ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — Pinellas County Public Works will soon begin dredging the Grand Canal in Tierra Verde and will use the scooped out sand to renourish a section of Pass-a-Grille beach in St. Pete Beach.

What You Need To Know

  • Pinellas County plans to dredge 15,000 cubic yards of sand

  •  Study found the Grand Canal could close in 5 years without human intervention 

  • If canal closed under state law the new land would become private property 

  • Public Works plans to pump the dredged sand onto Pass-a-Grille beach for renourishment

“We’re able to pull this material out of one spot. Instead of just disposing of it. We’re able to use it,” said Rob Burnes, project coordinator, Pinellas County Environmental Management Division. “It’s kind of a win-win for everybody.”

Burnes said they plan to dredge 15,000 cubic yards of sand from the Grand Canal to restore a 3,000 foot section at the bottom of the canal to 11.5 feet of depth, which will allow for large boats to navigate the channel.

“We’re opening up this channel. Maintaining navigation for that,” he said. “We’re also providing sand up here for people up on Pass-a-Grille.”

The canal channel has become very narrow because so much sand has accumulated over the past 60 years. A feasibility study found that, without human intervention, the canal could close in the next 5 years.

At the Tourist Development Council meeting in January, Pinellas Commission Chair Kathleen Peters said due to state law, if the canal were to close, the newly created land from the accreted sand would become private property.

“Because there’s quiet title on all the private property, every grain of sand that dries, extends their property line,” she said. “So, if it were to close, then it would be private property and we wouldn’t be able to open it.”

The county has scrapped plans to construct a deposition basin that would act as a sand trap for beach renourishment because seagrass has emerged in about half of the area. Most of the $2 million dredge project has been funded by the American Rescue Plan Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Burnes said when work begins in a few weeks, the contractor will install pipes to pump the sand from the Grand Canal directly onto a 400 foot wide section of the southern tip of Pass-a-Grille beach. The county hopes the sand will extend the beach 20-to-30 feet into the Gulf of Mexico.

“The dredge barge will just start slurping sand off the bottom and pipe it all the way back,” he said. “Hopefully, it’ll stick around for a while and people will be able to enjoy it.”

Burnes said the Grand Canal was created in the 1960s and this will be the first time it has been dredged. The work is expected to begin in a few weeks and will take less than two months to complete.