April 10, 1980: June 30, 1980: July 18, 1980: November, 1980: Mid-1980s: July/August 2017 GASPARILLA ISLAND 35 It has been a long, strange trip since 1958 when plans were first made for three little islands just east of ours. There are too many twists and turns in the whole thing to try to document every one of them here, but we have tried as best we can to make some sense of the struggle and lawsuits between real estate companies, government agencies and many private parties in between. The topic today is access to Three Sisters, now one island but formerly three. The story is about access from one island to another, how it came about, the transfer of ownership of submerged lands and, as a whole, why Florida real estate has been given a bad name. All for a tiny island in paradise. This article was not written to sway anyone for or against any party mentioned within. This is to simply show our neighbors who might have questions about future building on the island, and how it might impact us. 1958: Sunset Realty Corporation purchased all submerged lands around the area of Boca Grande Isles, as well as Three Sisters Islands. 1964: Sunset Realty asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer to dump the spoil from the Intracoastal Waterway dredging in between the three islands of Three Sisters, thereby making one island. That same dredge also made Hoagen’s Key about twice the size it once was and decreased the deep water and distance between Gasparilla Island, Three Sisters Island and the Key. March, 1979: Sunset Realty Corporation applied for a permit to place 54,600 cubic yards of fill waterward of the mean high water line in Charlotte Harbor to construct a causeway of sorts and bridge from Three Sisters Island to Boca Grande Isles. May 3, 1979: Sunset Realty was notified of numerous adverse comments on the project and it was recommended the entire submerged area be bridged. June 21, 1979: The application by Sunset Realty was revised reduce the amount of fill to 25,000 cubic yards, and to extend the bridge from 60 to 90 feet. March 24, 1980: The Department of Environmental Regulation (DER) issued notice of its intent to deny the application. Sunset Realty filed a petition for an administrative hearing. Sunset Realty submitted a second revision, lengthening the bridge from 90 to 120 feet and reducing the fill area to approximately one acre and 10,000 cubic yards. The revision also included removing and relocating existing oysters and installing groins at the south end of the island with riprap along the face of the fill. The DER issued a letter of intent to issue the permit, subsequent to receiving the revisions. A public hearing on Sunset Realty Corporation’s application to construct a bridge from Boca Grande Isles to Three Sisters Island was scheduled to be held by the Department of Environmental Regulation. 1980-81: After a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer environmental impact study was done it was determined the narrow cut way between Gasparilla Island and Three Sisters Island should be left open. The study cited thriving oyster beds, sea grasses and other marine life and vegetation that were best served by flowing water. At some point it was discovered, according to court records, that the cut way between Three Sisters and Boca Grande Isles had somehow disappeared and an isthmus of land appeared, allowing access to Three Sisters Island. Local captains and boaters who are still around attest to the fact they took the cut way one day, and the next day it was filled in. One captain said he went out mullet fishing one night and took that route, but
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