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Local coastal advocate urges dredging and park expansion in Port Richey public comment
Summary
At the Feb. 3 CRA workshop, Alan Rose of the Pasco Coastal Improvement Council urged a 12-foot by 100-foot channel dredge from Sims Park to the Gulf, dredging Miller's Bayou and expanding Brasher Park with spoils; the board received his handouts but took no action.
Alan Rose, representing the Pasco Coastal Improvement Council, used the workshop’s public-comment period to present a multi-part coastal restoration and park-expansion proposal and handed materials to the board. Rose described a plan to dredge from Sims Park out to the Gulf to a controlled depth of 12 feet and width of 100 feet, to dredge Miller’s Bayou and connected canals, and to relocate dredged spoils to form offshore barrier islands and expand Brasher Park’s shoreline.
Rose said the dredging would "recreate what should be in existence as a radial current for Miller's Bayou" and asserted that the changes would improve water flow, protect seagrasses and manatees and create new beach and recreation areas. Board members received his handouts into the record by a procedural motion (vocal assent) but did not direct staff to pursue dredging, permitting or funding at the workshop.
City staff and board members raised practical limits: dredging and spoil disposal would require environmental permitting, coordination with Pasco County and state review, and may conflict with conservation-easement limits in parts of the waterfront. The board noted that technical feasibility, funding and permits would need further study and that accepting the handouts did not indicate approval of the dredging plan.
The public comment concluded without board action; the consultant-led charrette that followed focused on park designs and next steps for a March deliverable.
