Posted on January 23, 2025
Crews are working around the clock and have made steady progress toward restoring approximately 3.5 miles of Navarre Beach to the way it looked way back in 2016.
That was the last time the beach was fully renourished with 1.37 million cubic yards of sand pulled out of an offshore barrow area and dropped onto the beach. Santa Rosa County Public Works Director Michael Schmidt said it is estimated 580,000 cubic yards of sand will be needed to fully revitalize the Navarre Beach coastline this time around.
The project got underway just before Christmas and it is estimated that contractors will be ready to embark on Phase 3 of the four phase project this week.
Assistant County Administrator Jared Lowe said that despite mechanical issues that have twice required the vessel pulling the sand from the floor of the Gulf to be placed in dry dock, the entire project should be completed by the end of January.
“It’s been pretty amazing, really,” he said.
Crews are working all day and all night and will place around 700 feet of sand on Navarre Beach each day from approximately 900 feet east of the Navarre Beach Pier to the Gulf Islands National Seashore property, according to a news release issued by the county.
The project was begun on the west end of the beach, where it runs into the boundary of National Seashore.
Mechanical issues were responsible for forcing the company conducting the beach renourishment to complete Phase 2 of the project before getting underway with Phase 1, Lowe said.
With Phase 1 expected to have been finished by the weekend, Phase 3, renourishing an area between Beach Access 39A eastward to Beach Access 38B, is slated to get underway this week.
During the transition to Phase 3, heavy equipment will be utilized to move pipes from what is known as a subline location at 7631 Gulf Boulevard to a second such location near Beach Access 39A, a press release from the county said. The staging area was expected to be moved from Beach Access 37A to the east end of the Navarre Beach Pier parking lot.
All work is weather and mechanical-issue dependent and dates may not be exact.
The county warned visitors to the beach against entering restricted areas of Navarre Beach during while the project is ongoing.
“For safety reasons, residents and visitors should wait until these areas have officially reopened before accessing renourished sections to search for shells,” it said. “Beaches surrounding the construction area will be open to the public and sand ramps will be placed over the pipeline to allow beachgoers access to the gulf.”
County staff are monitoring for endangered species during the restoration project and relocating animals, including for sea turtles.
The effort to rebuild Navarre Beach began in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sally when the Federal Emergency Management Agency embarked on a damage assessment. Following the assessment FEMA agreed to cover the bulk of the cost of placing sand on approximately 3.5 miles of Navarre Beach.
The project is being funded from the Beach Berm Restoration Budget and with Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, Schmidt said. It is estimated the cost of completing the renourishment will be $11.4 million, but an overall project cost will be established based on the amount of sand placed to meet the permitted restoration profile. It could be more or less than the bid amount.
Commissioners voted in April of 2024 to go all in on restoring the beach, which in September of 2020 lost an estimated 254,000 cubic yards of sand to Hurricane Sally.
