- November 7, 2024
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Standing in front of the still-closed Flagler Beach pier amidst a group of local politicians and officials, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Dec. 12 announced that the U.S. Senate approved $31.6 million for beach renourishment in Flagler County.
“In the bill that passed in the wee hours of Saturday morning, we got the authorization for the beach renourishment project here in Flagler Beach, to restore the dunes, widen the beach, to protect the structures and the road,” Nelson said.
Nelson had visited the storm-damaged areas of beach along State Road A1A earlier in the day with Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney, he said.
Nelson has favored beach renourishment — the solution proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers for erosion — rather than the construction of a seawall, the solution proposed by the Florida Department of Transportation to protect S.R. A1A from erosion after Hurricane Matthew washed chunks of the roadway into the ocean.
“We need beach renourishment for two reasons,” Nelson said. “First of all, to give the maximum protection to the road, number two, to give you all your livelihood, in the tourism industry, so that you’ve got the beach.
The Army Corps is prepared to begin a long-planned renourishment project that would involve extending the dune with sand taken from borrow pits about seven miles offshore and added to the coast every 11 years. But it won’t undertake that project if the state builds a seawall — as FDOT officials proposed after Hurricane Matthew — because seawalls tend to speed erosion.
“Right now, the state of Florida’s got to decide that it would not build a seawall, because the Army Corps of Engineers would not be able to do the beach renourishment if the state of Florida comes in and does a seawall, because that throws their cost-benefit ratio out of whack,” Nelson said. “Clearly, the folks here in Flagler County want that beach renourished, so that they can bring in all of our guests on this beautiful beach. And that is structurally the best way to protect the road — is to have a wider beach, with dunes. That’s what mother nature intended.”
Army Corps of Engineers Col. Jason Kirk, Nelson said, proposed that the state fortify the roadway with boulders in the meantime, rather than building a seawall.
Flagler County Administrator Craig Coffey said that local opinion on the matter of a seawall versus a renourishment project was mixed, but that more people seem to oppose a seawall.
Long term, Coffey said, “Dune replenishment, sand replenishment — I think it could be a lot more cost-effective.”
The Army Corps beach renourishment proposal, first released in 2013, would extend the dune seaward 10 feet along a 2.6-mile stretch of beach between South 7th Street and South 28th Street.
If the state decides to support the road temporarily with boulders, Nelson said, “Then we’ll try to speed up the Corps of Engineers project. Now normally, that would take a year, two years. We’ll try to speed that up, but he’s got to have a decision from the state of Florida before we can do that. So, as you all are having your deliberations with the state, then if you would just share with them what you want."
The Florida Department of Transportation will hold an open-house style public meeting Thursday, Dec. 15, to discuss permanent repair solutions for State Road A1A. The FDOT meeting will be held from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Flagler Beach City Hall at 105 S. 2nd Street.
