- April 24, 2024
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Flagler County is moving forward with eminent domain proceedings concerning two lots that are impeding the planned Army Corps of Engineers beach renourishment project in Flagler Beach, and hopes to soon have signed easements that will allow the work to proceed across the other properties.
The Army Corps requires all property owners whose land will be affected by the project — which involves dredging sand from an offshore borrow pit and using it to length and reinforce the beach — to sign easements that will allow staff to access their land.
A handful had resisted granting it, imperiling the project: If some properties aren’t reinforced, the gaps in the dune could undermine the whole thing.
One property owner who owns two lots has refused to grant access, and the county has started eminent domain proceedings, County Attorney Al Hadeed said in an update on the project at a Flagler Beach City Commission meeting Dec. 10.
Other property owners had retained Clearwater-based eminent domain attorney John LeRoux and pressed the county to pay them for the easements, prompting Flagler Beach residents to create a gofundme.com campaign that raised $41,000 to pay off the holdouts.
Those property owners agreed to negotiated sums. By Dec. 14, they had started setting appointments to sign easements.
The proposed Army Corps work is expected to start in April. The Corps has told the county it would like to see a traffic management plan created for beach access from State Road 100 across A1A, and the county is working on developing one, Hadeed said.
