- April 25, 2024
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Just two people are standing in the way of a $25 million Army Corps of Engineers project designed to create a protective beach dune along 2.6 miles of the coast in Flagler Beach.
Both are property owners who own "remnant" parcels on the beach east of A1A. Nothing can be constructed on that land, aside from beach walkovers, but the Army Corps needs owners' permission, in the form of signed easements, to access it to add sand to build up the dune, which prevents flooding during major storms and hurricanes.
If property owners don't grant the easements, the work can't proceed across their property, and that would leave a gap in the project that could undermine the whole thing.
All but two property owners, who together own three parcels, have signed easement agreements.
The county has 138 signed easements so far and hopes to avoid using eminent domain to gain access to the final three parcels.
One of the property owners, County Attorney Al Hadeed told county commissioners at an Oct. 4 commission meeting, indicated that he may be amenable to signing an easement if the county signs a special contract reassuring him that the limits on government entities' use of the land — that nothing would be built or planted on it to obstruct his view — would be honored even as the government entities change.
"He bought that property because of the view, and he’s really concerned that things may happen that may not be contemplated today," Hadeed said.
The man is experienced in the business world and told Hadeed that he's never liked assignability clauses because you don't know who you'll be dealing with in the future, Hadeed said. He wants assurance that a future County Commission or Army Corps leadership or whoever else may be assigned leadership of the dune project wouldn't change the terms.
Hadeed prepared a document that explicitly says the remnant property can not be used for any purposes other than the dune project and presented it before the commission to ask for their agreement. Commissioners granted it.
