Controversial Big Pass dredging appeal delayed by judge

An administrative law judge has agreed to delay hearings on a Siesta Key group’s appeal of a controversial state permit that would allow the dredging of Big Pass sand to rebuild Lido Key beaches.

The hearings had been scheduled for the last two weeks in August, but the Florida Department of Environmental Protection asked the court to delay the proceedings by at least two months after the agency’s lead attorney underwent surgery last week following an injury.

Administrative law Judge Bram D.E. Canter agreed to the move, without objection from any of the parties in the case, and later this month the attorneys will pick a new hearing date, according to a court order filed Friday.

The delay marks another setback in the protracted fight over the plan to dredge more than a million cubic yards of sand from the shoals between Lido and Siesta keys to renourish a starved stretch of Lido beaches on the south end of the key.