People in Bradenton Beach aren’t too happy with an erosion control project on Cortez Beach.
Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon began receiving calls March 14 regarding an area of the Cortez Beach parking lot blocked off for Manatee County’s groin replacement project.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Shearon. “It’s the height of the tourist season and no one knows about the new parking closures.”
Manatee County recently began a $4.1 million project to demolish and rebuild three erosion control groins on Cortez Beach. The structures help keep sand from washing away, but have fallen into a state of disrepair.
“I found out about this project three weeks ago,” said Shearon. “We haven’t had a public meeting about it, almost no communication from the county, and any meetings there were, Bradenton Beach officials either weren’t invited or couldn’t attend.”
While the project was planned in conjunction with the 2014 beach renourishment that put sand on the shore of Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach, the start date for removal and replacement of the three groins remained a moving target.
According to Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources director Charlie Hunsicker, the project will take nine-10 months to complete. Work on each groin will take about three months.
The groins are the final phase of a 2013-14 beach renourishment project.
Shearon’s frustration comes from knowing his city will get blamed for most of the parking frustrations caused by a county project.
“Easter is coming,” he said. “That means we’ll be getting more than 50,000 more vacationers here. Traffic’s already a problem. Now we have to add this on top, too?”
Project designers said they were starting with the northern-most groin and moving south.
As of March 17, there are two staging areas for equipment: the northern staging area will move when work on that groin is finished and a center section will remain for the entire project.
“It’s like they didn’t even consider what time of year it was or who uses this area,” said Shearon. “There’re no signs, no pedestrian safety measures. Nothing.”
The northern groin was marked off with temporary fencing but there is an open section to allow equipment and vehicles to pass.
“People walking on the beach see the opening in the fence and they walk right through,” Shearon said.
When asked about why the project was started in March, Hunsicker said, “This project is going to take until the end of the year. There is no ‘good season’ to do this. It has to be done.”