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Study concurs with boaters about Apollo Beach low tide

Residents say silt and sand have thickened the canal bottoms to the point of sometimes being unnavigable.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published March 24, 2006

APOLLO BEACH - Cruising down the main canal of the south end of Apollo Beach, Jerry Chevillot pointed to a majestic green sailboat moored to a dock.

"Forty-five-foot Morgan," said Chevillot, 60. "For sale."

A few houses down, the retired tool and die maker gestured to an empty dock. "Thirty-eight-footer used to be there," he said.

Resident boaters here say they're having a tough time making it to Tampa Bay or even getting back home. Silt and sand have been thickening 20 miles of canal bottom for decades. Now the county has weighed in with a preliminary study. It validates neighbors' concerns that waterways at low tide have become almost unnavigable.

Officials and residents alike say dredging is the solution. But answers, even tentative proposals, about where and how much to dredge and who should pay for it remain one year away.

As Chevillot steered a 32-foot power boat, Jim Rood stood by the railing and smoked cigars.

"It's every man's dream to own a sailboat," he said. "But most people here won't." His own keel extends 5 feet, 3 inches below the water's surface, which means he can only set sail and return on a high tide.

At noon Monday, the tide was running more than a foot above the average or mean and rising, according to tide charts. Depth returned in the main canal to a comfortable 8 to 12 feet.

But shallow waters came back in the entrance to Tampa Bay, where hurricanes push sand and debris inland.

The north end wasn't much better. Across the channel mouth from the twin TECO stacks, a couple walked on a beach past a channel marker that stood 10 feet away in ankle-deep water. When the channel markers were installed in the 1980s, that post and another one farther out in the water represented the deepest passage to the north Apollo Beach canals. Storm surges over the years have pushed sand ashore, creating a beach that extends further into the bay.

Chevillot and Rood, both licensed boat captains, say they have not gotten stuck in a canal or the channel. But most boaters have.

"Between those channel markers you're supposed to have deep water," Chevillot said. "And you don't have it, either on the north side or the south side.

"If you don't have good local knowledge and know how to pick your way through, you're going to run aground."

The solution, everyone agrees, is dredging. Yet it was dredging that created Apollo Beach canals in the first place. In an effort to provide waterfront access to residents, Hillsborough County dredged most of the canals out of wetlands between 1959 and 1969.

Rainwater, storms and a variety of human causes helped to land silt and vegetation in the canals, where those materials remain.

The county has never started a canal dredging program for waterfront residents. Engineers at the county's Public Works Department are working on a $281,000 study to identify problem areas, and to suggest causes of sediment build-up and possible solutions.

Shallow canals extend beyond Apollo Beach. The county study also identified problem areas in Ruskin and the Tampa waterfront communities in Bayport, Baycrest and Sweetwater Creek.

The study's final version won't be out until 2007, said county engineer Martin Montalvo. The entire process, from research to design, permitting and completion, could take several years. There are no current cost estimates.

Residents could share the cost through assessments or through the creation of an ongoing special tax district.

County Commissioner Kathy Castor said she understood residents' concerns.

"The county has ignored it for far too long," Castor said. Some of the causes of sediment buildup are preventable, such as inadequate storm drains, Castor said.

Castor said that researchers would do well to study governments such as Cape Coral, which includes canal maintenance into its utility fees; and Sarasota County, which has a similar program, Castor said.

"The solution may be along the lines of cost sharing with a small assessment," she said.

Residents in the West Shore area have been lobbying the city of Tampa since October for dredging. Michael Weigner, 38, said a $1.3-million federal grant to the city and talks with Mayor Pam Iorio have left him hopeful, although no canal proposal has been formalized.

"It's important for us that this is not a dredging program, this is a water management program," Weigner said. "We must prevent this from reoccurring."

Andrew Meacham can be reached at 661-2431 or ameacham@sptimes.com.

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 11:15:17]