Government types bury heads in sand

A group of Siesta Key business leaders successfully beat back a big foe in its efforts to attract thousands of tourists later this year for its first-ever professional sandsculpting competition.

Government bureaucracy.

Who else could ask for someone to send samples of sand in plastic bags to Tallahassee? Who else could put sand castles built with one part Elmer's Glue and nine parts sand in the same permit category as building a 50-foot deck?

The specific agency in this case is the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP put the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce through a four-month gauntlet of sand-checks, paperwork, e-mails and phone calls that only ended late last month, with, thankfully, an approved permit.

“It was mind-blowing,” Chamber Executive Director Jim Haberman tells Coffee Talk about the permit process. “It was hard to understand.”

The chamber received help from a bevy of local and state politicos in its effort. The list included a candidate for Sarasota County commissioner; a current county commissioner; a state representative; a state senator; and even an assistant to the assistant of Gov. Charlie Crist. The end result was that in late July the DEP finally issued the permit for the 1st Annual Siesta Key Crystal Classic Master Sandsculpting Competition, to be held Nov. 17- 21.

Interim DEP Press Secretary Amy Graham tells Coffee Talk the agency wanted to make sure the “proposed activities result in no significant adverse impacts to the beach, adjacent properties or nesting sea turtles.”

Adds Graham: “All projects go through the same permitting process.”

And therein lies the problem.