MANATEE COUNTY — In April, dump truck after dump truck carrying sand left Manatee County's Hidden Harbor Park and traveled to a nearby residential development. After unloading, the trucks returned empty to the county staging area, where they lined up for another load.
Over several hours, TBT observed and documented the sand hauling operation, following loaded trucks from Hidden Harbor as they traveled over Fort Hamer Bridge, along Upper Manatee River Road, to Watercolor Place, a Medallion Home community. Prominent local developer Carlos Beruff is the founder and CEO of Medallion Home.
Photos and videos captured by our publication on the afternoon of Friday, April 24, show trucks entering the park, where front-end loaders loaded them before they departed to the private parcel to unload. TBT had been tracking reports of the debris sand being moved from the staging location for more than two weeks before independently documenting the hauling operation.
The sand being hauled was from the tens of thousands of tons of debris sand recovered from Anna Maria Island following Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. Helene's storm surge pushed feet of sugary white Gulf sand inland, burying the island streets and inundating properties.
Local officials touted the county-led initiative to process and separate the recovered material into two categories: sand suitable for return to the island's beaches and sand that could not be returned to the beaches but could potentially be used for construction. The county stockpiled the latter at Hidden Harbor Park for future public infrastructure projects, including road construction.
In November 2024, Manatee County announced that approximately 27,000 cubic yards of what it described as construction-quality sand had been hauled from Anna Maria's Gulf Drive to Hidden Harbor Park in Parrish for anticipated infrastructure uses. The county widely promoted the processing and planned reuse of the material as an innovative approach that would save taxpayers money.
On April 9, 2025, Manatee County published two videos featuring Natural Resources Director Charlie Hunsicker discussing the sand-recovery initiative and the county's plans for the sand that could not be returned to the beaches.
In the shorter video, titled Sand Sifting Process, Hunsicker explained that the county was temporarily storing the material near Fort Hamer Bridge until it could be used for road construction.
“We're going to take those accumulated piles of sand that have been sifted to remove large debris, and we're going to be using that to rebuild Upper Manatee River Road,” Hunsicker said.
The county planned to raise the roadway several feet above flood elevation, he explained, a project that would require substantial amounts of fill material.
“We aren't going to waste it,” Hunsicker said, emphasizing the anticipated savings from using the recovered sand rather than purchasing additional material or sending it to a landfill.
In another county-produced video published the same day, Hunsicker reported that more than 65,000 cubic yards of recovered sand had ultimately been transported to Hidden Harbor Park.
He also identified specific public construction projects where the county intended to use the material.
“This sand will be used in construction of Lena Road and the approaches to Fort Hamer Bridge,” Hunsicker said, adding that the material would help elevate those roads out of the floodplain at substantial savings to taxpayers.
The county's 2024 Year in Review also touted the more than $1 million in anticipated savings on future road construction backfill costs
But the sand was never used in the nearby Upper Manatee River Road expansion project, or any other county roadway project, according to County Engineer Scott May.
The Upper Manatee River Road expansion is being undertaken through a September 2024 reimbursement agreement between Manatee County Government and Manatee Land Investors LLC, a development company associated with local developer Carlos Beruff.
Under the agreement, Manatee Land Investors is responsible for constructing the roadway improvements, with the county reimbursing eligible costs. The company retained Woodruff & Sons as the construction contractor for the project.
County records also identify Manatee Land Investors as the developer of Watercolor Place, the residential development where TBT documented firsthand that the sand was delivered.
In his April 30, 2026, phone interview with TBT, May said Woodruff & Sons had attempted to find a way to incorporate the recovered sand into the project.
According to May, the contractor tried mixing the sand with other materials but couldn't achieve the compaction needed for use beneath the roadway or sidewalks.
May said the county then had to decide what to do with the stockpiled sand, including the possibility of transporting it to the county landfill at additional expense.
That's when Woodruff & Sons proposed an alternative, according to May.
“That's when Woodruff said, well, we could do this at a dollar a cubic yard, and we have a place to put it, so we agreed with that,” May told TBT.
May described the arrangement—which was made verbally and not formalized in a written agreement—as a sale of the sand to Woodruff for approximately $1 per cubic yard. Rather than receiving a direct payment, the county would receive a credit against construction costs associated with the Upper Manatee River Road project.
May estimated at the time that the arrangement involved approximately 65,000 cubic yards of sand, representing a credit of roughly $65,000. He said the deduction would appear in the next payment application after the sand was removed from the park..
In an October 30 response to TBT's request for updated accounting, Manatee County Public Works communications coordinator Ogden Clark said the county's most recent preliminary quantity, provided by Woodruff & Sons in May, was 60,210 cubic yards. Clark said trucking tickets documenting 5,742 cubic yards included in that estimate remained outstanding.
Later that same day, County Engineer Scott May forwarded TBT a new load-count sheet from Woodruff & Sons showing a total of 62,514 cubic yards. In the accompanying email, Woodruff project manager Eric Epler said the supporting tickets would follow after being scanned.
In the earlier correspondence, Clark also confirmed that the credit had not yet been applied to the Upper Manatee River Road project. He said quantities, credits, and supporting documentation on large projects are often reconciled through the regular billing process, with final amounts confirmed near project completion.
The county has not provided a final verified quantity of sand removed or a finalized dollar amount credited to the project.
Editor’s Note: This report is part of an ongoing examination of Manatee County's handling of hurricane debris sand stored at Hidden Harbor Park. The Bradenton Times, in collaboration with the Florida Trident, are pursuing additional records and reporting to more fully examine the financial accounting, decision-making, and circumstances surrounding the material's disposition.
Dawn Kitterman is a staff reporter and investigative journalist for The Bradenton Times, covering local government news. She can be reached at dawn.kitterman@thebradentontimes.com.
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mcems1986
Excellent investigative reporting.
Residing near the area, I was wondering where all the dump trucks were going. I saw the flag men stopping traffic as the trucks were leaving. I too recall the claims that the sand was going to be used for sub-based road projects like UMR road and expansion to the Ft Hamer Bridge, to reduce taxpayer cost.
Thank you Dawn and TBT for keeping us informed.
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