Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/180498
Sarasota News Leader September 27, 2013 Page 58 Commissioner Joe Barbetta put it this way: 2. 10th Street outfall sediment man"When we get a grant, we have to spend our agement. money, too. I want to make sure there are SWFWMD cost: $500,000. quantifiable benefits, and we are just not chasCounty cost: $500,000. ing grants." The plan is to reduce debris and sediment Williams explained how the Dona Bay projpouring from the boat basin into Sarasoect would reduce nitrogen runoff into the bay. ta Bay. Future sediment would be directShe also said county staff chose projects that ed into a specific area in the basin so the would increase water quality while also desediment would be "easier to access and creasing annual maintenance costs, thus lowremove" during future maintenance of the ering the county's recurring expenses. basin, Williams noted. The project would THE OTHER PROJECTS include installation of bioswales to filter stormwater. In addition to the two phases of the Dona Bay project, the County Commission approved six Williams said county staff plans to work others on the priority list: closely with the City of Sarasota, which has received a West Coast Inland Navi1. Hudson Bayou in-stream restogation District Grant (WCIND) grant to ration and sediment management dredge the basin. (two phases of a larger project). If SWFWMD funding were approved, the SWFWMD cost: $300,000. county would add a barrier to confine the County cost: $300,000. sediment as well as a kayak launch. About 830 acres of stormwater drains into wetlands on the Sarasota High School 3. North Water Tower Park stormwater improvement. property. SWFWMD cost: $500,000. This project would restore habitat there County cost: $500,000. by removing nonnative plants, reshaping the wetlands, filtering stormwater and installing bioswales to filter rainwater that runs off the parking lot before it enters Hudson Bayou. The project would include an educational program with interpretive signage and boardwalk access points. If SWFWMD funding is approved, the project is slated for an October 2014 construction start date. "There are a lot of moving parts to this one," Williams said. "It is an interesting project." Thirty-eight acres of U.S. 41's stormwater drainage area drains through the southern portion of North Water Tower Park. But that rainwater is not treated before it empties into Whitaker Bayou. This project would redirect stormwater through a series of bioswales placed in the park. Then the filtered water would flow into a canal emptying in Whitaker Bayou. "Four or four and a half acres of bioswales can treat that water," Williams said.