Posted on April 25, 2022
The federal government plans to spend up to $62 million to shore up St. Augustine Beach and part of the coastline north of the St. Augustine Inlet following damage from a nor’easter.
Jason Harrah, a project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, announced the funding this week to St. Johns County commissioners. The funding will replenish sand taken from two areas where the Corps has long-term beach renourishment agreements.
The long-term agreements are in place in St. Augustine Beach and north of the St. Augustine Inlet from just north of Nease Beachfront Park to around Ocean Villas at Serenata Beach. The agreements also call for the Corps to help if sand is eroded from a storm in between scheduled renourishments.
“One of the biggest commitments and the opportunities the Corps has is our beach projects come with a guarantee,” Harrah said. “In the event we have a major storm event that would erode the beaches and make those susceptible to future storm events, we have a warranty period, as I would call it, to come back and restore those beaches if they meet certain criteria at 100% federal cost.”
The erosion from the nor’easter caused “a lot of walkways and public access points” to be closed, he said. The Jacksonville Corps team recommended full renourishment of both areas at 100% federal cost. That recommendation made it up the ranks and received final approval this month.
The St. Augustine Beach effort will receive up to $37 million with three years of monitoring, Harrah said. That will include about 2 million cubic yards of sand for about 2.5 miles of beach.
The effort north of the St. Augustine Inlet will receive up to $25 million and 1 million cubic yards of sand across about 2.6 miles of beach, he said.
Both projects will use offshore sand, and the Corps plans to award the contract for both projects in December, Harrah said.
Commissioner Henry Dean said it’s great news not just for beachfront homeowners, “But (also for) the thousands of residents and tourists who depend on these beaches for recreation and activity and all of the economic spinoff of that.”
