- April 18, 2024
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Building seawalls might save the road but destroy the beach, residents said. (Photo by Jonathan Simmons)
A dune walkover was left without its supporting dune after Hurricane Matthew. (Photo by Brian McMillan)
FDOT District 5 Secretary Noranne Downs and FDOT Representative Ron Meade speak at a meeting in Flagler Beach about how to repair State Road A1A after Hurricane Matthew. (Photo by Jonathan Simmons)
The Florida Department of Transportation has one major priority in Flagler Beach: saving State Road A1A. A seawall would do that, at a cost of $35 million, FDOT officials said. But residents also have a second priority — saving their beach — and a seawall could kill it, contributing to erosion that might leave only a sliver of sand visible, and then perhaps only at low tide.
It would also jeopardize the Army Corps of Engineers plan for beach renourishment in the area: The Army Corps, local officials said, would not approve federal money for the renourishment plan, which has been years in the making, if a seawall is installed. The Army Corps had for years warned that even a Category 1 storm could inundate Oceanshore Boulevard, and proposed beach renourishment as the solution.
An overflow crowd of more than 70 people showed up at Flagler Beach City Hall Oct 13 for a meeting between local officials and FDOT officials about the future of Oceanshore Boulevard and the beach, almost unanimous in their opposition to FDOT’s proposed seawall.
Toni Treworgy, the owner of the Island Cottage Oceanfront Inn and Spa, on Oceanshore Boulevard at 23rd Street S., said a seawall would destroy her business. She’s already lost six reservations over the last few days, worth about a combined $4,000, because of the debris strewn all over the beach, she said.
“Flagler Beach is — we’re here for tourism, and there are a lot of inns and hotels and motels along A1A,” she said. “If you put up a seawall … you don’t have sand, you don’t have a beach, you don’t have a place to put chairs or blankets out. And if you end up getting a seawall out there, you are essentially going to be putting out of business every lodging establishment in Flagler Beach that their guests are depending on going out to that beach. … They’re not here just to look at the beach, they’re here to be able to lie on it. So that is critical to all of the people who live here. … A seawall is just absolutely the worst thing we could ever do. We need to make it natural. We need to make it beautiful.”
Treworgy was also concerned about losing the dune walkover she uses for events, including weddings.
Several residents spoke in the meeting’s public comment period arguing for a living dune, in which vegetation would help to anchor the sand.
Attorney Dennis Bayer suggested the city get an independent assessment of its situation from the University of Florida’s coastal engineering experts.
Resident Paul Eik favored a more holistic approach than simply adding a wall.
“If for some reason there is an absolute necessity for a wall, I think it’s on DOT to present that information to us and say, ‘This is why we want to do this here,’” he said. “But it should be limited, and everything else that is on that roadway can be saved, can be kept safe, if we go about it thoughtfully and take into account what has happened in the past, what has been successful, and how do we build on that success.”
But Shailesh Patel, president of the Volusia County-based Dredging and Marine Consultants, warned resonates not to “jump on the bandwagon” of opposition to a seawall.
“Don’t listen to people and then get on the bandwagon unless you really understand the hydrodynamics of coastal systems,” he said. “I’ve seen beach renourishment. I have seen on the Intracoastal Waterway, and when the big surge comes in, all the plants are gone. As much as you may not like the seawall, the fundamental question we have to ask is: Do you want A1A to be there and be safe, and do you want your properties to be safe? If not, sure — go with a softer look … and keep doing it every time we have a Category 2 or a 3 hurricane, because it’s going to happen whether we like it or not. … Right now, if you had a wall, you wouldn’t be repairing the road. That’s the reality.”
Flagler Beach City Commission Chairwoman Jane Mealy, speaking after the meeting, said she hadn’t been a great fan of the Army Corps renourishment plan, but that it was the best option the city had seen after years of considering the problem of beach erosion.
“I don’t want to go back 16 years,” she said. And, she said, seawalls are ugly. “You’ll get those rusty sides. It’s not pretty,” she said.
For now, FDOT officials are collecting comments from residents to formulate a plan to reopen Oceanshore Boulevard.
About 1.3 miles of the road were damaged, and FDOT has split the area into three areas of consideration, and hopes to get the northern and southern sections opened within a month, and possibly within two weeks. It's the more severely damaged center section, officials said, that might require a seawall. If one were installed, FDOT officials said at the meeting, FDOT would revegetate the dune in front of the seawall.
But FDOT is “not in the beach renourishment business,” said Karen Snyder, an engineer with FDOT, and Army Corps reports have said that the area would need regular beach renourishment every five years. FDOT would not do that, and the Army Corps wouldn’t do it, officials said, if a seawall is installed, potentially accelerating erosion.
For FDOT, FDOT District 5 Secretary Noranne Downs said, the top priority is reopening the road.
“The biggest need … is to have the road opened as soon as possible,” she said. “That will help the community and businesses and residents. … We want a permanent solution that we won’t have to go through this again, for your sake and our sakes.”
