- December 4, 2025
An additional almost $9 million in beach restoration funding that was tied up in bureaucratic red tape is on its way to Flagler’s beaches thanks in part to U.S. Rep. Randy Fine.
The money, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was already earmarked for Flagler County, both Fine and coastal engineer Ansley Wren-Key said at an Aug. 27 press conference, but was just awaiting a final approval before the funding could be released to the county. Fine said that he learned of the issue on his initial tour in Flagler County on the week of Aug. 15.
Wren-Key said the funding was for an application the county filed after Hurricane Milton in October 2024. Milton eroded most of the dunes in the area north of MalaCompra, she said, and Flagler County filed a damage report and application for funding to fix the issue the following January.
For a while she received updates on the request’s progress but those eventually stopped coming, she said. That was when Flagler County got the congressman involved.
This problem, Fine said, he was able to tackle as soon as he left his tour of Flagler County’s beaches. He started making phone calls and, within days, the funds were approved.
“Every problem, I'm not going to be able to solve in two weeks,” Fine said, “but this was one that we were able to and we're proud to do it.”
Fine credited the hold up to bureaucracy within FEMA.
“At the end of the day, it's not about how big the government is. It's not about how many employees it has,” he said. “It's about, is it serving the needs of the people?”
The almost $9 million in federal funding will be applied to the beaches from MalaCompra to Marineland, Wren-Key said, and could begin on Nov. 1. Flagler County already has dune restoration projects ongoing and the county would just need to extend the contract with the current contractor.
Flagler County Commission Chair Andy Dance called Flagler’s beaches “the backbone of our community's natural infrastructure, economy, and identity.”
“Over the last decade, storms and hurricanes have reminded us how fragile our coastline is,” Dance said. “But also how resilient Flagler County can be when we work hand in hand with our partners.”
Fine said he lives on the beach and has had two homes in his family lost to hurricanes. Through his experience, he said he understands the challenges of dune restoration. One of the reasons he was willing to make the phone calls on behalf of Flagler County, he said, is because Flagler is approaching beach restoration “the right way.”
The natural solution of the roots of plants in the dunes to hold the sand in place is the best solution to dune erosion, he said.
“That is the solution to our beach problems,” Fine said. “We have to return to natural dunes with natural growth on those dunes to hold the sand into place.”
Fine said it is important that Florida preserve its natural areas and said it is “the single largest local issue” he’s focused on.
“Whether it's our beaches, the intercoastal waterway, the St. John's River, our springs, our rivers, our lakes,” Fine said. “If we don't preserve those, we lose what makes Florida Florida.”
