Beach Restoration Halted

[Smiling JOe]

One other note, the other day I noticed that the beach to the west of the boardwalk at Grayton Beach has increased in elevation about 2-3 ft since they planted the Sea Oats. No sand pumping needed. Nature does it's thing and we need to learn how to live in harmony with nature, rather than trying to fully manipulate nature into something else. Look no further than NOLA to see that man-made things fail when they get in the way of Mother Nature.

 

[seaside2]

SJ is absolutely correct!!

Any time you pick a fight with Mother Nature, you will almost assuredly lose!

Cooperate with her, and things will be just fine!

 

[30A Skunkape]

Yes, planting sea oats is a great way to do it. If you want to compare and contrast, go to Alys Beach. When you go down the boardwalk and hit the beach, walk west and take note of the dunes. Alys planted sea oats probably a year and a half ago and they are now large and doing a great job building up the dune. Then continue to walk west and take note of the property owners who erected metal barriers. There is no active renourishment, just a bare metal shield slapped onto the dune waiting to be undercut by the next big storm. Somebody should post pics.

 

[Sea Sothebys]

I madea plea, and this was Senator Gaetz response:

Dear Kerri,

Thanks so much for your email and for your support of beach restoration. I couldn't agree more with you. The renourishment and restoration of our beaches is important to our economy and to the stability of our coastline.

As you may know, this year Florida faces what some have described as the worst budget predicament in 32 years. There is what amounts to a $4 billion negative swing in revenues compared to a "normal" year. The soft economy that we all know so well here is affecting economic sectors state-wide and nation-wide. Since our state budget is based on consumption (sales taxes, transaction taxes, etc), when economic activity is down, the state has less money to spend.

Our Florida Constitution requires a balanced budget. That means the Governor and Legislature must either raise taxes or reduce spending in order to bring revenues and expenses into balance. It's unlikely that raising taxes would be good for our economy. Consequently, there will be unavoidable cuts in spending affecting every part of the budget. As Chairman of the Education Committee, I'm working with the mandate to cut $1 billion from schools. As a member of the Health Appropriations Committee, I'm facing the necessity of reducing health care outlays for some of our most vulnerable citizens by at least $500 million. While I wish it were otherwise, other important priorities -- including beach restoration -- are very likely to be reduced, as well.

Regrettably, this isn't an issue that can be solved with meetings or lobbying or emails. The loss of revenues can only be resolved by economic activity. Every President since John Kennedy has used tax cuts as a way of generating economic activity and that's what our voters did by approving Amendment 1, which means that over the next five years individuals, families, and businesses will be able to keep billions of dollars that otherwise would have been taxed by government. My hope, and that of most who voted for Amendment 1, is that allowing people to have more of their own money to invest, spend, save and control will help us generate some economic activity. In reality, many economists predict not one but two more very tough budget years for Florida.

I share all of the foregoing not to bore you with economics but to let you know why the beach restoration issue can't be fixed just by all of us agreeing it should be fixed. There has to be money in the bank so the checks will cash. Right now, there isn't enough money.

Of course, I'll work closely with Representative Sansom, who is Speaker-designate of the Florida House and Chairman of the Budget and Policy Council, on behalf of Northwest Florida projects, including the important beach restoration program you and I both support. This is a top priority for our community. But it would be misleading and dishonest for me to guarantee that beach restoration in our area could somehow be unaffected by the budget realities I've tried to describe.

In my view, local leaders have worked very hard to develop a responsible beach restoration effort. I'll do all I can to encourage the Governor and the Legislature to provide as much support as soon as possible. I did want you to know how the economic environment is affecting the budget and why it is more unlikely than likely that we will get all of the funding we want.

Please feel free to contact me again about this or any other issue. I'll try to keep you informed as the budget process continues in Tallahassee. Your comments, criticisms and guidance help me be a better senator.

Respectfully,

Senator Don Gaetz

 

[JB]

For the Miramar/Sandestin renourishment project, Brad Pickel was fortunate enough to find an area of sand that was close to, if not a perfect match to what was there before.

However, for those who have seen the renourishment projects at Pensacola Beach and PCB, the sand is not even close to the original sand in that area. It's darker, bigger grains, etc.

If they cannot find a perfect match to the sand that currently covers the Walton County beaches, then I'd say don't do it.

Besides (and like others have said above), beaches will ultimately renourish themselves if patience and time are allowed.

Beach renourishment = yet another example of our fast food/quick fix/instant gratification society.

 

[yippie]

Here, take a look at these photos.

http://www.thewiredagent.com/jettyeast.html

That is Holiday Isle.

And to set a few things straight, Brad Pickle did not find the sand right outside the Destin East Pass. Destin did and shared it with Walton County when they combined the 6 mile project. The project goes from Sandestin all the way through Crystal Beach to Hendeson State Park.

The area in the most troubleis Holiday Isle as you can see from the photos. The condo IN the water is Jetty East. AND as you can see, there are many places if you planted sea oats, they would wash away overnight.

Now, I don't mean to sound testy, but, I think a lot of people are missing the point. Maybe no one should mess with mother nature and I agree, would love to see no buildings ON the beach. BTW, my house is not built in the dunes. When I bought it, it was about 1500 feet away from the Gulf, a block off the beach. It is closer now and no water "gets in my basement".

My point that everyone seems to be missing is tourist come here and spend money to play on a beautiful pristine beach. If there is no beach to come to, then they will go elsewhere. Maybe some of you think that they will come back if and when mother nature renourishes the beach, however, get your head out of the sand. Some will, but many won't.

This entire area is based on tourist dollars, so no matter how much you agree or disagree on the current building practices, I think part of our responsibility is to insure tourist have a great time, enjoy our beaches, what little are left, and plan to return. I am far from independently wealthy and still need to make a living. Tourist are indirectly responsible for my paycheck and the paychecks I write others.

Sorry if I made everyone mad, but facts are facts.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Yippie, you are not making me mad. I can understand why people want the beach restoration. I just happen to oppose it. I also rely on the tourist dollar, but I think sometimes, there are things much more important than dollars. For me, this is one. Again, no hard feelings toward you. I just disagree about what I think should happen.

 

[yippie]

Thanks Smiling Joe. I guess I am in the boat with so many other business owners in a panic hoping and praying our businesses will survive this mess we are now in.

Please, no hard feelings with anyone else.

If it were up to me, I, too, would knock down all beachfront buildings. This place has changed so drastically since i moved here and in many ways, not for the best. I miss seeing the beach when I drive down the beach road. I miss going to a deserted beach where there are no boomboxes and no garbage everywhere.

I miss the little quaint beach town I choose to build my life in.

 

[JB]

Yippie, I will admit the photos you linked are disturbing. However, if the beach had not been overdeveloped to begin with, no one would have even noticed the erosion.

Of course the problem is bad on the west end of Holiday Isle. There is a freaking PASS TO THE GULF a few feet down the beach. Naturally, the erosion down there is going to be more severe.

 

[wrobert]

This entire area is based on tourist dollars, so no matter how much you agree or disagree on the current building practices, I think part of our responsibility is to insure tourist have a great time, enjoy our beaches, what little are left, and plan to return. I am far from independently wealthy and still need to make a living. Tourist are indirectly responsible for my paycheck and the paychecks I write others.

Sorry if I made everyone mad, but facts are facts.

Then maybe we should figure out how to grow our economy in another direction. These type of projects are no different than farm subsidies in theory. If we had not allowed so much to be built down there, we would haveplenty of pristine places to play no matter what the beach did. And, with sea levels rising at alarming rates, it is all going to be underwater anyway.