Environmental activists who advocated for seagrasses and fought against stormwater discharge in Anna Maria Sound when a new bridge was proposed in the 1990s are back in the ring for another round with the Florida Department of Transportation.
Save Anna Maria leaders were at a March 11 kick-off meeting where DOT unveiled its plans to officials and residents from Manatee County, Bradenton and the Anna Maria Island cities.
SAM didn’t like what it saw.
The grassroots organization — a fierce opponent to a proposed megabridge more than two decades ago and other environmental causes since, but relatively quiet after DOT survey results in 2008-2009 favored a high fixed-span bridge — is opposed to the proposed replacement bridge that links Holmes Beach and Perico Island.
At a SAM meeting March 26, secretary/treasurer Nancy Deal listed the group’s concerns:
· Proposed destruction of a “1-plus acres of mangroves, not to mention seagrass.”
· Detrimental impact on Grassy Point — a 34-acre preserve of mangrove hammocks and wetlands on a short distance south of the bridge in Anna Maria Sound in Holmes Beach.
· 2008 DOT surveys in which people were allowed to respond multiple times.
· Lack of hurricane evacuation routes and likelihood of high sustained winds preventing bridge travel.
· Bridge approaches displacing Holmes Beach residents and businesses on Manatee Avenue West and East Bay Drive.
“Nothing’s changed,” Deal said, referring to the fight over the proposed bridge in the 1990s.
“The environment is still there. The DEP did not issue their permit. The administrative hearing denied their permit. Nothing’s changed, so Sam is going to fight it,” she added.
Margaret Jenkins of Anna Maria read from a March 22 letter received by a former Holmes Beach city commissioner, fellow SAM member Billie Martini, from project manager Kati Sherrard, stating the DOT proposes to construct the bridge a maximum of 74-feet high, including a 9-foot depth, south of the existing bridge.
Jenkins said, “I think we need to fight that.”
Another concern with the landing relates to the 4 percent grade proposed for the bridge. The U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act mandates a 5 percent grade. While a lower grade may be desirable to walkers and bicyclists, according to Deal, it will result in a longer landing for the bridge.
The group is worried about losses for the Westbay Cove condominiums and the Bank of America at the corner of Manatee Avenue and East Bay Drive.
Deal also said hurricane preparedness is a “huge concern.”
She said the DOT’s reaction is a “tap dance,” considering it an emergency management issue, not a structural one, she said.
“To put it bluntly, they don’t care,” Deal added.
According to Sherrard, the bridge plans “are very early in the design stage.”
In the letter to Martini, Sherrard indicates the environmental surveys are not yet complete, but DOT anticipates the destruction of 1.2 acres of mangroves and 2 acres of seagrasses, “both of which will be mitigated.”
Mitigation of the mangrove and seagrass impacts will be required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
In an April 7 email, Sherrard provided the expectations of Brent Setchell, DOT district environmental permitting engineer.
The mangrove impacts “will probably be mitigated at a mitigation bank” where the DOT would pay for future enhancements for a mitigation bank, Setchell wrote.
“There are no seagrass mitigation banks so we are evaluating different alternatives, including partnering with Manatee County to provide seagrass mitigation at its Perico Preserve,” he stated.
While the bridge design may be new, the DOT has been building its file for years.
Criticized for failing to give proper notification in the 1990s, since March 2008, the DOT has sought out comments of state and federal agencies and surveyed property owners and interested citizens.
The DOT held public information workshops and meetings on Anna Maria Island, culminating with a March 2009 public hearing in Holmes Beach.
Survey results favored a bridge replacement — 66 percent favored a high-level bridge in 2008 and 70 percent preferred the high-level bridge in 2009.
Deal criticized the surveys as unscientific and not limited to stakeholders, and because people could respond numerous times.
She also believes the surveys are outdated.
“We need more public meetings to address current bridge issues in a format where stakeholders are allowed to speak to the group and not just to an individual FDOT employee,” Deal wrote in an April 7 email.
Stemm agreed with Deal. She said SAM is building a coalition.
At SAM’s March meeting, she presented a $300 check to its speaker, Justin Bloom of Suncoast Waterkeeper, for the nonprofit’s waterway protection efforts.
In addition to Waterkeepers, Stemm said SAM is reaching out to Sierra Club, ManaSota-88, the Anna Maria Island Democratic Club and activists in Cortez.
“The thing is: We’re powerful people. We’re not going to settle for this,” she added.
Save the sea grass, screw the citizens.