It’s a beautiful time on Cortez Beach.
The Gulf waters are crystalline blue. A cooling breeze wafts through 75-degree air. The spring break rush is gone. Construction equipment sits on the shore.
Wait. What?
Despite assurances the groin reconstruction project at Cortez Beach would be finished in March, the Manatee County Board of Commissioners agreed April 26 to push back the finish to May 15.
“We’re in the absolute most beautiful, pristine time of the year,” Bradenton Beach resident Bill King said. “Why can’t they get a bunch of people and cranes out there and get it knocked out?”
Crews from CAYO Construction have been working Monday-Saturday, barring bad weather.
Weather conditions delayed the project for 15 days in January and February.
King lives on the corner of 10th Street South in Bradenton Beach, across from the middle groin of what is known as “three piers,” and he said he’s seen the construction crew arrive at 7 a.m. and leave for the day at 9:30 a.m.
“Why can’t the schedule be changed to seven days a week?” King asked.
The three erosion-control groins were built in the 1960s stretching from the shore into the Gulf of Mexico from Sixth Street South to half a block south of 10th Street South. Replacing the groins is the final stage in the 2013 renourishment project.
“When I found out about the possible extension, I jokingly asked, ‘What year?’” said Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon. “We just want it done.”
The reconstruction began March 2015 and was supposed to finish December 2015, but weather and unaccounted for work, including underwater debris and unseen debris on shore at the construction site, forced the county to budget an extra $451,634.95 and pushed the deadline to January.
Then the deadline was pushed to April. Now, it’s later this month.
Additional funds were not requested April 26. The final project cost is expected to be $4,863,049.95.
“When it’s done, I know it’s going to be beautiful,” King said. “But when?”
King said he’s watched the construction project since it started. “Enough is enough,” he said.
Turtle concerns
King and Shearon also have concerns about the project continuing into sea turtle nesting season, which began May 1 and continues through Oct. 31.
Sea turtles are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973. The loggerhead turtle, the species that nests most frequently on the island, is listed as threatened. The reptiles crawl out onto the beaches during the night to lay their eggs.
“How do you tell someone they can’t leave their beach chair on the beach” — one of the regulations that protect sea turtles — “when you’ve got a bunch of construction equipment down there?” Shearon said.
King said, “The last thing the construction crew will do is sift the sand to clear it of debris, rebar and chunks of concrete, anything that could be a danger.”
Construction crews sifted the sand surrounding the northern groin at Sixth Street South in December to open the area for the holidays.
Sea turtles normally dig nests 18-22 inches deep. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission each nest holds an average 100-126 eggs.
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring executive director Suzi Fox said the CAYO construction crews don’t work at night, and that’s so they don’t disturb possible nesters.
Fox also said special sea turtle protective barriers are placed around the project area and, if a nest is found nearby, AMITW will get FWC permission to relocate the nest to a safer area.
According to data from AMITW, 19 sea turtle nests were found in the area from 13th Street South to Cortez Road in 2014, before construction began.
In 2015, 29 nests were identified in the groin project area.