| Hurricane Nicole coverage: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Damage assessment, Part I | Damage assessment, Part II | A1A Reopens |
As Flagler County Attorney Al Hadeed was being interviewed after a special meeting of the Flagler Beach City Commission concluded Monday, the state Department of Transportation’s Ron Meade walked by him, flashed him the thumbs-up sign, and asked him: “December 31? Are we good?” Hadeed flashed him a thumbs up back.
They weren’t making a New Year’s Eve date. Meade was asking Hadeed the question that has been on the mind of Flagler Beach residents, businesses and officials, wondering if and when the deadline will be met, allowing the long-delayed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dune renourishment project to go forward. The Corps would rebuild 2.6 miles of dunes from South 6th street south, along the segment of State Road A1A chronically ravaged by storms, as it was again by Hurricane Nicole last week.
This is the project for which the federal government and the county secured $17.5 million for four years ago, the project the Flagler County Commission agreed to more than three years ago. The federal share was $11.37 million. The county’s share was $6.12 million. The county secured the money through state grants. See the breakdown here. (An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the federal share as $17.5 million.)
But for the project to go forward, the county had to secure easements from almost 150 property owners along the stretch–not to take property, but merely to allow the Corps of Engineers to work on the properties, to dump sand there and rebuild the dunes. The work would in essence protect A1A and the homes and businesses on the west side of A1A.
The county has been seeking those easements for almost three years, almost losing out on the Corps deal as it battled few holdouts. Desperate residents raised money to encourage holdouts to give way, and succeeded with several of them. But the Corps was losing patience. It issued ultimatums, threatening to pull the funding and send it where it’d be used. It repeatedly extended the deadline.
By last February, the hold-outs were down to one: Cynthia D’Angiolini, 71, who lives in a small house at 2538 South Oceanshore Boulevard.
She’s held out despite county and Flagler Beach officials warning that the beaches were vulnerable to destruction, as erosion had continued to carve out the dunes since Hurricanes Matthew and Irma. There is no question that had the Corps rebuilt the dunes ahead of Hurricanes Irma and Nicole, the damage to A1A would have been either non-existent or minimal, compared to what took place last week.
“The dunes mitigate the force of any storm, that’s their function,” Hadeed said. “So they would have mitigated substantially. Would it have been 100 percent? There’s no way to know.”
The county has been threatening eminent domain proceedings for two years. It hasn’t filed anything in court. Still, D’Angiolini is holding out. A week ago, Hadeed surveyed the county’s coastline with County Engineer Faith al-Khatib, documenting Nicole’s destruction and saying that it could have been avoided. On Monday, both were at the special meeting of the Flagler Beach City Commission, listening to DOT District 5 Secretary John Tyler boasting about the completion of A1A repairs in a matter of days but also saying that repeating the same old reconstruction won’t do.
That was the preface to Meade’s questioning thumbs up: for the Army Corps project to go ahead, it needs the D’Angiolini easement signed by December 31, so contracts can be let by April, so dredging of brown sand from an off-shore borrow pit can begin and dunes can start rising in June. But the project will now need more than twice as much sand as originally projected, and the cost will far exceed the $25 million price tag of 2018. How much more? It’s not yet clear. This is clearer: Miss that Dec. 31 deadline, and the project may well be dead.
Hadeed said the deadline will be met. “I’m confident that we should have an easement by December 31,” he said. “I think that ultimately, the owner, who has lived here in this community a long time, will do the right thing, will do the right thing to protect that owner’s property as well as the property of the owners’ neighbors and the community at large.”
The county is “not in court, but we are in eminent domain, we’re in the part of the statute where it is independent of the court in resolving the issue,” Hadeed said, describing it as a formal process that attempts to reach a resolution. The two sides could use a mediator. They chose not to. The process has been ongoing since the appraisals of the property in question were completed. Hadeed said he is not allowed to talk about what takes place in the process itself. The appraisals are part of the process, so he could not say what the land was valued at.
But it is now clear that the negotiations include the county making a monetary offer to d’Angionini to gain her approval. The county will pay her money “if that were part of the settlement,” Hadeed said, as it did not have to regarding other land owners (except those who got “incentives” from the volunteer group). How much? “Statute makes that all confidential,” Hadeed said, at least during negotiations. Once the two sides reach a settlement, the numbers will be revealed.
If the county loses the Army Corps of Engineers’ project, “there’s nothing for that owner,” no monetary benefit, Hadeed said. Al-Khatib went further: “If FDOT within a month, they came in with a different recommendation, we don’t need her anymore. We’re done. It depends on what the task force will decide on how to proceed.” Al-Khatib was referring to a multi-agency task force Tyler was forming to devise more permanent solutions to A1A’s viability. That could mean a sea wall. If that were the case, it would replace beach renourishment.
“We have no clue what the end result will be. But that means everybody will be looking at different solutions within the project limits,” al-Khatib said.
If the renourishment project goes ahead, those 2.6 miles of beach will be federalized. That means two essential certainties (to the extent that anything along A1A will be certain in the next decades, which is not much): the Corps of Engineers will be committed to renourishing the beach every decade or so, but shouldering only half the cost, committing Flagler County to pay for the other half, or to find the money to pay for it. The county has no idea how or whether it will have that money. The second certainty is that should a hurricane or a strong storm damage the 2.6 miles of beach, then the federal government will shoulder the full cost of reparations for the duration of the project’s life, currently set at 50 years. It would have done so in the wake of Nicole’s damage had the dunes already been built, replacing all lost sands at no cost to Flagler.
But all those assumptions, however set in stone, do not take account of the sea rise expected during that same time span–a foot by 2050, more in subsequent years.
The county already has approval to increase the quantity of sand to be dredged from 700,000 cubic yards to 1.3 million cubic yards. But that was before Ian and Nicole. Al-Khatib said the amounts will have to be increased yet again.
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G. Mac says
Disgraceful and insane!! Someone else offers to pay to protect your property and the entire city and you say NO THANKS. WHY??????????
G. Mac says
To the one holdout,
Any beach you owned, to the median high tide line, is basically gone. I don’t believe you own A1A… So, good luck in your fight to continue to hold up any progress!!!! Thanks and praying 🙏 for all of us
Dennis says
Cynthia D’Angiolini needs to be sued for damages by the City. If the City won’t sue her the residents of the Flagler Beach should. She has given the middle finger to the City and its residents and business owners for 3 years. Time to stop playing softball with this lady and hold her feet to the fire.
G. Mac says
Well said.Shes holding out for our money?
Adios Christina, you have out lived ur welcome in Flagler!!!!!
Mike Hammett says
Does Flagler Live have the information on the land owners who got “incentives” from the volunteer group?
FlaglerLive says
We do not. Those were private transactions that did not involve the county.
Doug says
It would be newsworthy to know why this homeowner is the ONLY person holding up the project.
Surfgod says
Can this landowner be held accountable for the delays of dune re-nourishment that have now been pushed out years that have inevitably led to more dune and road destruction? For instance, can DOT go after her for reimbursement for road repairs?
Laurel says
Flagler Live: In this day and age, the way people react to things in an often wacky and hostile manner, I don’t think it was a good idea to print the 71 year old woman’s name and address here. There have been many comments on previous, related articles that showed hostility towards the “hold out.” We have no idea why this person feels the way she does, and a lot of commenters tend to jump to conclusions. I think it should have been left to Flagler County and FDOT to negotiate with this person without exposing her publicly.
Tired of it says
And in the meantime all the other residents of the area suffer and our tax dollars have to pay for damage that could have been prevented. Flagler County and FDOT have been negotiating with her for a year. Use Imminent Domain and take her property.
G. Mac says
Here we go Laurel, Her name is a matter of public record!
Chuck Salvi says
Please know that I am not in favor of the hold outs position, in fact I am 100% behind the nourishment. That said please stop publicly shaming these people for taking a stance they believe in. Many have tried for years to get them to change their position, they have not. Putting their safety at risk by continuing to mention their name is not productive. Using the tools of eminent domaine is the proper solution.
Gmac says
One person jeopardized the whole city? Greed waiting to get the most money!!.
No one jeopardized her except herself and her greed. PUBLIC RECORD!!!!
Nuke650 says
“The county has been threatening eminent domain proceedings for two years. It hasn’t filed anything in court.”
And why the heck not????
The county should have been filing two years ago. I don’t agree with the holdout, but it is their choice. The county, however, has mismanaged this. Incompetence.
Denali says
“There is no question that had the Corps rebuilt the dunes ahead of Hurricanes Irma and Nicole, the damage to A1A would have been either non-existent or minimal, compared to what took place last week.” Who was the hydrologist that made this statement or is it simply speculation by someone not specifically trained in the science? Given what we have seen Mama Nature do to the dunes up and down our coastline, I find it difficult to accept this statement. Then again, I am just a lowly structural engineer.
I have no idea why this person made the decision to hold out on granting the requested easement and if we are honest with ourselves, the ‘why’ does not matter. There is only one irrefutable truth in this whole series of events; whatever we do to ‘fortify’ or ‘nourish’ the local beaches and dunes Mama Nature will swat our efforts away like an uninvited fly at a picnic. Sure, we can provide a small degree of protection for a few years if we do not have any storms but look what has happened in the past six years. No direct hits from a major storm but we have lost hundreds feet from the pier and the dunes from Marineland to Volusia have been decimated. What is going to happen when the ‘big one; hits? Mala Compra was my favorite beach and since Matthew it has looked like a war zone. Even that new seawall will fail.
Get grip people, these beaches and dunes are temporary structures. To build a house, a road or a business on them without acknowledging that fact is fools play. The sooner we all realize that and act/plan accordingly the better off we ail all be.
agitator says
Cynthia D’Angiolini, 71, who lives in a small house at 2538 South Oceanshore Boulevard.according to the publication above. They don’t want your property, lady. They want your permission to FIX your property. Respect your neighbors and community.
wow says
Kind of lost track of what happened with this story from January 2022. Did they go forward with the law suit? https://flaglerlive.com/172324/dunes-eminent-domain/
FlaglerLive says
The article explains.