Posted on February 3, 2019
Pipe is being positioned on Indian River County beaches just south of Sebastian Inlet to carry sand dredged from the inlet’s sand trap for the Sebastian Inlet District’s ongoing dredging and beach renourishment project. (Photo: SEBASTIAN INLET DISTRICT PHOTO)
Florida Sen. Debbie Mayfield has introduced a bill that would overhaul how state funding for beach preservation projects is decided.
Mayfield, a Melbourne Republican, said, under her coastal management bill, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s “criteria for ranking beach and inlet sand management projects will be refined to better capture the economic importance of healthy beaches to tourism, storm damage reduction and resource protection.”
Debbie Flack, president of the Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association, which supports the bill, said Mayfield’s proposal provides a “much more refined” set of criteria for the state’s allocation of money for beach and inlet restoration projects.
That funding totaled $50 million in both the state’s fiscal 2017-18, and the current fiscal 2018-19, which ends June 30.
“I think there is a recognition that beaches are Florida’s brand,” and it is important for adequate and appropriate state funding for beach projects, said Flack, whose organization includes representatives of coastal cities and counties.
Sebastian Inlet District Administrator Martin Smithson said Mayfield’s bill “is a very positive step in refining the approach to rank Florida’s valuable beaches needing state funding assistance. I know there is a need to revamp it.”
In explaining her reason to push the legislation, Senate Bill 446, Mayfield noted that Florida has more than 800 miles of sandy coastline.
“Our beaches are one of Florida’s most valuable resources, serving as critical habitat for species of plants and animals, attracting visitors and new residents to the state, as well as providing a line of defense during major storm events,” Mayfield said.
Florida Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, who is the sponsor of the House companion bill, House Bill 325, said money spent on beach renourishment projects has a strong return on investment, in terms of tourism and other economic benefits.
“I think this is a very meaningful legislation that will help one of the largest drivers of Florida’s economy,” LaMarca said, in discussing its potential positive impact on tourism.
Mayfield said the bill “revises the criteria used by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to prioritize coastal restoration projects based on need and importance.”
“Criteria for ranking beach and inlet sand management projects will be refined to better capture the economic importance of healthy beaches to tourism, storm damage reduction and resource protection,” Mayfield said. “There is also criteria added to rank projects based on federal and local matching funds, recreational benefits, project significance, project mobility, readiness to proceed, dune enhancement, habitat protection and strategies to conserve sand resources.”
Flack said Mayfield’s bill would provide “a fairly sophisticated framework” for beach project funding.
LaMarca also noted that the bill also “focuses on effective sand management efforts at our inlets, which have long been considered the No. 1 cause of beach erosion on Florida’s East Coast.”
“Inlets interrupt the natural flow of sand, often creating erosion on down-drift beaches,” Mayfield said. “This legislation would enhance inlet funding and provide that the minimum amount of funding for inlets must be 10 percent of the appropriation for beach management. This change will refocus attention on effective sand management at our inlets.”
Mayfield said the proposal “also increases transparency and accountability from the Department of Environmental Protection by raising their project reporting requirements.”
The bill creates a three-year work plan “so that Florida can maximize federal dollars and local project sponsors can anticipate required funding needs, final design and secure permits so projects can proceed to timely construction,” Mayfield said.
Flack said similar legislation has been approved the last two years in the Florida Senate, but did not come up for a vote in the Florida House. In 2018, the legislation was approved in the Senate by a 36-0 vote.
Flack said the legislation has had the support of the tourism and real estate industries.
The bill could affect various beach renourishment projects along the Space Coast, as well as an ongoing project in the Sebastian Inlet area.
The Sebastian Inlet District’s just-started project channel maintenance and beach renourishment project involves hydraulically dredging 150,000 cubic yards of sand from the inlet’s sand trap and navigation channel leading to the Intracoastal Waterway.
The $2.95 million project will move 120,000 cubic yards of sand to a 1½-mile stretch of beaches starting at McLarty Treasure Museum and continuing south past the Ampersand Beach access as part of beach restoration efforts in Indian River County
An additional 30,000 cubic yards of sand will be stockpiled in the Sebastian Inlet District’s “dredged material management area” for emergency beach fill and dune repair.
Smithson said the Sebastian Inlet District has applied for cost-share funding available through the Department of Environmental Protection. If awarded, 75 percent of the project will be covered by state money, with the remaining 25 percent paid by the Sebastian Inlet District.
Source: florida today
