- March 14, 2025
Waves crash onto the sand in Flagler Beach as the sun warms the sand. Water foams up as water retreats into the Atlantic Ocean. The natural ocean sounds and the cars driving nearby on A1A blend together to combine for a sense of tranquility and urgency.
It was the calm before the storm.
A little more than five miles west, elected officials from three different entities gathered Tuesday, July 31, at the Emergency Operations Center, in Bunnell.
Saving Flagler Beach was the issue at hand.
Dick Holmberg, president of Holmberg Technologies Inc., sat at the U-shaped table Tuesday afternoon along with representatives from the Tourist Development Council, the Flagler Beach City Commission and the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners.
Holmberg displayed a presentation that included before-and-after pictures of the work he has done in other states. The purpose was to prove to the county officials that his patented undercurrent stabilizer system could fix Flagler Beach’s erosion issue and return it to the beach it once was — a vast space of wildlife, sand and saltwater.
Earlier this year, the Flagler Beach City Commission unanimously agreed to move forward with Holmberg’s company.
The thought was Holmberg’s technology could speed up the process and save the beach by altering wave energy to naturally shift sand back onto the beach.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is also working on a multi-million-dollar feasibility study to measure the impact of sea walls and other techniques. But Flagler Beach locals say Holmberg’s technology is the most viable option because it’s quicker and must less obtrusive than a cement sea wall.
The group, Save Flagler’s Beach (www.saveflaglersbeach.com), is one of Holmberg’s biggest supporters.
“If we leave it to our city and county administrators, state and federal governments and bureaucracies, there is only one solution: a seawall,” the website states.
According to the group, stabilizers are the best option, partly because they disappear under the sand they accumulate, developing dunes to further protect the shoreline and road.
Before the next step can be taken, however, Flagler Beach City Commissioners are asking the county’s Tourist Development Council to pay Holmberg $50,000 to conduct the initial analysis of the project.
Flagler Beach officials first asked for the money in June, but the request was pulled from the agenda because county officials wanted answers to 13 questions pertaining to the project and Holmberg’s credibility and qualifications, and previous projects. (The TDC makes the recommendation about how to spend money collected from countywide bed collections, but the County Commissions has the final vote.)
The item was then slated for July, then August, but was been pulled from those, too.
A majority of the elected officials and Holmberg appeared frustrated with each other during the two-hour meeting Tuesday afternoon. The officials wanted to know exactly what the $50,000 would get them. A definite answer was never given to their satisfaction.
“When we approve $50,000, it goes to the County Commission and then (the commissioners) approve or don’t approve it,” County Commissioner Milissa Holland said. “We can’t compromise our fiscal policies in this county.”
County Commissioner Barbara Revels specifically asked Holmberg what the future plan would be once the undercurrent stabilizers were place.
Holmberg replied with numbers about sand gain each year, adding: “And you’d sit there and watch your problems go away and you’d see your tourism increase.”
Not satisfied with the response, County Administrator Craig Coffey prodded for an in-depth response.
“I think what (Revels) is asking is ... let’s say they funded the first phase of this study and you have the study complete. What would be the next logical steps to get us to installing structures and stuff like that? And what would that cost me?” Coffey said.
Holmberg replied: “When the analysis is complete and given to the city, then it’s your next decision." He added: "This is bad. We should be working together. We should be very cooperative. We shouldn’t have these problems.”
Eventually, Holmberg said that once an analysis was complete, the full price tag and the process would be known.
But as the meeting came to a close, the elected officials still didn’t have answers to their 13 questions, which were posed by the county’s finance department.
Question No. 7 on the list states: “Please provide a list of three projects the company has successfully permitted in the state of Florida in the last decade, along with a list of contacts/references from those projects.”
According to Holmberg’s response, no Florida projects have been completed in the last 10 years. “However, Holmberg Technologies Inc. has been an active consulting firm.”
The county also asked for a detailed understanding of the overall scope of work, including future tasks, timelines and overall estimated costs.
Holmberg’s reply went as follows: “See updated proposal dated June 19, 2012. As the goal of this analysis is to identify and select the optimal site or sites for the installation of an undercurrent stabilizer system or systems, it is limited to this and a statement of probable cost of theoretical designs to optimize the effectiveness of the (technology) at potential sites. As the permitting is the province of the city, the city can establish these costs and timeline.”
City Councilman Frank Meeker is Palm Coast’s representative on the Tourist Development Council. He said Tuesday that he wants to see peer reviews and other data about past projects.
Holmberg said water and sand lines are being lost. He indicated that he has dedicated several years to Flagler Beach’s project already and that it needs to take the next step.
“I’ve tried and then when I ask for a bill and try to keep it simple and straight, now it’s costing more,” he said. "Why should it cost us more? You’ve wasted a lot of time when you could’ve learned a lot (from the study).”
Other than Flagler Beach elected officials, Holmberg had other supporters at Tuesday’s meeting.
Sandra Mason, a Flagler Beach resident, said she grew up in Michigan where Holmberg has done some past work.
Mason said she was recently in Michigan and met with an engineer who was on one of Holmberg’s teams.
“I can tell you ... that this has been a viable technology on that shoreline,” she said.
Flagler Beach City Manager Bruce Campbell said toward the end of the meeting that he would sit back down with Holmberg and Coffey to try and answer the 13 questions.
“Let me work with (everybody) and come in front of the Tourist Development Council, and I’ll give it my best shot and you guys can tell me what you think," Campbell said.
