- March 8, 2025
A tentative plan — including costs and a schedule for completion — has been released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers outlining how to fight erosion along Flagler County’s beaches.
Currently, the corps recommends dredging efforts from 7th Street South to 28th Street South at an initial cost of $8.2 million, $5.33 of which would be eligible to for potential federal funding. The rest would be shouldered by Flagler County.
The plan would add about 10 feet of sand to the dunes along that shoreline corridor, which would act as a defense from daily shore erosion and from any major storm events. The estimated construction year for the project is 2016.
The rest of the county coastline, however, does not qualify for federal funding and therefore was not included in this plan. The area from Beverly Beach north to Varn Park could qualify if it offered public beach access every half-mile with adequate parking and dune walkovers.
Should the county decide to meet those requirements for that section, the corps could also serve it at an initial cost of $6.4 million. Flagler County would be responsible for 35%, or $2.8 million, of the cost.
“Construction on other (sections of the coast) strengthens projects,” said Jason Ingle, chief of the coastal design section for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville district. “In general, projects are more stable when they’re longer.”
The long-term maintenance costs for the tentative plan is $780,000 each year. Adding the Beverly Beach section would increase the cost of sustaining the project to $1.1 million.
The commission has not decided whether to pursue sufficient public access in the other areas of the beach to allow for extended restoration efforts. In the meantime, the corps is continuing to finalize the report from its feasibility study using the recommended area from 7th Street South to 28th Street South.
The final report is expected in June. The commission can commit in writing to address the public access issues north of the county, at which point the corps would restructure its report to recommend restoration efforts in that area of the county as well.
Once the corps finalizes the report, it will go before a long line of agencies for review and approval before standing before Congress in July 2014. Approval from Congress does not necessarily mean that the project will make it into the federal budget for funding.
After the initial nourishment, the project would require restoration efforts about every 11 years, although that can change based on weather and storm patterns.
Ingle said there is no single culprit for beach erosion, but that rising sea levels has much to do with the problem.
“There have been talks of trenches being dug on the ocean floor and all of our sand being sucked into them,” Coffey said, referring to Dick Holmberg’s criticisms of the Army Corps method. “Have you ever heard of anything like that?”
“The Corps’ dredging has been isolated to navigation channels,” Ingle said. “None of those have created an offshore trench.”
Ingle said he read Holmberg’s report, which was commissioned by the County Commission as a potential alternative to dredging.
“In reading that report and the previous reports (Holmberg has done),” Ingle said, “There were a lot of theories posed, but I didn’t find that there was much scientific basis within the document to support the claims.”
| Dune fill costs from 7th Street to 28th Street | |
|---|---|
| Initial Project Cost | |
| Mobilization/demobilization cost | $1,750,000 |
| Sand placement and vegetation cost | $4,650,000 |
| Real estate cost | $613,000 |
| Non-construction cost (labor) | $1,187,000 |
| Total initial cost | $8,200,000 |
| Initial federal share (65%) | $5,330,00 |
| Initial Flagler County share (35%) | $2,870,000 |
| Total renourishing costs (over 50 years) | $30,908,000 |
| Federal share (50%) | $15,454,000 |
| Flagler County share (50%) | $15,454,000 |
| Total project cost | $39,108,000 |
| Dune fill costs from Painters Hill to Beverly Beach | |
|---|---|
| Initial Project Cost | |
| Mobilization/demobilization cost | $0 (included in Reach C) |
| Sand placement and vegetation cost | $5,550,000 |
| Real estate cost | $300,000 |
| Non-construction cost (labor) | $555,000 |
| Total initial cost | $6,405,000 |
| Initial federal share (65%) | $3,604,094 |
| Initial Flagler County share (35%) | $2,800,906 |
| Total renourishing costs (over 50 years) | $24,620,000 |
| Federal share (50%) | $10,655,536 |
| Flagler County share (50%) | $13,964,464 |
| Total project cost | $31,025,000 |
