support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

This beach restoration used more than 200,000 cubic yardsof sandpumped from New Pass waterway separating Longboat Key from St. Armands Key. With the completion of thisbeach renourishment project, the Lido beach that it covered grew wider by 40 to 80 feet.

The dredging of New Pass not onlysupplied sand for the Lido Beach restoration. It also brought safer navigation on the waterway. Notably, the U.S. Coast Guard determined before the dredging project that New Pass had become too shallow and unsafe for navigation of water vessels.Navigational markers on the waterwayhave been removed because of this navigational concern.

Boaters plying NewPass then have torely on GPS-based navigation apps. With the dredging finished, the Coast Guard is considering the reinstallation of its navigational markers.

The current beach renourishment in Lido Key is set to roll until 2021. The local authorities havenotably kept this project running every five yearssince 1993. In the process,more than 33 million cubic yards of sand have been used to renourish the 9.3-mile stretch of Lido Beach.

Such dedication in protecting Sarasota’s natural assets could certainly help boost the confidence of players on the real estate market. Should you want to test the waters now in a property sale or purchase, contactthe Judy Kepecz-Hays team so we can help you successfully close on your transaction.