Committee urges council to pursue funding and study for canal dredging after shoaling and navigation concerns

Committee members raised repeated safety concerns about shoaling at the entrance to Buccaneer Lagoon and nearby channels and asked staff to coordinate warnings and pursue longer-term dredging solutions.

John Musley Nash, who assembled a report on the entrance, described areas where low tide readings show depths as shallow as about 1 foot and said NOAA charts continue to report larger depths. He urged adding caution markers and public notices because boaters using charted lines have run aground. "It it shows 4 feet minimum depth... So it's far from being what it should be," John said, pressing for clearer navigational notices.

Curtis Ludwig said the town will contact the Coast Guard and seek ways to add caution markers and to request additions to the Local Notice to Mariners. Town manager Will said staff are discussing federal appropriations and grants and asked the committee to recommend the town pursue every available funding avenue. Will told the committee a necessary first step is a full environmental study to document current depths and priorities; "Study is gonna cost us roughly a couple $100,000 probably to do a really good study on that," he said.

The committee voted to ask council to continue seeking funding for canal dredging and to support a phased approach if federal or state monies become available. Chair Chris King said he will take the committee's recommendation to town council at the next meeting if he is available.