Frequently Asked Questions

What will the project cost?

Supporters estimate $15 million to create a pass. But that doesn't include the whole project. How much more will we taxpayers be billed for twenty years of monitoring transplanted seagrass and mangroves and maintenance dredging to ensure the pass remains open?"County Commissioner Jon Thaxton, who reluctantly predicts he will be the only commissioner to vote against the reopened pass, is not buying the $15 million cost estimate. It will be more, said Thaxton, noting that the county's permit application includes a commitment to keep the pass open for 20 years. The only way a pass is going to stay open is with consistent maintenance dredging, nobody disputes that, Thaxton said. 'It is an incredible investment'."
Source: Sarasota Herald Tribune July 1, 2008

Where will the money come from to pay for this project?

Tax revenues are down and so is Sarasota County's ability to bond. Credit is tighter too.  "At a recent budget hearing, Commissioner Paul Mercier suggested talking about where the Midnight Pass money would come from, but the other four commissioners appeared happy to put off that contentious discussion."
Source: Sarasota Herald Tribune July 1, 2008

Why are all the taxpayers in the county supposed to foot the bill for something that benefits so few homeowners and boaters?

Even the people right next to where the new pass would be on Casey Key do not want it reopened. Maybe we should pay closer attention to those few vocal people who do want to open Midnight Pass and look at where they live. Is there broad based support from North Port? Venice? Downtown Sarasota? East Sarasota County? Nokomis and Osprey?Or is it just the few hundred homeowners that long for blue-green water on Siesta Key? The same people have been fighting for this for 24 years. If they are the only ones who benefit, why don't they pay for it? In 2000, the County had already spent more than $1million on this seemingly endless effort. It was not possible to get a permit then and it is not now. If anything, the area is more protected now.

Sarasota County Commissioner Staub and her challenger North Port City Commissioner Gross discussed the Midnight Pass issue in a meeting with the Sarasota Herald Tribune editorial board on July 27 during the 2008 campaign:

GROSS: The opening of Midnight Pass is a very contentious issue. I have heard many emotional theories on both sides. If this opening would not require a continual expensive rehabilitation of the beaches and would return the area to a more natural state, it should be pursued, but if the ecosystem is operating properly as it is today, then we should not commit our citizens to this added expense.

STAUB: The project should provide environmental benefits. The funding of the project should be shared by local, state, federal and private sources.

If we are going to commit tens of millions of dollars over 20 years why aren't public hearings scheduled?

Our community is really struggling financially. Tax revenues have plummeted and the county has been forced to lay off employees and cut funding for programs and services. The real estate market has fallen dramatically and recovery will be slow. Tourism is suffering. Restaurants and other small businesses are closing by the dozens. Enrollment is dropping in our schools. All we read about is how the State of Florida and Sarasota County must cut services because of the economy. Why don't the taxpayers have a say in a project of this size? Whose interests are being served?

What are the priorities for Sarasota County and how high up on the list is Midnight Pass?

Public Safety
Budgets are threatened for law enforcement and fire service. Unemployment is rising and so is crime. This is a real priority.

Planning and Community Development
We need a strong business climate. Yet, taxes and insurance were hurting businesses long before the credit crisis. Financial markets are reeling and even some local and regional banks are failing. Tourism is critical to our economy but restaurants are closing and hotels have empty rooms. Several major festivals have been cancelled. When our retired millionaires are being foreclosed upon we know this economy has touched everyone. How does Midnight Pass help solve the challenges?

Baseball?
What about baseball? Aren't we trying to lure a team with a $50 million package? That would at least generate revenue. Midnight Pass will only cost money. How do we build tourism by reducing eco-tourism? Sarasota County Convention and Visitors Bureau actively promotes eco-tourism centered on turtle nesting, educational kayak tours, and secluded beaches. Ecotourism will suffer a staggering blow in Little Sarasota Bay if we dredge a boating channel through the middle of the estuary, Jim Neville Marine Preserve, bird islands and Palmer Point Park. If it is necessary for the county to squeeze funding for parks and recreation, Little Leagues, libraries, grants for neighborhoods, why is Midnight Pass still being considered? The food banks are in crisis. Maybe those fortunate few that can still afford marine gas for their boats should consider paying for Midnight Pass and also paying to maintain their pass while others just try to find work and feed their families. Makes your head spin doesn't it?

Mobility
Sarasota County already has a 20 year shortfall in funding for roads, bridges and other forms of transportation infrastructure. When workers can't afford gas or are losing their cars, Sarasota County was forced to cut bus service because we just couldn't afford it. Isn't getting people to work a higher priority than a new boating channel?

Community Health and Human Services
Immunizations, helping veterans, caring for seniors, children, and the mentally ill. At a time when fewer people can afford insured care and county health clinics are overflowing, our county budget projects no significant increase for this department in 2009 because we just can't afford it. How can the taxpayers of Sarasota County afford to build Midnight Pass? Are the commissioners really saying that Midnight Pass is more important?

Environmental Resource Management
How "green" is a county that intentionally sacrifices turtle nesting habitat, acres of seagrass, wading bird habitat, a beachfront park, protected mangroves, manatees and islands of nesting birds -in favor of a boating channel?

Dredging to create a new Midnight Pass will send more pollutants in to the Gulf possibly resulting in additional beach closings. Several of the coastal engineering reports predict that a new Midnight Pass will change the tidal velocity in Venice Inlet, Big Pass and New Pass and create two new null zones. That means no movement and dead smelly stuff. What will the budget be to dredge four passes? Have we budgeted to dredge the three passes we have now? Boaters other than those on South Siesta Key say New Pass and Big Pass should be our priorities. How long did it take to remove a sunken sailboat from the channel? Was that a year? Maybe more. Shouldn't maintenance of existing passes be more important to the tourists and businesses dependant on recreational and commercial boating?

Environmentally Sensitive Lands
Voters overwhelmingly approved a $250 million investment in land preservation for Sarasota County. Just a few years later, the Commission wants to spend $15 million to decrease beach and critical wildlife habitat and will commit future commissioners to continue to spend taxpayer money on dredging for twenty years! What the voters and taxpayers giveth, Sarasota County Commissioners taketh away.

Water Resource Management
Enhancing and preserving natural systems as well as flood prevention and coastal insurance issues will not be helped by Dredging a new Midnight Pass.

A letter from David J. Baron, Esq to homeowner Jeff Jones dated September 29, 2000 summarizes a conversation between Mr. Baron and Prassad Immula who was then in charge of the Regional Community Mitigation Program branch of FEMA overseeing Sarasota County. Mr. Baron discussed the County's plan to cut a pass through Casey Key.

Mr. Immula specifically discussed Section 60.3(e)(7), which provides: "Prohibit man-made alteration of sand dunes and mangrove stands within Zones V1-30, VE, and V on the COMMUNITIES FIRM, which would increase flood damage." Mr. Immula agreed that constructing the pass through the dunes and mangrove stands would violate this provision. Furthermore, he said that this rule has been adopted by Sarasota County ordinance and the county is required by agreement with FEMA to enforce this rule. Prassad said the ultimate sanction for not enforcing FEMA's rules, which he reminded Mr Baron are actually Sarasota County rules by agreement with FEMA, is for Sarasota County to lose its Federal flood insurance. Mr. Immula said he did not know why the county would even ask if the pass was in violation of the sand dunes and mangroves rule, as the rule was perfectly clear in stating that the construction of a pass through sand dunes and mangroves in a "V" zone is prohibited.

And yet, Sarasota County Commissioners bow to the Midnight Pass Society and persist on this boondoggle. The more you know, the more you want to say no. Please click these links to Sarasota County Commissioners; Staub, Barbetta, Patterson, Mason and Thaxton the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Fish and Wildlife,  and the Army Corps of Engineers and say, "Please Leave Midnight Pass Alone. Do not spend any more time and taxpayer money on this severely disruptive project."

What Can I Do?

If you think we should leave Midnight Pass Alone, here are three ways you can help.