- April 24, 2024
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On Friday, Oct. 28, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued a Volusia-specific emergency final order on coastal armoring that waived three obstacles being faced by private property owners seeking to repair seawalls after Hurricane Ian.
According to Paolo Soria, senior assistant county attorney, who spoke before the Volusia County Council on Tuesday, Nov. 1, the order included removing the provision of repairing a seawall to the original level of protection, waiving the determination for eligibility and removing the rule that a permit not be issued for seawall projects if a beach nourishment project is scheduled within nine months.
Property owners will still need to get a permit from DEP for seawall repairs if they are considered to be "permanent" by the agency's standards. Temporary permits for repairs such as sheet piles not exceeding 4 feet, small bags of sand or sand replacement can be obtained through the county. DEP staff are available to answer questions at the county's building at 440 Beach St. in Daytona Beach.
"We urge all constituents and anyone who has any questions or wants to get their property protected, contact the DEP immediately get that permit, get that application in so that they can start the process they can kind of tell you where to go and how to go about that," Soria said.
With threats of Nor'easters bringing significant waves to Volusia County's shores, Coastal Division Director Jessica Fentress urged all concerned oceanfront property owners to take advantage of DEP's order and local presence and talk to a representative in person. Additionally, she cautioned people from hiring contractors and engineers who may not have experience working on oceanfront structures.
"I want to be very frank and honest — we're looking at a storm event that's coming this weekend and you're going to have 6 to 10 foot waves with 20 mph winds coming out of the east, so I urge everybody who may or may not listen to this, go and a talk to DEP and see what your options are in the short term and the long term."
That's the most important thing the public can hear now, Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower said.
"It's critical that they go and have that face to face, because we started today with the season for northeasterlies," he said. "We're not done with this yet."
Fentress warned people not to ignore signs stating walkovers are closed, as they are structurally unsafe. Some have no support underneath and have 30-foot drop-offs at the end, she said.
"There's a reason why we have things closed off," Fentress said. "We're not trying to make it difficult to get to the beach, but we do want everybody safely to be able to get there. We're focusing on our parks as our priority."
Nov. 1 also marked the start of Volusia's off-season for beach access, which runs through Feb. 1. The county is looking to open 15 beach ramps on weekdays, and 17 on weekends, a plan that was not significantly impacted by the storm. Due to the loss of sand and high tides, beach driving has been limited to two to four hours a day. Recently, the county reopened the following areas to beach driving:
Frank Rendon Park in Daytona Beach Shores and Lighthouse Point Park in Ponce Inlet remain closed indefinitely. For the latest beach information, download the Volusia Beaches app.
