Dredging begins this summer in a sand-choked channel near popular Peanut Island with a focus on improving marine safety while not damaging one of the country’s most prized diving areas under the Blue Heron Bridge.
The estimated $4.5 million project is believed to be the first to widen the bustling passage that skims the western edge of the Town of Palm Beach Shores since the Lake Worth Inlet was first dug in 1917, said Palm Beach Shores Mayor Alan Fiers.
Over decades, sand and sediment drifting through the inlet piled up north of Peanut Island creating a massive sandbar that becomes nearly its own island at low tide — a place where boats beach on the weekend and tiki party huts float full time.
The area is technically called the Lake Worth Inlet Flood Shoal, with its bulging eastern edge encroaching on the Sailfish Marina Resort, Buccaneer Marina Resort and the HAVN Residences and Yacht Club, all in Palm Beach Shores at the southern end of Singer Island.
“We’ve been advocating for this for a long time,” said Alyssa Freeman, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County. “It’s a very tight channel and it’s only going to get tighter. Depending on the currents, it can be a dangerous situation.”
A public meeting to discuss the project is scheduled for July 8 at 2 p.m. at the Town of Palm Beach Shores’ town hall, located at 247 Edwards Lane. Dredging could begin as soon as July 10, Fiers said.
Palm Beach County and the Marine Industry Association began working on permits to dredge the area before the pandemic. The Town of Palm Beach Shores took the project over a few years ago with the permits transferring to it.
The original idea was to widen the channel on the eastern side of the shoal and dredge another channel through the middle of the shoal, but that part of the project has since been eliminated, partly because of concerns about losing seagrass in that area, Fiers said.
“Since it’s our project, we did what we think is right,” he said. “And, because of the dive area at the Blue Heron Bridge, we have very, very strict turbidity monitoring.”
The Blue Heron Bridge is widely considered one of the best areas to dive from the shore in the country, and even globally. In 2013, it was ranked No. 1 in a Sport Diver Magazine article titled “The Planet’s 50 Greatest Sites.”
When the dredging gets closer to the bridge at the northern edge of the shoal, work can only be done on an outgoing tide so that sand drifts through the inlet into the ocean instead of washing back on the wildlife under the bridge.
Dredge work otherwise will run between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. seven days a week. The project is being paid for with money from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Inland Navigation District.
“As long as they are operating with a concern for the natural resources, there’s a general consensus that this is needed,” said Everglades Law Center Policy Director Lisa Interlandi. “There is an incredibly diverse habitat there so it’s important they do everything possible to manage the turbidity to protect the marine life.”
About 70,000 cubic yards of sand will be dredged from the shoal. Some of the sand will be used to fill a lifeless dredge hole in another area of the lagoon to help grow seagrass.
The rest will be stored in Peanut Island’s sand management area where it is held until needed for other things such as the county’s Bonefish Cove restoration project. Bonefish Cove, which is south of the Lake Worth Bridge, includes building three islands in the Intracoastal Waterway to create habitat for mangroves, seagrass, oysters and shorebirds.
There will be some waterway restrictions during dredging, but the channel is expected to remain open through the duration of the project, which could take about six weeks.
“I don’t think anybody will do anything but cheer for this,” Fiers said about the project, noting, however, that a smaller, steeper sand bar will prevent some boats from beaching there on the weekend. “They’ll lose some party space.”
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boat restrictions possible near Peanut Island as dredging begins in Lake Worth Lagoon
Reporting by Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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