Posted on September 20, 2023
Emergency erosion control measures are underway in Pinellas County this week to help nourish beaches hardest hit by storm surge from Hurricane Idalia.
The county said property owners in some areas may be contacted to sign temporary easements for the project.
Meanwhile, the issue of easements remains at the center of the standoff between the county and the Army Corps of Engineers. The department is requiring homeowners to sign permanent easements before beginning any beach nourishment projects, including one slated to start this fall on Pass-a-Grille Beach.
Ping Wang, a professor of coastal geology at USF, spent time at Pass-a-Grille, as well as several other beaches both before and after Hurricane Idalia and said sand is needed now more than ever. With the help of his graduate students, Wang collected before and after photos to show just how extreme the erosion issue has become.
These two photos show what Pass-a-Grille Beach looked like before and after Hurricane Idalia’s storm surge.
“A healthy dune would have all this grass on it,” Wang said of the before and after photos he took of Pass-a-Grille Beach. “After the storm, all the grass was eroded or buried.”
The dunes, some of which Wang said took decades to develop, were either washed away or severely damaged, leaving behind a steep cliff like shape known as dune scarping.
Wang said the natural redevelopment of the dunes could take decades without the help of a nourishment project. While not weighing in directly on the Pinellas County projects delayed Army Corps of Engineers, Wang said the need for more sand on eroded beaches is urgent.
“The solution is fairly well established,” Wang said. “It’s just the management side of things is more complicated.”
At its most recent public meeting earlier this month, a representative for the Army Corp of Engineers said the department will take concerns over easement language higher up the chain of command. Those concerns are over the extent of public access the easements could allow.
