Midnight Pass reopened after back-to-back hurricanes. Will it stay that way?
WFLA — There’s a stretch of sand in Sarasota County that’s been a controversial topic for years.
Midnight Pass has been closed since the 1980s after two homeowners feared erosion caused by the pass would threaten their properties. The Army Corps of Engineers did the work at that time.
Since then, there have been multiple efforts to restore the pass over the years, but mother nature made it happen after hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Eric Lagopoulos, owner of Waterfrontoo and Island Jet Ski and Watersports, believes he was the first person to go through the pass after it opened up during Helene. At that point, he said the opening was about 10 feet wide, but after Milton, it’s closer to 40 feet wide.
“It has been a lot of controversy trying to get this thing open for many years,” Lagopoulos said. “The clarity of the bay and the health of the bay in general would be huge if it stayed open. I am not sure it will stay open without some man-made help, but we are very hopeful now since Milton busted it wide open.”
This week, Congressman Greg Steube sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers, urging for them to permanently restore Midnight Pass. He believes keeping it open will improve water quality in the area and bring new life into the bay from the Gulf of Mexico.
“We have now 40 years of history to see that it wasn’t good for Little Sarasota Bay, it hasn’t been for the sea grasses, it hasn’t been good for the ecology of that area and now that the storms have reopened it naturally, obviously I think there is impetus behind keeping it open,” Steube said. “I support that, I think the people in Sarasota support that and I would encourage your viewers to reach out to their county commissioners and let their voices be heard because ultimately, it will be a Sarasota County issue. I will do what I can advocating for it on behalf of the Federal government to the Army Corps of Engineers, but the local County government and your county commissioners need to support its reopening as well.”
The Army Corps of Engineers told News Channel 8 they received Steube’s letter this week.
“A team at South Atlantic Division is looking at the recent developments with Midnight Pass following Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” an Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement. “They will take into account his concerns and provide a response directly back to him.”
Meantime, during a commission meeting this week, county commissioners expressed interest in exploring next steps and what needs to be done to keep the pass open for good.
“Nature wanted it open, man closed it,” Commissioner Neil Rainford said. “We have seen the excitement around Midnight Pass here just in the last several days. Frankly, I think the water quality is already getting better based on the residents that live right there. We need to do everything we can to keep this moving forward and make sure that this thing is solidified in a way that it will always be open.”
Dr. David Tomasko with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program said the best thing is for people to navigate the area with caution and awareness of seagrass meadows and large manatee populations. He said it was alarming to see some individuals on social media encouraging the use of boat propellers to try and dredge the area to keep it open.
“The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program has not ever been against re-establishing a tidal connection, it just depends on how you do it,” Tomasko said. “So now it has been done by a storm and the connection we have right now is pretty strong, it is a lot of water movement. What we would suggest is for people to be good stewards of this pass. Let mother nature do what it needs to do and let professionals figure out how to come up with an inlet management plan that can allow this newly established pass to continue to be there for the foreseeable future.”
As for water quality, Tomasko believes it will be a number of things that determine the future of that in the area.
“We don’t want to make improving water quality all about the pass. The combination of stormwater, wastewater, and re-establishing a lost historic tidal connection — all of these together could make it a much healthier system for the next couple of decades than it has been the last 40 years,” Tomasko said.
