Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/256534
depth and markers on the website of the Sarasota Yacht Club. "You don't dig a gigantic hole in the shoal, put in two channels and then not have an effect on anything," van Roekens told the SKVA members. "It just doesn't make sense …" Van Roekens added that he has asked the Corps project manager, Milan Mora, whether sand is available from any other source for the Lido Renourishment Project. Mora told him that about half a million cubic yards of sand is off the shore of Longboat Key, van Roekens said, "which is more than enough to renourish the sand in front of those two [most threatened condominium complexes] on Lido." In a Jan. 18 email to van Roekens, which Mora shared with the News Leader, Mora explained why recent state regulations for dredging have limited sand sources: "DEP Offshore Sand Search Guidelines for sediment source delineation states, 'a minimum of two-foot buffer above non-compatible material should exist below the maximum dredge depth.' … The horizontal buffers applied … around hard bottoms can be variable, but the State's com- mon regulatory standard is a [400-foot] hard bottom buffer." SKA Vice President Michael Shay told the SKVA group that his organization also had voted to request a peer review of the Corps' modeling and studies by "a completely inde- pendent group." Referencing a comment on the project made by County Commissioner Nora Patterson during an address to the Siesta Key Condominium Council on Jan. 21, Shay said the preference is for the peer review to be undertaken by someone with no financial stake in Corps or other renourish- ment projects. Additionally, he said, the SKA has requested the county to hold a public hearing on the project. Patterson told the Condo Council members on Jan. 21 that she would be in favor of a pub- lic hearing. When Gaddie called for a motion on Feb. 4, past SKVA and SKCC President Mark Smith offered it. Glen Cappetta of Sun Ride Pedicab seconded it. % Beach Access 1 on the northern end of Siesta Key looks out over Big Pass. File photo Sarasota News Leader February 7, 2014 Page 63