Posted on July 26, 2023
After months of trucking sand close to Sebastian Inlet, Brevard County Tuesday is expected to approve $69 million for restoring beaches between the Pineda Causeway and Melbourne Beach.
Commissioner John Tobia said the new project is part of a 50-year agreement between the county and the Army Corps of Engineers.
“Couldn’t find a good reason to vote against it even if I wanted to,” Tobia told News 6 Monday. “This is all federal dollars. This is an agreement that was signed 25 years ago and worked very well for the county.”
Hurricanes Ian and Nicole last year stripped dunes on the coast. Crews started trucking in sand for the Floridana Beach area back in January.
At Coconut Point Park, which that project restored, Alexandra Flammini pointed out what a difference a few months makes.
“After the hurricane, it was really high up. The dunes were basically gone,” she said. “Since then, the dunes have gotten higher so there’s not as much breakage with the waves. It’s really nice now.”
Tobia talked about the importance of maintaining beaches. The county’s tourism office said the beach is the top reason people visit.
“A large driver of Brevard County is the beaches as well as the folks who live on the beach, as well as our residents who enjoy the beach,” Tobia said. “So it’s extremely important, not only from an environmental aspect, but from a tourism and residential one.”
The county said all work on renourishment projects is paused until the end of sea turtle nesting season at the end of October.
