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Sarasota News Leader November 8, 2013 Page 15 Patterson added on Nov. 5, "I am really concerned, and I really welcome Commissioner Robinson bringing it up." Patterson said that perhaps it would be a good idea for the County Commission to conduct a public forum on the Army Corps' plan, "which may include conflicting scientific and engineering expertise." She continued, "The concern, obviously, is for the effect on the Siesta Key Beach, which is at least as much a gem as Lido." The commissioners agreed they would plan on the discussion first and then decide how to proceed. SIESTA CONCERNS Peter van Roekens addresses the City and County commissions on Oct. 22. Photo by Norman Schimmel Earlier that day, Siesta Key resident and Boaters' Coalition representative Peter van Roekens urged members of the Siesta Key Village Association (SKVA) to press for a peer review and offered them an opportunity to participate in a petition drive seeking such action as well as a public hearing on the plan, conducted by the County Commission. County and City commissions and the public, Hines said. Although van Roekens is the secretary of the Siesta Key Association (SKA), Michael Shay, the SKA vice president, told the approximately 20 people present that the SKA itself is still studying the renourishment project and has not reached a decision on the view it will take. In 2008, Steven M. Bratos and Jason A. Engle, coastal engineers with the Army Corps in Jacksonville, released a paper titled Application of Regional Sediment Management Techniques at New Pass and Big Sarasota Pass, Florida. In the introduction to that paper, they wrote, "The Jacksonville District … was directed to conduct a regional sediment study of a section of the Sarasota County, Florida Gulf Coast shoreline that encompasses New Pass and Big Sarasota Pass and the adjacent beaches to develop an in-depth understanding of wave-forced and tidally-forced sediment transport processes and to configure an analytical model of the two-inlet system that includes regional In the meantime, the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) board decided during its Nov. 1 meeting to become involved in the Lido project, van Roekens noted — a fact County Commission Vice Chairman Charles Hines reported to his colleagues on Nov. 5. The WCIND board agreed to act as an intermediary among the Army Corps, the During his comments at the SKVA meeting, van Roekens pointed out, "One of the biggest threats we face here on Siesta Key is the dredging of Big Pass," which never has been done.