The Beach is Falling! The Beach is Falling!

For anyone that missed the news today it appears as though St Johns County’s beach erosion problem just got kicked into high gear. Grab details on the story from Christina Abel’s Shorelines coverage, Commission May Declare Emergency for Five Vilano Beach Homes:

“Assistant County Administrator Darrell Locklear said the commissioners will meet today [April 9, 2008] at 3 p.m. to declare an emergency, which would allow homeowners to get Florida Department of Environmental Protection permission to put up temporary bulkheads to stop the erosion. The county has declared emergency situations in the past for homes north of this area, and those homeowners have been permitted to put in wooden and metal walls.”

This isn’t a new issue, it’s been slowly developing over the past three years. Editor of the Folio Weekly, Anne Schindler provided an excellent recap of the situation in the November 27, 2007 Editor’s Note, “Dune Not Rescuscitate”:

“…When a state inventory of supposed public access points was reported by Folio Weekly in 1998, the issue gained momentum and ultimately prompted the local branch of the Surfrider Foundation to sue the county.

The suit succeeded in forcing the county - and proptery owners- to open the access points. But this victory was sidelined by the fact that there was no place to park near Ponte Vedra’s beaches. So even though you could get on them, you couldn’t get to them.

Surfrider Foundation tried unsuccessfully, to use county-owned right-of-way along the west side of Ponte Vedra Boulevard for public parking, since it would have provided access to some 14 beach access points. The county responded first by banning parking on the road and then, in 2004, by gifting the land to the already privileged residents of this coastal strip - an estimated $40,000 of free real estate per homeowner. The Ponte Vedra Inn and Club fell in line as well, removing 75 formerly public parking spots at the behest of county officials and nearby residents.

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According to a recent letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state and feds won’t pay for a renourishment study for the beaches of Ponte Vedra because… there isn’t “reasonable” public access. The rule for using taxpayer dollars to save beaches is that there must be a compelling public interest…

In other words, by fighting to keep the beach private, residents and county officials have doomed the area to an isolated fight for survival.

Unfortunately, the threat to homes will also impact the public at large. With beach erosion undermining home foundations, the state and county have begun issuing emergency “armoring” permits, which allow homeowners to erect seawalls. While this stopgap measure protects private property, it ultimately undermines the public resource. The sad reality is that seawalls destroy beaches. Because the wall prevents wave energy from dissipating, as it does on a gently sloping beach, the concentrated force scours beaches, actually accelerating erosion.”

What’s involved in rigid coastal armoring of Vilano Beach homes in St Johns County and what’s the Florida State law regarding it?

“Section 161.085 Rigid coastal armoring structures states actions and situations when shoreline protection structure will be permitted. Permits will be granted when private property is vulnerable to damage from frequent coastal storms. Protection of the beach-dune system, impacts on adjacent properties, preservation of public beach access, and protection of native coastal vegetation and nesting turtles must be considered in the permitting process.

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According to the FDEP Bureau of Beaches and Coastal Systems website, coastal and shore protection structures such as seawalls, revetments, and bulkheads inhibit the natural functioning of the beach/dune system. In doing so, they interfere with the onshore-offshore movement of sand, and cause increased erosion on adjacent properties. In areas where the longshore supply of sand is limited, they may result in a loss of beach seaward of and adjacent to the structure. The state’s policy on the use of rigid coastal armoring is restrictive and is primarily limited to protecting existing nonconforming major structures vulnerable to damage from frequent coastal storms. All requests for coastal armoring require an in-depth site-specific impact assessment.”

You can find more information on shoreline structures in the Surfrider Foundation’s State of the Beach Report.

The First Coast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is actively researching the granting of temporary armament and will continue to monitor this issue. Until sufficient public access is provided by St Johns County, permanent armament shouldn’t be a consideration.

If you have information regarding the subject, please contact us via the comments below, by emailing firstcoast@surfrider.org or calling 904-742-6477.