FDEP accepts Longboat Key's environmental projects

The town is required to complete the environmental projects within 180 days of approval.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection approved the town’s proposed environmental projects to fulfill its consent order connected to the June 2020 sewage break.

A June 25 letter from FDEP Southwest District Director Kelley Boatwright to Town Manager Tom Harmer shows the state has approved town plans to install an upgraded flow meter and three pre-eminent bypass pumps at lift stations in the wastewater collection system.

“There’s clear closure on the in-kind portion,” Harmer said. “We’ve now both agreed of what makes sense to do as in-kind projects, and our priority was to do something that was a local benefit instead of sending the money to Tallahassee.”

Months ago, the state had already accepted the town’s plan to replace an existing 2006 reserve portable generator at Master Lift Station D.