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Sanibel residents get Blind Pass update

3 min read

Sanibel residents are going to have a great deal of input in regards to the Blind Pass inlet, the problem will be finding a solution that doesn’t cause five or six more.

That was apparent Friday when the Lee County Division of Natural Resources held a public meeting in front of a full house in the Pelican Room at the Sanibel Recreation Center to update the public on the Blind Pass Inlet management study.

A 30-minute presentation was followed by nearly an hour of questions and concerns from the public, ranging from the need for back channel water to keep Blind Pass open, to the inevitability that climate change could tear apart the island no matter what they do.

Michelle Pfeiffer, engineer for the project, and Tom Pierro, project director for Chicago Bridge & Iron gave the results of the 18 models and hundreds of model runs that gave preliminary evaluations of the different management alternatives for the inlet using model simulations.

Among the alternatives were to do nothing, dredging, sand placement, sediment basins, beach fill and others. The problem is that any of these solutions could create problems elsewhere.

The results stated that the current inlet maintenance plan, which includes periodic dredging from the pass to the beach, has been beneficial and has kept Blind Pass open, but the system is delicate and connection with the back channels helps support channel stability.

Pierro said the answer will likely come from a combination of ideas.

“A combination of alternatives are needed. That’s both good and bad. We need to find the best of the best,” Pierro said.

The next steps include evaluating the strategies for evaluation, coordinate them with the technical advisory committee, and their recommendations.

For that, they needed public input, and there was plenty. One resident was concerned about the flow of water into the pass and the consequences.

“Backchannel connections are important. Sunset Bay is silting in, the decrease in wildlife and decrease in flow is enormous. If the channel opened to blind pass, water would increase enormously,” he said.

Another resident said the powers that be will determine what will happen, no matter how much the public complains.

“They have a narrow set of rules and just check off the boxes. You’re right about everything, but that doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “That’s not how the rules are written. We need to get into their world and make our case within their parameters.”

Another resident had a gloomier look at things, saying the island is fighting a losing battle with nature.

“Nature’s intent is to obliterate and move it. We’re just tinkering around with little stuff. Will there be a beach in 100 years? Any recommendation won’t be permanent,” he said.

When Pierro was pushed to make a recommendation, he said they were looking at three combinations, but there was nothing close to a decision, but it could come down the pike within three months, when almost everyone on the island are north for the summer.

Pierro said they could hold off on a recommendation until late this year, when residents return.

Until then, they had to be happy with all the received from the crowd, which will go a long way.

“We got lots of feedback and participation, great questions and obviously people are very involved in this community,” Pfeiffer said. “I think we accomplished exactly what we hoped to.”

“The community is very engaged and we got a lot of feedback we will take into consideration,” Pierro said. “The back channel connections and the flushing and water quality were the biggest concerns.”