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R o b i n s o n a s k e d C o m m i s s i o n e r N o r a Patterson, who attends most SKA meetings, to encourage the organization's board to look more deeply into subjects before announcing a position on them. After the paddleboarding discussion wound down, Patterson acknowledged she was going "slightly off topic." Then she told her colleagues that SKA members had had the opportunity to hear three presentations on the proposed City of Sarasota/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to renourish Lido Beach by dredging Big Sarasota Pass before taking a stand on that proposal. One of the Corps' programs took place in front of an SKA audience in December, Patterson contin- ued. "I realize there's a second report coming out," Patterson added, "but it's not like [SKA members] started their conversation in a vacuum." As The Sarasota News Leader reported last week, the Corps has delayed until late April the release of promised models and a full report on the expected impacts of the dredg- ing on the pass and on Siesta beaches. On Jan. 9, at their first meeting after the December Corps presentation, the SKA board unanimously approved a resolution oppos- ing any plan to dredge Big Pass or its shoal, based on the information available. The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, the Siesta Key Village Association, Siesta Key Condominium Council and the Bay Island-Siesta Association have approved almost identical resolutions since then. A graphic that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presented to local government leaders and the public last fall shows the Corps' expectation that the dredging of Big Pass will have no significant impact on the waterway. Image courtesy City of Sarasota Sarasota News Leader March 7, 2014 Page 70