Editorial: County should keep promises

Collier County Commissioners should pursue the dredging of Caxambas Pass, but not just to add sand to the South Beach and Cape Marco areas.

When Cape Marco developer Jack Antaramian received permission to add rock groins to the southern tip of Marco’s beach, the county promised Marco Island residents that Caxambas Pass would remain navigable. Commissioners also promised that if the pass filled in with sand, they would be responsible for dredging.

Worries that rock groins would impede natural tidal flow precipitated an outcry from island boaters who use the pass as their access to the Gulf of Mexico.

As boaters suspected, the pass has narrowed and continues to fill with sand. Although it is impossible to definitively point to the groins as the reason for the soft bottom shift, scientists have proven that any change in and around tidal flow areas can be manipulated artificially by adding soft and hard groin structures.

That manipulation can fill in passes and change sand deposits by creating new eddies as the tide rises and falls. The groins placed at the northern end of Marco in the Hideaway Beach area will also have a long-term impact on sand deposits and channel flow.

For Caxambas Pass, the die was cast when the rock groins were approved. Boaters took the county at its word that the pass would be dredged if necessary. For that reason alone, even without consideration of sand enrichment, the county should approve a dredging plan.