Posted on February 20, 2020
The Vilano Beach renourishment has been greenlighted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which hopes for construction to start this fall.
The project aims to restore the dunes and beach to pre-hurricane levels and combat erosion, storms and sea level rise on a 2.6-mile stretch from Ocean Grande Drive to an area near Gardner Avenue. There is a 1,000-foot taper on the north and south end of the project.
The goal is to extend the berm, or ridge separating the beach from the waves created by low-level waves, by about 60 feet.
Homeowners had to sign easements to let the county dredge sand from the St. Augustine Inlet and Intracoastal Waterway, and bulldozers will distribute sand in front of their property.
The beach is expected to be renourished every 12 years over the 50-year scope of the project.
The county has received 128 of the 135 easements affected by the project. It would like to obtain the last seven easements in order to have uniformity for the work.
When the project begins, workers will place about 1.3 million cubic yards of sand at the properties. A cubic yard is about the size of a dishwasher’s interior, St. Johns County Public Works Coastal Manager Damon Douglas said.
According to the county, only three addresses are listed as, “Not willing to grant easement or sign waiver.”
To place the pipeline that delivers sand, the county is looking for seven more of the 68 needed easements — the county needed fewer easements for the pipeline than the overall renourishment.
The county has enough easements to start the renourishment project, but Douglas said skipped parcels would result in weak spots in the dune system. He added that some spots without sand wouldn’t take away from the overall protective value of the project.
Water would reshape the filled-in beach over time and make it more uniform, according to Douglas. Sand will also be placed to the east of the project boundaries to serve as a buffer, though he said the county wanted every homeowner on board.
“We really do not want any parcels to be skipped,” Douglas said. “It makes low spots on the beach. It’s not optimal.”
For the pipeline, Douglas said the county needed an easement for the area above the high-water line as everything behind the high-water line is sovereign land and considered “navigable water.”
The easement gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “an interest” in the property owner’s land, Douglas said, which was off-putting for some. Douglas said the language of the easement was rigid and crafted by engineers to give them latitude for the project, rather than a marketing professional.
“With 100 different property owners, you get 100 different views of what the language means,” Douglas said. “It could be scary for some.”
Dunes provide stability and a defense for the beach and homeowners during storms, Douglas said.
Jason Harrah, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager, said the organization was looking to advertise a construction contract in April and award the contract by July.
Harrah said the goal was to have construction begin in the fall, moving south to north along the beach.
The Army Corps needs a certification from the county. Douglas said county staff plans to bring the easements before the County Commission March 3 and approve the certification toward the end of March.
The county said 1,000 feet of beach will be closed off at a time during the project to accommodate the equipment, which is not expected to stay in a single area for more than five days.
The county also is moving forward with a one-time 5-mile dune restoration in South Ponte Vedra, north of the Vilano Beach project.
Source: staugustine.com
