Posted on January 17, 2019
A majority of the Okaloosa County Commission on Tuesday approved the latest plans to dredge sand from the East Pass and deposit it on beaches on Okaloosa Island and Holiday Isle.
The estimated $3.5 million project could begin in early March and be completed around mid-April, Deputy County Administrator of Operations Greg Kisela said.
The latest plan calls for about 240,000 cubic yards of sand to be dredged from the clogged East Pass federal navigation channel. As part of an agreement with three Condo Alliance of Okaloosa Island officers who earlier opposed parts of the overall project, the first 80,000 cubic yards of sand will be placed on the Air Force-owned beach on Okaloosa Island just west of the west jetty.
After that, 120,000 cubic yards will be deposited on “reach 1,” just east of the east jetty, and the remaining 40,000 cubic yards will go farther east to “reach 2? on Holiday Isle.
If the county doesn’t get property owners’ permission to lay beach re-nourishment pipes across the “gap” between the two reach areas, or if it’s too costly to put sand on reach 2, half the sand would be placed just east of the east jetty and half would be deposited just west of the west jetty.
Among other concerns, Condo Alliance officers David and Rebecca Sherry and John Donovan earlier claimed that the Inlet Management Plan that determines where dredged sand is placed unfairly restricts areas west of Destin, such as Okaloosa Island.
For the upcoming project, the county plans to partner with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractor, Westlake, Louisiana-based Mike Hooks LLC, which would perform the dredging and beach restoration work.
The project will be paid for with $1.5 million in federal funding and $2 million in county bed tax money.
Source: the DESTIN log
