The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week awarded a $27 million contract to a New Jersey company with extensive beach-rebuilding experience in Florida to rebuild 3.5 miles of severely eroded beach north and south of the Flagler Beach pier, a project over 20 years in the making.
The reconstruction starts in June. By the time the nine-month beach-reconstruction is done in March 2025, and assuming no hurricanes or tropical storms interfere, the beach will have grown in width by 140 to 180 feet and reduced the likelihood of damage to State Road A1A during severe storms by 95 percent, according to the Corps.
Until then, Weeks Marine, the contractor, will be dredging a total of 1.3 million cubic yards of sand from a borrow pit 11 miles offshore, piping it to the beach and grading it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, upending normal activities for Flagler Beach residents and visitors, including the closing of walkways, the closure of State Road AA1A in parts, and reduced access the beach in 1,500-ft. segments for days at a time.
Hadeed for three years and Spradley for the last months of those years–Hadeed brought him in as a ringer–faced significant challenges in securing those easements, one in particular.
“On balance, while the noise, the lights and temporary closed beach zones will be an agitation to some,” Spradley said, “the massive benefit that protection of the beach and of A1A brings should far outweigh these temporary inconveniences, I believe.”
The project will coincide with the demolition of the Flagler Beach pier in the fall, with road work by the State Department of Transportation on State Road A1A, from South 8th Street to North 18th Street, with the building of a 1.3-mile seawall from Gamble Rogers park south, and with the continued construction of the Margaritaville hotel downtown.
“This has been a long process, and we are extremely grateful to the Army Corps for their diligent work on our behalf,” County Administrator Heidi Petito was quoted as saying in a county announcement of the contract award.
With the dredged sand, which will look darker than the rosy fingered dawn-like coquina sand, Weeks Marine will rebuild dunes, cover them in vegetation–193,000 sea oats, 30,000 bitter panicgrass, 6,000 railroad vines and 6,000 dune sunflowers–and fill in the beach on a stretch from North 7th Street to the northern limit of Gamble Rogers State Park.
Most people will not know the difference, and most won’t care, but the length of the project is segmented between the federal portion and the non-federal portion. What this means is that while Weeks Marine will carry out identical work along the entire stretch of the project, the federal portion stretches from South 7th Street to South 28th Street. Outside of those areas, the “non-federal” portion is an addition by the county, with state funds, to similarly rebuild beaches and dunes.
But what that also means is that if a severe storm or hurricane were to damage the shore again, the federal government will, at its own cost, repair only the federal portion of the beach, not the county additions.
Because the project has been delayed for so long, the cost has only gone up over the years. The federal government is paying 65 percent, or $17.5 million, for this initial phase of the federal portion of the beach reconstruction. The county is paying 35 percent, plus (using state grants) all the costs of the non-federal portions of the project. The county in 2019 signed a deal with the Army Corps, committing it to a 50-year “renourishment” project.
The Corps expects that the beach will have to be rebuilt every 10 or 11 years, for the next 50 years. Every time that happens, the Corps will assume 50 percent of the cost, but Flagler County will have to assume the other 50 percent. (Unlike beach repairs after major storms, the cyclical renourishment portions are a shared responsibility.) Current renourishments are slated for 2035, 2046, 2057 and 2068. (When the county signed the contract, initial construction was to begin in 2020, with the first renourishment in 2031.) Flagler County has secured neither dollars nor a revenue source to pay for those renourishments.
Nothing forces the county to meet that obligation. But once the county fails to meet it, the beach is no longer federalized, and the Army Corps, too, will cease renourishing it. That means if a severe storm were to damage it, the county would have to shoulder the entirety of the repairs. (Flagler Beach is not on the hook for any of the costs, except indirectly: its taxpayers, of course, are paying a share of every penny that ends up funding the project, whether federal, sate or local.)
Weeks Marine is a 105-year-old company that was just acquired by Kiewit Corporation, an even older, privately held corporation. Weeks Marine just completed the $20.2 million rebuilding of Vilano Beach in St. Johns County as a contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, repairing 3 miles of damage from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022. The company dredged and dropped 1.1 million cubic yards of sand on the beach. That reconstruction was paid entirely by the federal government, without a local share, because by then the beach had already been federalized: any damage to it would be repaired by the federal government, outside of the periodic renourishments every decade or so, which are still to be split 50-50 between the federal and local government.
As with the Flagler County project, sand was dredged from a borrow pit about seven miles offshore and pumped on to the beach by pipeline 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Weeks Marine also just three weeks ago won a $38.6 million contract from the St. Johns County Commission to drop 2 million cubic feet of sand in Ponte Vedra, along an eight-mile stretch paralleling State Road A1A from the Duval County line south, with construction ongoing from March 1 to Sept. 7. (The state is paying for $30 million of that, St. Johns County, using a combination of general fund dollars and tourism surtax revenue, is paying for the rest.) The company will be conducting the Ponte Vedra project simultaneously with the Flagler Beach project.
The Ponte Vedra project will widen the beach by 40 to 180 feet. If that’s to be a mirror of the Flagler Beach project, Weeks Marine is spending two to four days in each segment of beach, dropping sand along 200 to 600 feet of beach per day.
For such projects to be carried out, local governments and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers require that property owners along the project area sign easements allowing them to carry out the work on their properties. The easements are not a taking: the governments only seek permission to rebuild the beach and maintain it, while doing so in part on property owners’ seaward lands. Flagler County needed three years to secure 100 percent compliance from property owners. In Ponte Vedra, where the county alone had to secure the easements (the Army Corps is not involved in that portion of the project), two property owners out of 273 properties refused to sign easements, according to the county (31 additional easements were not recorded).
Such refusals create not only gaps in the project areas, and subsequent vulnerabilities in the dune structure. But the gaps end up being aesthetically unsightly for the property owner, as in the image above.
Fortunately for Flagler County, through the work of Hadeed and Spradley, there will be no gaps in the 3-mile stretch of the project.
“It is also quite the coincidence,” Spradley recalled, “that shortly before being elected to the City Commission, I was retained to represent Flagler County to investigate and then institute legal proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court which directly led to the County obtaining the very last dune walkover easement from a holdout who ultimately granted the easement after years of resistance. I consider that success to be near or at the top of my legal accomplishments in my 35 year career, particularly given my standing as a Flagler Beach resident, business owner, and now City Commissioner. We are more than ready for the project to begin and conclude.”
Weeks Marine will have four staging areas during construction, one for each of the four major portions of the project. The first will be at Veterans Park, from July to October, when the area from 7th Street North to the pier will be rebuilt. The second will be on a city-owned parking lot at 6th Street South, as the area between the pier and South 28th Street is built from October to February 2025. The third will be on property owned by the Pebble Beach Homeowners Association, starting in the winter of 2025. The fourth will be on a strip of seaward land at the foot of the Flagler Beach water tower, when the last segment will be rebuilt, from South 28th Street to Gamble Rogers. That would take place in February and March next year.
Spradley is among the residents of Flagler Beach to whom the beach is limitless open-air temple that plays an almost ritualistic role in their daily life. “Since I have for years gone to the beach each and every morning to watch and photograph daily sunrises,” Spradley said, “I plan to incorporate the progress of the dune renourishment project into my daily routine, both with my Nikon and also with a bit of drone photography. I am excited about that.” (FlaglerLive readers will likely benefit from the imagery, as they have from previous roving works by Spradley.)
“These are exciting times in Flagler Beach with the multiple capital projects underway,” the commission chair said. “To see the dune renourishment bid awarded signifies a major move from talking and planning, to action and completion. I, for one, am so very thankful for the efforts of all of the elected officials and staff of the City, County, State and federal authorities who have worked together to make this all possible.”
JOE D says
WOW….sounds like a PLAN…we just need to grit our teeth and hope it (AND the hotel AND the Pier), construction can get completed on SCHEDULE!
I hope the City AND the County pay attention to the part about 50% of the future REPLENISHMENT every 10 years has to be paid for LOCALLY….and start planning for it NOW, and not “kick the can” down the road, and run the risk of the ARMY CORPS dropping the beach repair program….OR the local Citizens having to SUDDENLY 8-10 years from now to make up for not PLANNING on the $$!
Malacompra Jim says
This is good news…but it needs to be done the entire length of the county. Especially the North end between Washington Oaks and Hammock dunes. That area’s dunes are so bad that one bad storm (a nor’easter not even a hurricane) will wipe them out and cause massive flooding and damage. When is this going to happen? It needs it now and not in 3-5 years!
Billy says
Maybe flagler beach will be come more useable. Always so ruff, steep, holes,etc.
Robjr says
I like to be the company that sells the sand for beach rebuilds every couple of years.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Looks good, pretty as can be, I hope it works, but I dought it. With a new hurricane season comming,one that experts say can be a busy one. This time next year, if mother nature, turns out to be a bitch, the work done, will be invain. With all the master minds, & experts in this feild cant anyone see the real problem? The road is to close to the ocean!
Pogo says
@Go to sleep, and dream
Fernando Melendez says
GREAT NEWS!!
This will ensure that our beaches are around for many years while protecting our infrastructures and communities. As a candidate for Flagler County Commission District 1, I will assure you that I will continue to support the beach management plan and the achievements and progress already made. This is a tremendous win for our entire county.
Early Primary Elections will be held on August 10th through the 17th 2024.
Thank you for your support.
Beach guy Tim says
I don’t think they are doing the north beach’s
Deborah Coffey says
Really? Does this even work or, are we just shipping tens of millions of dollars right back out to sea? We did put men on the moon so maybe we can stop an ocean that is dramatically rising and storms that are ever more prevalent? I tried to Google the company that will be doing the work to see if they’d done this before and if it lasted more than a few years. I see they did it in Louisiana and finished phase 2 of the project at Elmer’s Island in 2016. https://coastal.la.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Project-Information-Brochure-Caminada.pdf
What I didn’t find out is if the beach held up after Hurricane Ida 2021. I know Ida did a lot of damage because they closed the island for months.
JimboXYZ says
I’m kind of surprised the holdouts photo that they worked around that property owner’s holdout. That is what is wrong with a mean high tide property line for oceanfront real estate in FL. That property line needs to end at the back end of the oceanfront yard & property. If there is a wall that’s an easier line to see. It needs to be maintained, if the property owner doesn’t want to cooperate & maintain it themselves, the ball & decisions need to be completely taken out of their hands to hold up dredging projects. Why pay those property owners off to comply ? Let their properties erode away, then it will be worthless to them for blocking what is in their best interests as3a beach rebuild. That would allow the dredging project to fill the shoreline whether the property owner hold out or not. The west side of the sidewalk of A1A is where any property owner’s property line should end. If they don’t like it, that’s too bad, move forward with the project since that money is already spent & committed as a project for the rest of the entire beach area. Biden inflation isn’t helping the cost of these projects any either. But for 50 years, 10-11 years for schedule, it is going to happen as a fact of life in FL. And this 24/7 effort not only isn’t cheap, it’s a polluter for using fossil fuel, not electrical energy. Biden green new deal of a plan is the usual fail, the Delaware lies continue to accumulate. What level of beach are we looking at restoring it to under the contract ? 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980 or anything else to what it was 5-10 years ago ? We can see how much this will cost everyone going forward ? Federal, State, County & perhaps even City. As Flagler County grows, there won’t be enough beach parking, if anyone is going to the rebuilt beach anyway ? Is it really worth it to the average citizen that rarely/never frequents the beach. Are vacation tourism going to be simply Biden unaffordable like everything else in Flagler County.
Lance Carroll says
Like sands through the hourglass…
Joseph Barand says
Shoveling shit against the tide, county, state and Feds will all grow broke because of our refusal to address climate change for the last 50 + years.
Frank Fungone says
What about some paved parking along the beach, current parking conditions are dangerous especially for families with children.
How will this effect the surf conditions? Work completed at Sebastian Inlet years ago ruined one of the best surf breaks on the East Coast permanently.
Please don’t bring in dirty sand, all sand should be a natural type.
How about rebuilding the restrooms? The pier was built in 1928, don’t you think it’s time to rebuild the entire pier including the restrooms. Current plans only rebuilt the part for fishing. Take a look at a similar pier (Folly Beach Pier) and how to do this correctly – https://www.ccprc.com/3366/Folly-Beach-Fishing-Pier-Replacement
John says
Once again money being thrown into the sand that will be washed away by the ocean. It isn’t going to work, never has before and won’t work again.
Joe says
I’m sorry, some people built their home and their business too close to the ocean. Spending millions of dollars on a temporary fix over and over and over again doesn’t seem wise. One strong Northeaster and all at money is gone. We will always have a shoreline, it will continue moving to the west. According to all the environmental experts from 50 and 60 years ago, we’re all supposed to be dead. Financially, punishing the US through taxes and all this environmental nonsense while China and India are by far the worst polluters.
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Faith Alkatib worked her butt off as former Flagler County Engineer . She deserves some credit also.
Chris Conklin says
all people do is bitch n complain. if you don’t like the new beach keep your lazy ass on the couch where it belongs. this will benefit family’s long after the complainers or gone.
jim lang says
First storm it will be all gone.
Adam Frank says
This is great, and these types of things will lower the sea level, a bit.
Ed P says
Try to visualize 1.3 million cubic yards. Your washer or dryer would represent about the size of a cubic yard. Then it has to be piped and sent over 11 miles. The scope of this project is amazing.
But this is quite different from the band aide called dune replenishment. Those were emergency fixes that were known to be more of a temporary repair with the hope that a major storm would not occur and sweep all the sand back out to sea. No one thought dune replenishment was a long term solution.
This beach replenishment is different. It rebuilds the shoreline extending it out 50 to 60 yards, hence reducing the velocity of wave damage. The dunes will then have a fighting chance to stabilize and grow vegetation during the next several years, fortifying them if the beach does get damaged.
Sea levels have risen and fallen forever. The world has seen the ocean as much as 10 feet higher and 390 feet lower, not everything is caused by mankind. The benefit of this project could provide an economic opportunity for tourism and quality of life improvements. Not every idea or project is a waste of money, sometimes the glass is really half full.
dave says
Myrtle Beach and all along the grand strand have been rebuilding for years. It seems to have worked but its a every 5 year process or after a storm(s) impacts the coast. Darn shame here in our area, the County feels its not necessary to rebuild the dune structure around Washington State park south to include Marineland Acres and the Sea Colony area south using this dredge process. I guess those properties are considered expendable by the county.
Ed P says
Dave,
Maybe not that they believe the Hammock is expendable but rather it could be budget. A dune breach in the Hammock probably wouldn’t be catastrophic to A1A like along Flagler Beach. At least it was not when Ian and Nicole obliterated the dunes. Some homes flooded. They recognize it’s a problem and may have beach restoration in future plans to address the issue. Flagler Live reported that this round of beach renourishment took 20 years to start. Hopefully in our lifetime.
My sense is county officials will be exploring a special beach assessment for entire county. It could a graduated assessment amount, less west of i95, a bit more up to the intracoastal and even more the residents of the island.
Some living in the Hammock already endure an assessment of $465 annually for the Malacompra drainage project. Heck, what’s another $200 per year?
Malacompra Jim says
Like Ed says, this is a great project. what would be even better would be a firm plan, by the county, to do the entire coastline. where is that? Does Flagler Live know if this exists??
Sonny says
I find that hilarious! Flagler county has gone from a beautiful place to live to a trashy concrete dump! After 50 years my family has seen enough destruction by greed. 💔💔💔💔💔
Edward says
I’m so amazed that the county commission are all patting themselves on the back over this 50 year beach renourishment boondoggle.
Anyone with a modicum of understanding of hydrology knows pouring sand on a beach exposed to tidal changes will never work.
In the late early 90’s we renourished the dune south of the pear when a storm washed out a portion of the roadway, following that they lined the dune with erosion control fabric and placed Rip Rap (stones, some the size of a VW Beatle.
A few years later another storm came, (around 2014 maybe 2016), this time it took better than 50% of the roadway, (that was around 2014 – 2016).
What happened to the erosion fabric and the large stones (once again some the size of a VW Beatle). The stones along with the erosion fabrics washed out to sea.
Can anyone see the folly of throwing sand at the beach?
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result!
Moving sand is not the problem, wave action and no beach grooming are the problem. No amount of sand placed on the beach will change wave action erosion, now will it?
The county is placing its trust in the Army Corps of Engineers, the same Army Corps of Engineers who created the worst ecological disaster in the state of Florida, all for the benefit of the sugar plantations and real estate developers.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draining_and_development_of_the_Everglades
Starting g in 1947. As a result we can thank the Army Corps for the nearly yearly red tide algae blooms along both portions of the west and east coast of Florida. The new Everglades Restoration Project by the Army Corps. to reverse the ecological damage they had caused with their 1947 water control project. They (Army Corps.) are going to attempt to restore a more natural flow of the water in the Everglades in an attempt to rectify their earlier failure and ecological disaster.
This is who (Army Corps.) Flagler Country Commission has placed their trust in. Can anyone say “total insanity”?
I wouldn’t engage the Army Corps. The responsibility of clearing a blocked storm drain!
The only sure fire way to control beach erosion is to control wave action. This can be achieved by constructing a manmade barrier rife 1/2 mi. To 1 mi. off shore. This will disrupt wave action before it reaches shore. There are complications here too, as most coastal erosion is a byproduct of hurricanes, that bring with it tidal surges. However m, a man made rife would also disrupt large waves by lessening their size, thus reducing the beach erosion as well. The added benefit of a man made rife would allow boaters with vessels between 22’ up to 30’ to utilize the off shore waters, due to the reduction of wave size, giving those with smaller boats the ability to utilize the offshore/near shore fishing opportunities.
Theoretically an artificial rife could be constructed from Matanzas inlet to Ponce inlet, as those are the only 2 options to currently access open ocean along roughly 45 miles of Atlantic coastline.
Being a multi million dollar project and several years to complete, it would significantly reduce beach erosion. Giving coastal more time to implement beach refurbishment and recontouring as there would not be such a dire emergency to throw more sand at the beach.
In construction I’ve always believed addressing the cause of the problem first followed by remediation of damage caused after the cause is addressed.
So all you county commissioners who are apparently as dumb as the dirt they intend to spread on the beach. Come talk to me in 8 – 10 years after this project is completed and tell me how well your $27 million project worked out. I suspect the residents at that point will be looking for tar and feathers just prior to running you out of the county for you blatant ignorance, and waste of tax revenue, regardless of the source!
dave says
I live in Mainland acres and even with Nicole we had streets flooded. But now we have freshly paved streets and big old culverts, so now the water coming from the ocean can just smoothly rush down blacktop instead of dirt, fill up the culverts and the “Bay Park pond which FYI overflowed into peoples back yards and maybe their plan of this pond overflowing into the intercoastal might work or just flood even more when the intercoastal is at its peak and backflows back into the culvert project. .
Steve says
I couldn’t agree more. First Hurricane or NorEaster and bye bye sand. Move the road back
Steve says
POTUS Biden lives in your head Rent free
Steve says
This is an expensive short term fix Good luck
Lisa says
Exactly…it’s concerning to me how many people appear to not be aware of how erosion works. Dumping more sand will not prevent it from washing away. What’s the definition of insanity again…?
Lisa Kopp says
I completely agree. The candidate who wrote this post is apparenlty oblivious or delusional.
Beachlover says
What about from 7th street north to Beverly Beach? There is no beach at high tide. It would seem that making beach wider will only work if the entire length is widened….until the next storm that is