The Project Wide Advisory Committee has unanimously agreed to spend $125,000 on a plan to address the eroding shoreline at the Lakeshore Cottages at Lake Sumter Landing.
The erosion is taking place at the shoreline along about 1,500 feet extending from the bridge to the Lighthouse Point Bar & Grille.
“Natural erosion has removed large sections of the shoreline,” Assistant District Manager Bruce Brown told PWAC members in a meeting Monday at the SeaBreeze Recreation Center.
He said the Department of Property Management has been spending about $48,000 per year to combat the erosion by hauling in dirt and sand.
“It’s a losing effort,” Brown conceded.
He said the long-term solution is to put in rip rap along the shoreline, much like what was done last year to shore up the islands which support the bridge at Lake Sumter.
PWAC member Peter Moeller, a resident of the Village of Caroline, said he walked the area and found that the erosion has been “significant.”
There is not enough money in PWAC reserves to cover the project, which one PWAC member estimated could cost as much as $1 million. PWAC currently has about $690,000 in reserve.
“There is high probability of going back to the individual districts,” said Moeller, indicating the CDDs would be paying for the project from the maintenance assessments paid by residents.
PWAC includes CDDs 5 through 13.
The $125,000 plan will include permitting and surveying to be performed in advance of the shoreline work.
“There is no threat to the residential area. It does not have to be done today, but it’s something we need to look at,” Brown added.