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CEPD receives update on Blind Pass project

By Staff | Mar 16, 2009

The Captiva Erosion Prevention District held their monthly board meeting at ‘Tween Waters Inn on Wednesday, during which they received an update about the Blind Pass project and discussed completed and future CEPD projects.

Several members of the Bayou Preservation Association (BPA) attended the meeting to request funds for a two-year water quality monitoring project.

Commissioner Dave Jensen moved that the BPA be granted $5,000 for the study. The motion was carried unanimously.

Blind Pass project manager Robert Neal of the Lee County Department of Natural Resources attended the meeting to give commissioners and residents a status report of the project.

Neal gave a brief overview of the stages of the reopening process and said that in April, they would begin trucking the approximately 10,000 cubic yards of unsuitable clay materials out of the containment cell on Blind Pass beach.

“That material will be pumped into the containment cell which has now been built seaward of the bridge, de-watered and then trucked to an upland disposal site,” Neal said, noting that the disposal site was originally located in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, but has since been relocated to a waste water treatment facility the City of Sanibel is closing down.

“The trucking of that material should start within a month,” Neal said, noting that they will begin to fill the containment cell as early as next Friday. Some foul odors might accompany the non-useable clay materials

Neal also said that the projected end date for the reopening process is now July 15.

As the CEPD continues to work through the Blind Pass project, they recently finished tilling Captiva’s beaches, a mandatory process that must be completed after beach renourishment.

“We finished the job on time and at a great price, $4,000 less than one bidder and approximately $3,300 less than the other bidder,” said CEPD administrator Kathy Rooker.

Board members also discussed points of interest to prepare for the CEPD’s meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers next week, in hopes that they can secure more funding for the organization, instead of having to rely heavily on local funding.

The CEPD Board of Commissioners meets once on the second Wednesday of the month in the Wakefield Room at ‘Tween Waters Inn, located at 15951 Captiva Drive.

If you have any questions about the CEPD and what they do, call 472-2472.