Posted on August 5, 2020
The deadline for easements regarding the Flagler Beach dune project has been extended to Aug. 19.
FLAGLER BEACH — Officials received a deadline extension to obtain the necessary easements for a multi-year dunes restoration project along State Road A1A.
The 2.6-mile project requires property owners with a parcel east of State Road A1A from South 6th Street to South 28th Street, to provide easements to the federal, state and local agencies involved so they can add sand and natural vegetation to the their dunes.
County Administrator Jerry Cameron said Friday that 10 of the 141 easements are still outstanding. Without full compliance from property owners, the county stands to lose $17 million in state and federal funding.
“We have a meeting scheduled with the county on Aug. 19,” said Jason Harrah, senior project manager with the Army Corp of Engineers. “This is going to be our final discussion with them. Either they have the easements based on this last-ditch effort or they don’t.”
Harrah said the district commander will meet with Cameron for an update on the easements.
“But our stand is still the same,” said Harrah. “If they don’t have all the easements, we can’t move forward.”
Harrah said Tropical Storm Isaias, the first named storm of the season, puts the shoreline in a weak position.
“They already have a vulnerable shoreline in this area, as we know,” said Harrah. “The Department of Transportation has done extraordinary efforts to protect the road, but the dune system is not there. A1A is vulnerable to those wave impacts if the storm comes closer to the shore.”
The county also received an update regarding FEMA protocols on handling beach reimbursement effective immediately.
“FEMA notified Johnathan Lord that if there’s just beach damage here as a result of the surge and currents, it’s not going to be FEMA reimbursable,” said Cameron. “They’re not going to declare it a disaster area. That makes the consequences of not doing this dune project all the more horrific. If we lose that beach and FEMA isn’t going to allow us to clean it and we don’t have the insurance policy that the Army Corp of Engineers is going to give us, the county has no way to come up with the money to repair the beach.”
Cameron also shared concerns regarding the storm.
“We’re just exposed on this storm,” he said. “Whatever damage occurs with this storm we don’t have the resources to repair. But if we can get the easements to get the Army Corps of Engineers to do it they can replace what we lose during this storm and protect us from the next one.”
Officials say the dune project is essential to protecting the shoreline from future storms.
“But if this is going to be the new FEMA protocol — that is, they don’t insure the beach — it’s going to be essential that we have something to protect it,” Cameron said. The only strategy I know is to retreat. As the beach goes away we just keep moving west.”
Source: news-journalonline
