Council Gets Update on Tigertail Lagoon Restoration Project

The Marco Island City Council heard an update on the Tigertail Lagoon/Sand Dollar Island Ecosystem Restoration Project on March 20th by Mohamed A. Dabees, VP, Humiston and Moore Engineers and Linda Ryan, Chair of the Hideaway Beach Taxing District. Those two individuals have been working on this project for slightly over four years. The project involves dealing with a Critical Wildlife Area, so extra precautions and monitoring have to be taken in maintaining protection for the species residing in the area.

That is quite a challenge, as the project deals with removing approximately 417,000 cubic yards of sand from what has become known as the “sand trap” at the northeast end of Sand Dollar Island. Removal is necessary as the “sand trap” has been growing at an alarming rate and is moving toward the mainland. The sand would soon choke off the channel entrance, consisting of Hideaway Beach on the inland side of the channel and Sand Dollar Island on the Marco River side. That channel originally provided the Marco River’s outlet to the Gulf of Mexico until hurricanes shifted the Marco River to its present course.

Sand Dollar Island is a popular spot for boaters and their families to anchor on the channel side to enjoy a day on the water. Closure of that access point would essentially eliminate that option for recreational boaters. It would also eliminate the necessary flushing action that provides a healthy environment for marine life as well as an environmentally strong water quality for human recreation.

That closure would also create an impact on keeping the entryway into Collier Creek open to approximately 30-35% of the boating traffic seeking access to the Marco River and points north and south of that intersection. The county is presently working on a design and permitting for a more permanent solution to this challenge.

That sand being dredged from the “sand trap” is subsequently pumped down to the south end of Sand Dollar Island. There it is redistributed to provide for a renourishing of that end of the island, which had lost any ability to prevent overwashing damage to the channel which provides flow into and out of Tigertail Lagoon. The rebuilding of that end of the island will help prevent subsequent washovers during storms such as Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Ian that created blockage issues in that channel to the Tigertail Beach Lagoon.

This is being done as contractors simultaneously open the channel, which had previously provided for the flushing effect as tides rise and fall. It will also provide protection for the mangroves and wildlife on the inland side of Sand Dollar and the channel.

An additional 83,000 cubic yards of compatible sand will be pumped from a site offshore in the Gulf of Mexico to make up for the difference necessary to complete the project during its final phase.

Costs for the project itself would total $3,300,000, which was paid for and funded totally by the Hideaway Beach Taxing District. The district approached the Collier County Coastal Advisory Committee in search of an additional $921,000 to address Hurricane Ian related damage that occurred in September of 2022. That request was endorsed and brought forward to the County’s Tourist Development Council which serves as the portal agency for the expenditure of dollars collected from the Tourist Development Taxes. They approved the request and the Board of County Commissioners concurred. 

The project began in earnest in November of 2022. Work was recently concluded within the sensitive nesting areas near the “sand trap” while work at the project’s south end continues on schedule. The project is estimated to be completed within the next 90 days, if not sooner. It is the largest such beach project on the island in the last 30 years.