Marina planned at new 700-room resort on Peace River concerns environmentalists
CHARLOTTE COUNTY – Environmentalists say they're concerned that a proposed marina on the Peace River shoreline for the expansive new resort being built by the company behind Allegiant Airlines will increase boat traffic in Charlotte Harbor, potentially endangering local marine life such as manatees and sea turtles.
The $585 million Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor, scheduled to open later this year will feature seven restaurants and 11 bars and lounges, along with a planned 182-slip floating dock marina complex.
The resort will features more than 785 guest rooms – including 189 suites – on the 22-acre waterfront campus and offers guests 18 holes of championship golf at Aileron Golf Club – the former Kingsway Country Club – in nearby Lake Suzy.
Dating back to August 2017, when Allegiant Travel Company president John Redmond unveiled the resort plan during a press conference hosted in the terminal at Punta Gorda Airport, plans called for a private marina. – which is now in its permitting phase.
Glenn Compton, chairman of Manasota-88, a local environmental advocacy group, plans to offer his views on the project to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is reviewing the plans.
“There doesn’t seem to be enough information provided by Sunseeker to understand the full impact of what they’re proposing,” Compton said. “I question the need for it and whether or not this is the best location for it.”
Sunseeker’s marina proposal
Sunseeker hopes to build an 182-slip, 58,865-square-foot floating dock marina with 126 steel pipe piles and 80 wood fender piles. That facility would be protected by a 2.2-acre rubble breakwater that would be built out of some of the 117,200 cubic yards of material that would be dredged from the marina and a proposed entrance channel to the east.
As part of the plan, 2.79-acres of shoal seagrass will be preserved and a plan to build a beach for guests has been removed.
The design for the proposed marina was by the Tampa-based office of Moffat & Nichol, an engineering firm that counts among its portfolio a variety of marinas, wharves and coastal water resource management projects.
According to the permit application, the marina should not require additional mitigation, and no special aquatic sites will be impacted, though the Army Corps of Engineers will request a determination from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife/National Marine Fisheries Service.
An existing 90-foot timber dock on the western portion of the resort property would be retained while a 498-foot timber dock would be removed.
The proposed marina would add to the existing 223 boat slips at the mouth of the Peace River, which already includes the 18-slipd Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club as well as the 111-slip Fisherman’s Village Marina and 94-slip Laishley Park Municipal Marina on the east bank of the Peace River in Punta Gorda.
Manasota-88 concerns
Manasota-88 listed a variety of concerns about the proposed marina in an Oct. 9 email alert potential concerned parties about the marina.
Those concerns include impact on feeding groups of several wading birds, the environmental impact of additional boat traffic, and the possible degradation of water quality particularly during the summer months, when levels of dissolved oxygen may drop.
“Boat-related contaminants are expected to worsen dissolved oxygen in the area and possibly add noxious amounts of undissolved oils and greases to the system,” the email noted.
Compton is hopeful that the Army Corps may conduct a public hearing for wider public input.
He noted that permit hearings are only granted for permit projects with significant impact and interest.
The last project that rose to the level of such a hearing was in early 2020, when the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hosted one for the Ocean Era Aquaculture Demonstration project off of south Sarasota County.
Outcry during that hearing prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to extend the comment period for its permitting process on the project.
The Corps is taking comments submitted in writing on the Sunseeker project by Oct. 25 to the District Engineer through the Corps Fort Myers Permits Section, 701 San Marco Boulevard, Jacksonville, FL 32207.
Questions about the application should be sent to the project manager, Michael Ornella II, in writing at the Fort Myers Permits Section, 701 San Marco Boulevard, Jacksonville, FL 32207. Email Michael.Ornella@usace.army.mil or call 904-232-1498.
It is also possible to write the District Engineer to host a public hearing on the project.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Allegiant Sunseeker Resort marina in Charlotte County raises concerns
