- April 16, 2024
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Flagler County is preparing to move forward with the renourishment of a 2.6-mile stretch of beach between 7th Street South and 28th Street South in Flagler Beach.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will be handling the project, invited area homeowners to an Oct. 22 workshop about the future of the project. About 65 attended.
Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager Jason Harrah said the project will begin in May 2020 and end in December 2020.
The time frame was selected, he said, because the “hopper dredge” vessels that will be piping sand onto the shore from a pit about 10.25 miles offshore require moderate seas to function safely, and the winters tend to bring dangerous weather, with nor’easters.
The Army Corps expects the project to begin in mid-May 2020 and end in December 2020. Renourishment will occur about every 11 years, at the federal government's expense, for the 50-year project life.
"Once we do initial construction of the project, after any major storm, the Corps of Engineers will come in and rebuild that beach," he said. "100% federal cost, federal money."
The design will rebuild the dune that was lost to Hurricane Matthew, he said, and will include the planting of vegetation at the top – likely sea oats — to stabilize it.
The dune, he explained, "protects a very delicate hurricane evacuation route ... The main purpose of the project is protecting A1A," with the dune “placed there to sacrifice itself when these big storms come."
The dune will have an elevation of about 19 feet, then slope down and create about 40-50 feet of that he referred to as "towel space" for beachgoers, he said.
When Army Corps officials solicited questions from the public, most revolved around the slope of the dune — renderings shown during the workshop were not to scale, making the slope appear much steeper than it will actually be — and the timing of the project, which will coincide with the beach season, hurricane season and turtle nesting season.
