Thursday, September 24, 2009

Amelia Island Beach Erosion

Amelia Island Beach Erosion

Because of federal and state budget shortfalls, an $11 million Duval County beach restoration project that had been planned for next year has been cancelled.

Now the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees restoration of the area's beaches every five years, is seeking funding for 2011, said agency spokesman Barry Vorse.

The program is intended keep beaches at a sufficient width and elevation to reduce storm damage to oceanfront buildings and other structures, and to sustain tourism.

Meanwhile, no beach renourishment project is planned for Ponte Vedra Beach, Vorse said.

However, a replenishment study has begun for projects in Vilano Beach, Anastasia Island and Summer Haven, and public hearings will be scheduled in late 2010 to discuss them, he said. In addition, beach renourishment is planned next year around the St. Augustine fishing pier to replenish sand that has washed away since a 2005 restoration.

Vorse said Jacksonville's beaches are in "better than average shape" based on an assessment done in June and July, especially since it's at the end of the latest five-year restoration cycle.

That's due to the lack of storm damage since the last project in 2005, when contractors widened the beach from the Mayport jetties south to the St. Johns County line with about 700,000 cubic yards of soft, white sand from an offshore site. That project cost about $6.5 million and included some "sacrificial sand" added as a protective buffer until the next beach restoration project.

But hurricane season doesn't end until Nov. 30, and northeast winter storms sometimes cause more beach erosion than hurricanes.

The 2010 project was expected to cost roughly $11 million, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which shares the cost with the corps and Jacksonville. The corps was to contribute about $6.8 million and Florida and Jacksonville were each supposed to give about $2 million.

Jacksonville has set aside its share of the contribution, which it's required to do by ordinance, said Tom Heal, an engineer in the city's Public Works Department who handles beach renourishment.

"We were positioning ourselves to do it again in 2010," Heal said.

But he learned in a meeting with corps officials last month that the federal funding wasn't available.

He was also upbeat about the beach's profile, saying wave action has swept some of the 2005 sand to a sandbar just offshore.

"That sand is still there and still functioning to protect the shore," he said.

The expanse of beach hasn't eroded, although it may appear that way because the sand dunes have grown taller and wider and expanded eastward, he said.

"The water line is pretty much where it was before," Heal said.

The subject came up in a conference Friday at Amelia Island hosted by the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association, where Al Pantano, commander of the corps' Jacksonville district, explained how the shore protection program reduces storm damage and the need for federal relief money following a significant storm.

On average, for every $1 of tax money spent on federally restored beaches, $4 is saved in reduced damages to homes, businesses and the government, Pantano said. In addition, he said, the government earns about $320 in tax revenues for every $1 spent on beach nourishment.

John Holbrook - Realtor
904-415-0171

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