Sarasota County's Turtle Beach repair project advances; some beach access to be closed

Sarasota County is making progress on its Turtle Beach repair project and expects to finish it by the end of the month.

As of Saturday, June 3, about 67,200 of an expected 92,000 cubic yards of sand had been placed along South Siesta Key’s beaches.

The project, which began in late April, is meant to repair damage from Hurricane Hermine in 2016. Dump trucks are moving sand from a mine elsewhere in the state to Turtle Beach Park. They deposit the sand in a large pile, and off-road trucks shift the sand to different parts of the beach.

Curtis Smith, the project manager, said the workers are done placing sand on the northern beach. This week, the team is working its way southward along the beach, adding sand as it goes.

Previously: Sarasota County project will repair damage that Turtle Beach sustained in 2016 hurricane

And: Eroded Turtle Beach to get a facelift in spring 2023

As they travel southward, southern beach access points will be closed in approximately 500-foot sections, a Sarasota County spokesperson said. The northern section of the beach is open to the public.

Mote Marine Laboratory and Sarasota Audubon Society are doing daily sea turtle and shorebird monitoring at the project site, according to the county. Next week, the contractors plan to rake the northern part of the beach, so it will be soft enough for turtles to dig their nests. Smith said, though, that at last report, 20 turtle nests have been marked in that area, which indicates that the beach is already suitable for nesting.

Smith said there have been some instances of the sand-delivery trucks arriving at Turtle Beach Park very early in the morning and in numbers that overflow the staging area for the project. He said that this isn’t an approved activity, as the contractor is only allowed to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and they aren’t supposed to stage outside of the approved area. The county directed the contractor on Monday to correct this issue going forward.

On Tuesday, no trucks were outside the staging area at 6:30 a.m., Smith said. He added that the county continues to monitor the issue daily and will enforce the requirements of its contract with the construction company.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota County to finish replenishing Turtle Beach by end of June