Beach restoration update

[SHELLY]

Shelly:

Based on your reply, I called the coastal engineer who oversaw their project to make sure that I did not mis-speak, and I did not. My comment was that there was more sand in the beach dune system after Ivan then before they built the project.

And what I saw after Ivan,with my own eyes, was that there were no dunes--at all--the beach was totally flat. The closest I saw to a post-Ivan "dune" were cars covered up to their roofs in sand.

Charts and measurements produced by the folks who did the project in the first place is one thing...seeing the island pounded flat with your own eyes is another. I have nothing to gain, just my observation.

 

[BPickelTDC]

And what I saw after Ivan,with my own eyes, was that there were no dunes--at all--the beach was totally flat. The closest I saw to a post-Ivan "dune" were cars covered up to their roofs in sand.

Charts and measurements produced by the folks who did the project in the first place is one thing...seeing the island pounded flat with your own eyes is another. I have nothing to gain, just my observation.

I agree it was amazing and devestating on the order of impacts rarely seen. The movement of over 1.5 million cubic yards of sand inland is quite shocking, and that is what happened (but roughly 880,000 cubic yards were sifted and returned to the beach). Did you know they placed over 4.25 million cubic yards?:shock: Approximately 3 million cubic yards of sand total were transported from the beaches located within the project limits. (from "The Impacts of Hurricane Ivan at Pensacola Beach, Florida" by Browder and Norton in Shore and Beach, Volume 73, Issue no. 2-3, Spring/Summer 2005)

However, as you have pointed out in various posts, qualitative observations are often not true judges- "where are the numbers?" In this case real estate and beaches are comparable. ;-)

The good thing about project monitoring is that it follows the scientific method and that the process is relatively simple. The same area is measured over and over and through those measurements trends are calculated, positive or negative. In this case, the measurements themselves show that the trend was a huge loss, but not as large as some think.

Thank you for your observations as the offer an incredible qualitative discussion of what you and many others have seen. It also shows why we monitor projects. As far as the "Charts and measurements produced by the folks who did the project in the first place is one thing..." This is not some whodoo voodoo practice. You take measurements before the project, and every year afterward. If a storm comes you take the same measurements and compare. Hope this helps since I have read how you feel about the facts and numbers, and not emotional judgements.

 

[SHELLY]

Did you know they placed over 4.25 million cubic yards?:shock: Approximately 3 million cubic yards of sand total were transported from the beaches located within the project limits.

Actually, I had a front row seat as I spent many days and weeks helping my friend and his neighbors picking through the sand and trying to put the pieces of their lives back together again.

As you probably know, I'm not a big fan of beach renourishment, but I respect the tough job you face in having to play Mother Nature in order to keep the area's economic engine stoked.

If you haven't seen Navarre Beach lately, I would recommend you drive over and take a look for yourself. Man-made beaches, although a quick fix, are second-rate compared to letting nature take its course. I know your hands are tied....sometimes life just sucks out loud.

 

[yippie]

In Today's Paper:





March/April startup possible for beach work
By Patrick Donohue
( 850 ) 654 - 8445 pdonohue @link .freedom .com

Destin officials realize the importance of finishing the Walton County/Destin beach restoration project ? but the risk to do so immediately may be too great.
At a meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Walton County Tourist Development Council, Walton County officials reemphasized their desire to see the project, which was halted in May by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after a fourth sea turtle death, resume as early as Dec. 1.
But work in Destin may not begin until March or April and is estimated to take about 45 days. Such a startup date falls during the busy spring break tourist season but before the June 1 start of the 2007 hurricane season and the May 1 start date of the sea turtle nesting season.
The city and county elected Wednesday to take a plan to the Destin City Council to continue the project in phases, as proposed by the project?s contractor, Great Lakes Dock and Dredge. A plan that would necessitate a re-negotiation of the agreement between Walton County and the city of Destin.
If approved by the council, the beach restoration project would consist of three phases: Phase 1 would be the stretch of Walton County beach already restored; Phase 2 would be from where the project was halted in May; and Phase 3 would be the 2 miles of beach in Destin immediately east of Henderson Beach State Park.
While the city wants to see the project through to completion, the implications of a case currently before the state Supreme Court have caused the city to move cautiously.
Brad Pickle, beach management coordinator for the Walton County Tourist Development Council, said the plan would still allow for Walton County to restart the project by Dec. 1, if not sooner, and wouldn?t require a cancellation of the agreement between the county and the city, and the project would be executed as contracted.
Destin City Manager Greg Kisela said he felt the phasing plan seemed like the best way to proceed.
?The phasing seems like an adequate approach to appeasing the concerns of all the parties,? Kisela said.
However, the impact of the case, which calls into question whether aspects of beach restoration violate private property rights, and the risk associated with restarting the project before the case is decided, remains a concern for the city.
?The case is really a wild card,? Kisela said. ?On one hand, you have very little risk and on the other hand it could be a multimillion dollar risk. It?s difficult to say.?
Kisela said while the motives for wanting to complete the beach restoration are the same for the city and the county, the risks presented by restarting immediately are different for each party.
?What they (Walton County) have left to do, they?ve got 10 to 15 property owners that have been supportive of beach restoration,? he said. ?We have 2 miles of beach to restore and half of those property owners have not been supportive of beach restoration.?
An executive session has been called for city staff, including the seven members of the Destin City Council, at 5 p.m. Monday, at which time Kisela said the city?s legal staff will brief the group on the risks involved with moving forward before the outcome of the court case has been decided. A date for oral arguments has not yet been set by the court.
Following that, the City Council will vote on the phasing plan as proposed by Great Lakes, a decision that Kisela said is one of the most difficult the council has had to make.
?This is a very difficult policy issue for the council to have to decide on. There?s not a right or a wrong answer,? he said. ?This is right up there in the top three decisions the council has had to make in my tenure as city manager.? Kisela has been city manager for almost three years.
Upon completion, the project would add 80-100 feet of sand to about 5 miles of beach in Walton County and 2 miles in Destin, all of which was deemed ?critically eroded? by the state Department of Environmental Protection. Before work stopped in May, 3 miles of South Walton beach had been restored. The operation was to move into Destin only weeks before the project was suspended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following a fourth sea turtle death.
The restored beach was designed to protect upland structures from hurricanes and tropical storms as strong as a Category 3 hurricane, which generates winds of 111-130 mph and storm surge of 9-12 feet.
A portion of the original $22 million cost of the project has already been paid. Upon completion, the cost is expected to be about $28 million.

 

[yippie]

Another Interesting Article in today's paper:

Beach/shoreline group fears end of beach restoration

q Restored beaches seen as investment in future

By Patrick Donohue
( 850 ) 654 - 8445 pdonohue @link .freedom .com



The Florida Beach and Shore Preservation Association fears that a ruling by the state Supreme Court could have far-reaching and catastrophic consequences.
In an amicus curiae, or ?friend of the court,? brief, the group stated its position that a ruling against the state Department of Environmental Protection, Walton County and the city of Destin could end the state?s beach restoration program, a program responsible for the restoration of more than 180 miles of critically eroded beaches in 40 years.
?FSBPA members, particularly its 74 coastal cities and counties, are concerned that if the decision of the First District Court of Appeals is not reversed, the beach nourishment program in Florida will be eliminated,? the brief read.
In April, the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee ruled that by establishing the erosion control line in state beach restoration projects, the state was simply building a public beach in front of a private beach, thus seizing private property for public use without just compensation, a violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The erosion control line is defined by the state as the line that establishes the upland limit of the state?s ownership of the beach in relation to the mean high water mark.
The erosion control line has been used in beach restoration projects by the state since the 1970s and the association said declaring it unconstitutional would predictably result in ?hundreds of claims against the state and local governments.?
This kind of expensive and time-consuming litigation, the group argued, would have a ?chilling effect on the willingness of the federal government and state and local governments to fund beach nourishment projects.?
In the brief, the group contended that the Gulf-front property owners who object to beach restoration were putting not only themselves and other upland structures at greater risk but forgoing the direct benefits of having a restored beach in front of their property.
?Instead of a critically eroded beach in front of their property, it its now protected ? at the expense of the public ? from potential storm damage and resulting economic losses,? the brief stated. ?In fact, the value of their property is enhanced substantially as a result of the public?s investment.?
The brief, which was authored by an attorney with Fowler White Boggs Banker in Tallahassee, cited Florida Statute and a $65 million line item appropriation for the state?s most critically eroded beaches for the 2007 fiscal year as evidence that the state has a vested interest in restoring beaches and protecting property and lives.
The group also contends that the state should not be reprimanded or held financially or legally liable for trying to protect citizens and property, including those who object to beach restoration, from the threat that critically eroded beaches pose.
?A critically eroding beach creates an imminent threat of catastrophic loss of shoreline structures, such as those owned by appellees, and the state should not be punished for deciding to protect those properties,? the brief said.
The group urged the court to consider the ramifications of negating the state?s beach restoration program by upholding the Court of Appeals? ruling.
?If the beach program is eliminated or reduced ... Florida?s coastal communities and our state as a whole will suffer significant economic losses and the potential for devastating building and infrastructure losses because of the lack of beaches as a tourist destination and the lack of storm protection provided by beach nourishment projects,? the brief said.

 

[BlueMtnBeachVagrant]

The more I read about all this, the more complex the issue becomes.

Brad Pickel, if you're still reading this thread, I know this is a "hot issue" regarding TDC. The county (as a whole) depends on tourism of course which is directly related to beach access. I don't envy your position in this regard. I've always said that in general, for what TDC was commissioned to do, TDC has done a wonderful job! A little insight regarding the County's position would be very interesting...to say the least.

It is apparent to me the County is internally divided as to what the County can and cannot do regarding beach regulation. Case in point, the County Commisioners tried to mandate sand "specifications" when they do not have jurisdiction of this, seaward of the CCCL. This was confirmed by the County Attorney, David Hallman. This, to me, is a simple issue.

The point of the above... the County (in my opinion) does not have a handle on the much more complicated idea of private property rights on the beach. I just hope all of this is not "botched" to the detriment of everyone.

In my very strong opinion, the County should be "campaigning" to those private property owners to encourage beach renourishment and not assume that all property owners will go along with this idea. This should be a function of TDC.

I remember reading somewhere that only a handful of people objected to "phase II" of the renourishment here in central and east Walton County. For the record, nobody that I know of, ever asked our associations our feelings regarding this matter.

The public should understand that in exchange for beach renourishment, the public would gain legal easement to a significant part the beach (seaward of the erosion control line). This benefits all involved.

Thoughts and ideas are appreciated.

 

[BPickelTDC]

The more I read about all this, the more complex the issue becomes.

Brad Pickel, if you're still reading this thread, I know this is a "hot issue" regarding TDC. The county (as a whole) depends on tourism of course which is directly related to beach access. I don't envy your position in this regard. I've always said that in general, for what TDC was commissioned to do, TDC has done a wonderful job! A little insight regarding the County's position would be very interesting...to say the least.

It is apparent to me the County is internally divided as to what the County can and cannot do regarding beach regulation. Case in point, the County Commisioners tried to mandate sand "specifications" when they do not have jurisdiction of this, seaward of the CCCL. This was confirmed by the County Attorney, David Hallman. This, to me, is a simple issue.

The point of the above... the County (in my opinion) does not have a handle on the much more complicated idea of private property rights on the beach. I just hope all of this is not "botched" to the detriment of everyone.

In my very strong opinion, the County should be "campaigning" to those private property owners to encourage beach renourishment and not assume that all property owners will go along with this idea. This should be a function of TDC.

I remember reading somewhere that only a handful of people objected to "phase II" of the renourishment here in central and east Walton County. For the record, nobody that I know of, ever asked our associations our feelings regarding this matter.

The public should understand that in exchange for beach renourishment, the public would gain legal easement to a significant part the beach (seaward of the erosion control line). This benefits all involved.

Thoughts and ideas are appreciated.

BMBV,

Thanks for the comments and if its ok, I will focus on the bold section. As you pointed out in the beginning, it is a very complicated procedure and I would point out western Walton County as an example of the public education process we have done in the past (by the way Shelly you need to go check out that beach sand- it's not as far as Navarre and is "bu-tiff-ull").

The key to any support is a good project. The question then becomes what makes a good project. Our direction has and continues to be one developed through science and not politics, and you are absolutely correct that no one has been polled. The handful of people that I have talked about in the past that were against a project was in regards to the western Walton County project. Did you know that out of over 250 properties both large (Sandestin) and small (individuals). Only three properties do not want to be restored. This accounts for about 200 feet out of over 26,000 and since we are in an election frame of mind, it also accounts for less then 0.1% of the shoreline, much less than a poll's margin of error. Why was the support of this project so high? Storms, lack of beach, a good project or education... I believe it was a matter of all of these items, but most important was education on what a good beach project is and is not.

So what have we been doing and why aren't we doing more? Well, to date we have held two public workshops and are scheduling one more for December. In these workshops, we have highlighted what we know as of that workshop. The first one focussed on the post-Dennis state of the beach, the second on the proposed project areas and the last one will be on sand quality. In my opinion, it has been and continues to be extremely important to highlight the state of the project while not cheerleading it. Our goal at the TDC has been and continues to be the facilitation of information between the hired experts and the community and County Commissioners. In these workshops, we have the experts tell what they are finding and then offer the next steps. In essence, a good project sells itself and we do not make it an us versus them discussion.

So, what does that mean for Eastern Walton County? Well first, here is a link for the currently proposed project areas.
www.protectwaltoncountybeaches.com/pdf/Phase2.pdf
Secondly, the sand source investigation is coming to completion and those results will be shown at the next workshop and samples will be on hand. Third, if the County Commission decides to move forward they will direct TDC staff to oversee that process starting in January. Then the fun begins, which includes how and where do we find the money for the projects and what obstacles arise that we will work through.

There are many different facets to the ownership of the beach and how it is affected by a beach restoration project, and right now it includes an Erosion Control Line. In essence, before a beach project is constructed, the mean high water location is identified through surveying and all sand placed seaward of that is placed on state property and thus state owned, all sand placed landward of that line is owned by whomever the upland owner is. This defining line is the Erosion Control Line. The ECL process is currently under review by the State Supreme Court and may change. If that changes then the State Statute governing all projects will have to be modified and this requires legislative action (don't forget to vote tomorrow ).

So back to the major point of campaigning. Until we have all the pieces of a project to show an owner or a resident who uses the beach, we do not have anything to campaign about. I would guess that the number one question I would be asked today if I was telling someone about the project was the sand quality, which we don't know the final result of yet. After the sand source analysis is completed and presented at the next workshop, we will have a better understanding regarding if the community and owners even want the project to move forward. Then, we will continue to provide educational information about the project and have more workshops dealing with how do we pay for it, and what are the ownership issues.

I know it sometimes seems as if nothing is happening, but there is a tremendous amount of work that should be done before we start "campaigning". This was an effective approach in western Walton County, and we have seen other areas where a pr blitz without good science was not supported. Please continue to stay involved and follow the news, and come to the workshops and provide input. I will post the information once the next workshop is set as it will be VERY INTERESTING since it is about sand on the beach. Keep the questions coming..

As always, your faithful County employee!

Brad

 

[full time]

Brad - if there are any funds remaining from the loan after renourishment, please pay yourself for answering Shelly's endless dribble.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Brad - if there are any funds remaining from the loan after renourishment, please pay yourself for answering Shelly's endless dribble.

 

[BPickelTDC]

Brad - if there are any funds remaining from the loan after renourishment, please pay yourself for answering Shelly's endless dribble.

Although I appreciate your support, it's a great dialogue that leads to opportunities for education. So, everyone play nice