Posted on August 25, 2025
Martin County will use more than $13 million in Army Corps of Engineers funding to nourish four miles of beaches.
Key points
- A beach nourishment project costing more than $13 million is expected to begin in early 2026 in Martin County.
- Part of the aim of the project is to protect Martin County infrastructure.
- But it will also protect the mainland because Hutchinson Island is the first line of defense in a storm.
HUTCHINSON ISLAND — A beach nourishment project is expected to get underway here early next year at a cost of more than $13 million.
Plans are to replenish sand along about 4 miles of beach between the Martin-St. Lucie County and Stuart Beach. The project recurs every eight years.
“We’re protecting our infrastructure,” said Jessica Garland, Martin County coastal program manager. “We’re protecting the road. We’re protecting the utilities.”
Hutchinson Island is also protecting the mainland, she said.
“If the barrier island wasn’t there, then all those waves would be attacking us here,” she said from the Martin County Administration Building in Stuart.
Other nourishment projects have occurred in the same area since 2018, she said.
Costs
Money for construction is coming from the Army Corps of Engineers hurricane relief funding for Hurricane Nicole, Garland said.
Martin County is paying for engineering oversight, monitoring and design. Together, that’s about $1 million, she said. Of that, the county will pay 54% while the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will pay 46%.
So far, the county has spent about $300,000, Garland said.
Construction is expected to start around the end of January to the middle of February, she said, and take two months. The nourishment could start in December — following turtle nesting season — but nor’easters will likely delay the work, she said.
Enviromental benefits
“A beach nourishment project is extremely beneficial to our environment,” Garland said.
Algae and bacteria live in the sand. Mole crabs and sand fleas also need sand, as do turtles.
Shore birds need beach habitat to live, she said.
Beach closures?
Work requires only about a 1,500-foot section of beach to be closed at a time, so much of the 4-mile stretch will remain open during construction.
An endorsement of Martin County beaches came from a recent visitor: “They’re good,” said Coleman Talley, 28, a visitor from Mississippi, who sat on his blanket on the sand at Virgina Forrest Beach.
He goes to Chastain and Bathtub beaches, too, but it’s easier to get in the water at Virginia Forrest Beach he said, and parking is a little more low-key during the week.
“I just want to get in the water and not have to worry about any rocks,” he said, like he does at Bathtub Beach.
As for improving the beach, he said anything can be improved, but it might be better left untouched.
When a section of beach is closed, beachgoers will be denied access to the dune crossover.
Martin County is expected to host a live beach map showing which 1,500-foot section of beach is closed for construction.
The county is also planning to restore the dune along the entire stretch of MacArthur Boulevard that follows the ocean. But that project has been delayed at least a year.
The county is still getting the required easements from homeowners. The current expected cost of that project is $4.2 million.
