MADIERA BEACH, Fla. — Pinellas County’s largest vacationer vacation spot, you will discover boat excursions, outlets, and sand. Captain Dylan Hubbard is Majority Owner and Vice President of Hubbard’s Marine. Only a type of is a matter for him.
“Everybody sees the sand and then what do they do? They come back and they think it’s a beach and people get out here and treat it like a beach.”
Hubbard stated it is something however a seaside. One step too far, and you can find yourself 30 toes beneath water. That’s as well as to sturdy rip currents.
“Even adults we’ve seen get swept off this beach and we countless times have deployed a boat and gone and assisted people. We had those young gentlemen get swept offshore here and one passed away.”
Captain Hubbard stated his household has fought to dredge John’s Pass since 1997.
They lastly noticed a victory Wednesday evening.
At the Madeira Beach City Council assembly, Representative Linda Chaney introduced council members with a $1,556,000 test from the state.
City Manager Robin Gomez stated that cash will dredge John’s Pass.
“I know some of the businesses have been paying to dredge parts of the channel, the waterway. Now this funding will dredge a much larger area and hopefully alleviate, again, the accumulation of sand that just makes it difficult for boating and certainly the businesses that depend on getting larger commercial boats, dinner cruises, etc.,” stated Gomez.
He stated dredging might start as early as November and wrap inside a month or two.
Hubbard stated the reduction cannot come quickly sufficient.
“It’s really really amazing to see this get kind of a really big step forward to battle this issue that’s creating such a big safety concern, drainage issues, access issues, and ecological impacts. I mean, just a whole myriad of different things have been negatively impacted by this sand build up in John’s Pass,” he stated.
Aside from the security threat of unaware swimmers, Hubbard stated the sand has added to drainage considerations.
“The city drainage is right here on the sand, which is responsible for draining all of John’s Pass’ main drag. So if we get a light rain, and that drain is clogged up from sand, which often it is, all of John’s Pass floods. Some of those businesses will flood, so the City actually has staff come down here every day, sometimes two or three times a day to clear out that drain,” Hubbard stated.
Then there’s the ecological impression. The Pass is a historic manatee migration route. When the Manatees swim and return within the spring, they run into the sand blockade.
“We’ve seen it happen too many times where manatees and other marine mammals like dolphins and even sea turtles are pushed away from the safety of the seawall to that main navigable channel because of the sand issue,” he stated.
While the dredging is welcome news, it isn’t a long run repair. A current USF research surrounding John’s Pass and its sand says dredging will possible solely final 10-15 years. But different state {dollars} have gone in the direction of extra different elements within the situation.
“We actually funded a study and that scientist, Dr. Ping Wang from USF, was quoted during that study. He said a longer Jetty would solve the problem and prevent sand from ever accumulating again, and it would strengthen and deepen John’s passage channel which we’re having a lot of sand issues outside in the channel too,” he defined.
Madeira Beach has obtained cash to deal with that. Last 12 months Representative Chaney secured $1,750,000 for Beach Groin Rehabilitation.
Everyone concerned stated they’re going to proceed to work till the issue is fastened.