Posted on January 7, 2026
HUTCHINSON ISLAND, Fla. — Another multi-million-dollar project beginning in St. Lucie County.
Starting Monday, parts of about 3.3 miles of popular shoreline on Hutchinson Island will face intermittent closures as part of the ‘South St. Lucie County Coastal Storm Risk Management Project.’
It’s a project that first came to fruition in 2018 and was completed in 2022. After escarpment and wind erosion from Category 1 Hurricane Nicole hitting Hutchinson Island head-on in November of that year, another renourishment project was slated for 2026.
St. Lucie County officials say this nearly $15-million renourishment project will not only help protect the beach against future storms, but also create a healthier habitat for sea turtle nesting.
“We have seen a lot of storm damage in the last few years. Fortunately, we haven’t had any real direct major hits from hurricanes. But even strong winds during the winter can cause erosion on our beaches,” said Erick Gill, the Communications Director for St. Lucie County.
That’s why 3.3 miles of shoreline will be undergoing federal renourishment efforts spanning from Normandy Beach, south to the Martin County line, with Dollman Beach being the first section to close on Monday.
“It’ll be roughly almost 400,000 cubic yards of sand that will be brought in, pumped through piping offshore to help renourish our beaches, to protect the shoreline, but also provide habitat for sea turtles,” said Gill.
Even though we’re outside of sea turtle nesting season, safeguards are in place to protect the environment.
“We’ve had turtles lay as early as mid-February, even though typically the season doesn’t start till March. But they do have biologists on site and people monitoring that. In case, you know, we get an early sea turtle nesting season, and then they’ll, they’ll work around that,” said Gill.
Residents and tourists will also have to work around construction over the next six months. But Gill says the county is not worried that beach closures will negatively impact tourism.
“We have 21 miles of beaches, so even if we have to close three of those miles, and it won’t be closed all at the same time, there’s plenty of opportunities for residents to get out, and visitors to get out, and explore other beach accesses,” said Gill.
The project will cost $14.7 million.
Gill says a majority of the funding will come from state and federal partners. But he says a big chunk is also coming from Erosion District Taxes, or taxpayer dollars for those who live here.
“We have to protect our resources, whether that’s repaving roads or putting sand down on the beaches or mowing our parks, and this is just part of the ongoing maintenance that we do to protect Hutchinson Island,” said Gill.
Again, Dollman Beach is closed starting Monday, but not all 3.3 miles will be closed at once. The county will have updates on its website with which sections are closed at what time.
The anticipated project completion date is the end of June.
