BRADENTON BEACH – In a large-scale beach restoration project to put back sand pushed across Gulf Drive during recent hurricanes, tons of sand are being cleaned and returned to the beaches at the Coquina Beach processing site.
Sand is picked up daily along Gulf Drive and carried to the site by dump trucks. There, it is put through sifters to remove debris before being placed back on local beaches.
“Clean sand is being delivered to both Cortez and Coquina public beaches and shaped to mimic low-level dune formations along the landward side of the beaches there,” Charlie Hunsicker, Manatee County Director of Natural Resources, wrote in a Nov.18 email.
Sand recovered from roadways is sorted, sifted, tested, and returned to the beach under Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and Florida Department of Health requirements.
Sand removal from private property is the owner’s responsibility. Sand deposited on private property cannot be returned to the beach due to concerns about nails, debris, or household contaminants like oil, bleach, fertilizers, etc.
“Any dumping of sand from private properties on the beach is a direct violation of FDEP regulations. It is very important that the sand from private property not be mixed with the sand currently piled up on the roadsides. Residents with any remaining sandbags are encouraged to keep them through the end of storm season (Nov. 30),” according to the Manatee County website.
The sand being processed at the screening site is separated into two grades: beach-quality sand and construction-grade darker sand such as is found in parking lots.
As of Nov. 15, 19,000 cubic yards of beach-quality sand has been sifted and returned to Anna Maria Island beaches. The county website estimates that amount to be enough to fill six Olympic-size swimming pools.
Construction-grade sand is being processed differently.
“Last week’s figures showed 27,000 cubic yards was transported to the Hidden Harbor staging site along Ft. Hamer Road in the eastern part of the county for future use in road building and infrastructure projects,” Manatee County spokesperson Bill Logan wrote in a Nov. 18 email to The Sun.
According to Logan, “With fill dirt costing between $5 to 15 per cubic yard, the county has already realized average savings of over a quarter million dollars. By the time all the debris sand is repurposed, the county will save well over a million dollars. That does not even calculate the cost of taking sand that could be repurposed to a landfill – which would be substantial.”
Piles of sand remain to be processed. Logan said it is difficult to pinpoint exactly how much remains as FDOT and the three Island cities are still bringing sand to the processing site.
He said the cost of the project has not yet been determined, but Manatee County will be reimbursed from FEMA debris funds.
“The FEMA deadline for total reimbursement is Jan. 11 (2025). Every effort is being made to wrap up sand screening operations by this date,” Logan stated.
Logan stated that each day tons of sand is screened and re-applied or shipped to the staging site at Hidden Harbor.
“While the sand screening is only a part of the overall debris effort, you can always follow along on the overall progress at mymanatee.org/debris. As of today, there has been more than 1.5 million cubic yards of debris collected county-wide,” Logan wrote.
