Posted on December 12, 2024
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — Flagler County is doubling down on its beach management plan, with leaders targeting spring 2025 to start work on the beach near North Seventh Street in Flagler Beach all the way down to Varn Park.
The county wants to continue to widen the beach and restore dunes.
This project would stretch north, and county leaders are looking forward to what could come.
“This beach used to be a lot bigger, and it’s not going to recover unless there’s human restoration,” Ansley Wren-key, coastal engineering administrator for Flagler County said. “The natural forces are not going to be able to restore this beach.”
Wren-key says the reason why beach nourishment is needed is that the impacts from several hurricanes and nor’easters since Hurricane Matthew have damaged Flagler County’s coastline.
The Flagler County Beach Management Plan was passed by commissioners last year. It’s a plan that focuses on restoring and maintaining a healthy beach and dune system through periodic beach nourishment.
Part of that work has already been done.
“We just did Reach I, which extended from Gamble Rogers State Park all the way up to Seventh Street North, just north of the pier,” Wren-Key said.
This next phase would be known as Reach II.
“We’ll start where we left off and head north all the way up to Varn Park, which is about five and a half miles,” Wren-Key said.
For one business owner in Flagler Beach, he’s looking forward to these beach nourishment projects.
“It protects the beach, it protects the locals, it protects the businesses, and I think that’s what we need to do to keep Flagler thriving and growing,” Christopher Marlow, owner of Next Door Beach Bistro, said.
As for what’s next, Wren-key says property owners near where Reach II will be have to sign easement agreements so this project can continue.
After hurricanes Ian and Nicole, The Florida Department of Environmental Protection gave Flagler County $35 million to restore the shoreline.
Those funds from the state will help fund this project.
