BRADENTON BEACH – City officials have made significant changes to the plans for a shoreline resiliency project along Bay Drive South from the south side of the Bradenton Beach Pier to Fifth Street South.
The revised plans no longer call for a concrete resiliency wall and now propose using riprap barriers made of rocks and sand instead. The revised plans also eliminate the proposed installation of reef balls in Sarasota Bay across the street from the Old Bridge Village condominiums.
The project is being designed and engineered by the Tampa-based Environmental Science Associates (ESA) firm, with senior scientist Brett Solomon and engineer Bryan Flynn working closely with city officials.
In an effort to address king tides, rising tides and future sea level rise, the Bradenton Beach City Commission and the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) are jointly pursuing the resiliency project that city attorney and CRA liaison Ricinda Perry says has evolved into a shoreline renourishment project.
ESA presented the 30% completed plans in early January. In late January, Solomon and Flynn conducted publicly noticed on-site meetings with city officials and potentially impacted property owners.
During the March 17 joint city commission/CRA meeting, Solomon and Flynn presented the 60% completed plans that included revisions based on input received from city officials and potentially impacted property owners.
Wall removed
The 30% completed plans proposed installing a concrete wall and/or earthen berm along the Bay Drive South shoreline. That concept was met with much resistance from city officials and potentially impacted property owners.
Throughout the engineering process, city commissioner and CRA Chair Ralph Cole has expressed his desire for a shoreline project that uses natural materials as much as possible.
“We don’t want the wall. That’s pretty much what everybody’s decided. They don’t want a concrete barrier,” Cole said during the March 17 meeting.
The 60% completed plans approved by the city commission and CRA members that day no longer include a concrete wall.
Riprap
There’s already an existing riprap barrier about 2.5 feet high along the length of Fred Bartizal’s Bridge Tender Inn & Dockside Bar property. The revised plans propose extending the existing riprap 10 feet to the east and possibly raising it by another 1.5 feet to get to the 4-foot elevation recommended by ESA.
According to Perry, the proposed project would result in the extended Bridge Tender Inn shoreline having a beach-like appearance, with the rocks being covered by sand. Trees, mangroves and other erosion-controlling plants might also be placed in the expanded shoreline area.
Matching riprap and a similarly extended shoreline would continue south to the small city-owned pocket park at the east end of Third Street South.
To accommodate the existing mangroves near the pocket park, a slightly elevated walkway would be installed between the landward side of the mangroves and the edge of Bay Drive South, with riprap placed under the walkway and along the mangroves and existing vegetation that already help absorb and dissipate wave energy. The existing mangroves will not be removed.
The walkway built over the riprap would continue south along Bay Drive South to Fifth Street South and Perry said Bartizal is amenable to the walkway continuing north on his property to Bridge Street.
“People won’t see the rocks,” Perry said of the riprap.
The revised plans propose small stairways or ramps that go up and over the riprap to provide uninterrupted access to the privately-owned docks along Bay Drive South.
Flynn said the riprap barriers could be raised in 10-15 years by adding more rocks and sand if conditions warrant doing so.
Reef balls
The 30% completed plans proposed installing reef balls in the bay across the street from the Old Bridge Village condominiums. The reef balls were proposed to dissipate incoming wave energy and reduce the amount of sand and sediment that washes away from the shoreline. Some condo owners expressed concern about aesthetics and visibility.
The revised 60% completed plans now propose installing reef balls only along the south side of the Bridge Street Pier and clock tower walkway. Reef balls would not be placed near the condos.
Made of oyster shells, smaller oyster bags and oyster pyramids would be placed in the water throughout the project area to help dissipate wave energy and reduce sediment washout.
Public input
During public input at the recent joint meeting, Bartizal and residential property owners Krista Czajkowski and Marvin Taake expressed support for the revised plans.
Czajkowski said her biggest concern was maintaining the ability to install or replace boat lifts and docks. Flynn said the riprap barrier would not negatively impact boat lifts, docks or navigation.
Taake said drainage and flooding were his biggest concerns. Flynn said the proposed project will include drainage elements that improve the flow of rainwater to the outfalls that discharge into the bay.
“I think it’s win-win for everybody,” Bartizal said.
Funding
The design and engineering phase is being funded with a $92,433 resiliency grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). For state and federal permitting purposes, the design and engineering must be 100% completed in August.
The current grant does not include funds to construct the engineered project and no cost estimates to construct the proposed project have been provided. During the joint meeting, ESA and Perry were authorized to work together to pursue additional FDEP resiliency grants to construct the fully engineered and shovel-ready project. There is currently no estimated timeline as to when the proposed project would be constructed.
