Great Lakes Dock and Dredge LLC is going to be busy the next 30 days as it renourishes Coquina Beach and a .6 mile portion of Anna Maria beach near the Sandbar Restaurant.
The company’s $6 million beach nourishment contract with Manatee County calls for the project to end by May 1, the start of the turtle-nesting season.
Operations at Coquina Beach began April 2 with the dredge California pumping material from the borrow area about 2,000 yards off the northwest point of Anna Maria Island to the shore near the southwest corner of the BeachHouse Restaurant in Bradenton Beach.
Manatee County natural resources director Charlie Hunsicker said the site for the pipe to come ashore was selected by Great Lakes from a 1,000-foot stretch of beach determined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Corps said any other location for the pipeline would damage the sea bottom, Hunsicker said.
“Nobody was given preferential treatment for the pipe’s location to come up from the Gulf. It was a very narrow area to choose from,” he said.
Great Lakes said the best spot to bring the material ashore and pump it through pipes laid on the beach to Coquina Beach was near the BeachHouse. The pipe’s location is as far south as the Corps would permit, Hunsicker said.
Any location north of the site selected would require more beachfront areas to be affected by exposed pipes than what are now, he noted.
Great Lakes project manager Chris Pomfret said the company set the following timeline for the project:
• March 1 to April 1 — install underwater pipes from the California location offshore to the location near the BeachHouse.
• April 1 — connect a 2,000-foot rubber floating hose to the pipeline. The dredged material will flow through the floating hose to the underwater pipes and pipes on the beach. Exposure of pipes on the beach to be minimal.
• April 2 — commence pumping sand onto Coquina Beach.
• April 17-19 — completion of Coquina Beach renourishment. Begin movement of barge, pipes and equipment to the Anna Maria renourishment area.
• April 19 — commence renourishment of .6 mile of Anna Maria beach. Length and number of exposed pipes on the Anna Maria beach will be minimal.
• April 30 — completion of Anna Maria renourishment.
• May 1 — begin demobilization of project.
Pomfret said the renourishment project is operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Approximately 206,000 cubic yards of sand will be placed on Coquina Beach, while Anna Maria will require about 25,000 cubic yards.
Sand will be pumped through underwater pipes from the dredge to the renourishment area, where work crews will spread the material for drying. Appropriate machinery such as graders, bulldozers and backhoes will be used.
The California will be lighted at night, as will the floating pipeline near the dredge. The location of the submerged pipes will be marked with buoys that also will be lighted.
A “no anchor” and “no speeding” zone will be marked around the barge Key West and the stern of the California to avoid damage to the power cable that runs along the sea bottom between the two vessels.
Great Lakes has requested a 500-foot buffer around the dredging configuration.
All vessels used by Great Lakes will operate on VHF Channel 01, and all vessels will monitor marine VHF Channels 13 and 16.
Pomfret said the project schedule calls for completion by April 30, depending upon weather conditions or other factors.
Renourishment at a glance
Contractor: Great Lakes Dock and Dredge LLC of Chicago. The company did the 2002 beach renourishment project on Anna Maria Island.
Engineer: Coastal Planning and Engineering of Boca Raton, Manatee County’s designated marine engineering company.
Government oversight: Manatee County Natural Resources Department, Charlie Hunsicker, director.
Cost: $6 million.
Equipment: Three tugs, one crew boat, one survey vessel, one dredge, four barges plus pipes, heavy sand-moving equipment, and trucks.
Renourish period: April 2-April 30.
Hours of operation: 24/7.
Coquina Beach: 206,000 cubic yards of sand.
Anna Maria: 25,000 cubic yards of sand.
Source: Great Lakes Dock and Dredge.
Yeah… No preferential treatment given, unless your already privileged. I suppose it’s just a natural coincidence that in all the places this pipe could come up, Is right behind a restaurant owned by the Chiles Restaurant Group. Think Sen. Lawton Chiles here… So out of the 6 million spent by the taxpayers, on a project that the county is rushing it’s butt off to complete (and probably won’t complete before turtle breeding season starts), what area sees work first? Their restaurant. Oh yeah… Not all of Anna Maria is being replenished in this misuse of taxpayer dollars, just the .6 mile stretch in front of another Chiles Restaurant Group property… The Sandbar Restaurant. No no it’s not preferential.