Beach renourishment planned for South Siesta Key

Turtle Beach was hit by the effects of Hurricane Hermine in 2016, causing erosion.

Trucks full of sand is not a new sight for residents of Sarasota County, but it is one that could be repeated on Turtle Beach within the next four years.

In early June, county commissioners unanimously approved an initiative that would help fill in shoreline eroded by Hurricane Hermine in fall 2016.

South Siesta Key originally was restored through an offshore dredging project in 2006. The second nourishment was completed in May 2016, but Hurricane Hermine affected the project area in September 2016.

Rachel Herman, manager of the county’s environmental protection division, said the hurricane disrupted much of the new sand and left the beach in need of another renourishment.

In the past few months, Herman said there has been a “scalloping effect” along the beaches, where certain points of the beach have eroded more quickly than others.