Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/96141
Sarasota News Leader November 30, 2012 Page 34 ty Commission to explain what had transpired Palmer Point Park is on the north end of Caand seeking a vote to enable him to move for- sey Key. ward once again. As a Nov. 13 memo to the commission exThe commissioners gave him that go-ahead, plained, the exotic vegetation was removed, on a 4-1 vote. but because of neighborhood opposition to On May 10, 2011, the commission authorized the contractor's selection of a staging/offloada $559,650 contract with Tampa Contracting ing site to dispose of the vegetation, county Services Inc. to remove and dispose of exotic staff and the contractor had to seek an altervegetation; excavate and grade dredge spoil native plan. material; transport the excavated material; Project Manager Paul Semenec put it this way and supply and plant wetland and upland veg- in addressing the County Commission on Nov. etation on the southeastern section of Palmer 13: "There was very strong and immediate rePoint Park. It was the first spoil islands restoaction from the neighborhood about that proration project designed to improve water qualposal." ity in that part of the bay, returning the body of water to the level of health it enjoyed before Semenec explained to members of the Siesta the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged the Key Association on Oct. 6, 2011, that if FDOT granted use of its right of way just below the Intracoastal Waterway in the 1960s. The Florida Department of Transportation right of way below the north Siesta bridge yet may serve a role in a spoil island restoration project. Photo by Norman Schimmel