FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. – A dune renourishment project nearly 14 years in the making in Flagler County is officially underway. The Army Corps of Engineers will start dredging sand this week to restore three miles of dunes.
The crews were finishing final preparations on Monday and the dredging will start Wednesday. A large pipe now runs from a mile off the coast to the beach and will pump out over a million cubic yards of sand.
“It’s exciting not only for us, but everybody in town,” said Ted Bancroft, owner of Snack Jack’s.
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Typically, the site of construction equipment behind your business would not be too welcomed, but Bancroft said this project is being fully embraced.
“It’s kind of nice because we’ve been here 30 years and as we’ve watched it erode away, the buffer between the building and the water has gotten so small so whatever amount of sand they add to this project, we just got a new buffer,” he said.
The Army Corps of Engineers, State Department of Transportation, and Flagler County are now pulling the sand in starting behind Snack Jack’s.
“We’ll be moving from this location north to North Seventh Street just on the opposite side of the pier,” said commissioner Andy Dance. “The dune itself is going to get larger and then the beach will extend out another 100 to 140 feet to get that platform that protects the beach.”
It’s a 50-year contract with the Army Corps, and part of that contract is if a named storm comes through over the next 50 years and eats away at the dunes again, the Army Corps will cover 100% of the cost to renourish the dunes again.
“Those Nor’easters that come through can do damage and that would be on the county and that’s part of the analysis we’re doing now on funding the maintenance of the beach,” Dance said.
The renourishment project will take about three months.
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