Posted on April 12, 2023
A large mound of sand staged at Coconut Point Park on Monday appeared to be where Brevard County said it’s pausing work on a multi-million dollar beach renourishment project because of rough weather conditions.
All winter, operators of dump trucks, excavators and bulldozers worked toward moving a half-million ton of sand to rebuild south Brevard County beaches after hurricanes Ian and Nicole.
But with high sea levels once again along the coast on Monday, the beach projects manager said the county is temporarily pausing it’s largest beach renourishment project in two decades.
“They can’t work out in this,” Dan Cameron from Malabar said.
Cameron, walking his dogs Monday, was one of the only people along the beach.
He wondered whether the upcoming hurricane season could take away the new sand, too.
“It’s been a rough year, this last year. And it could be the same this year, you know,” Cameron said. “That’s why I came out here today. I just wanted to see what was getting kicked up.”
Beachside resident Larry Witham said that in January, he was happy watching the crews getting started.
The county said work will stop for six months starting in May, which is when sea turtles get busy nesting.
“They’ll get it done,” Witham said. “You just have to be patient.”
Whatever amount of work is still left to do at the end of the month, the county said crews can resume their work at the end of sea turtle nesting season in November.
