- April 20, 2024
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A public hearing was held Sept. 20, outlining four alternatives to the 600-foot sea wall.
After years of study and debate, a public hearing was held Tuesday, Sept. 20, outlining potential alternatives to the building of an extended sea wall in Flagler Beach.
Flagler Beach-based nonprofit Save Flagler’s Beach, which works with the city and county in researching preservation and restoration methods, helped organize the hearing. The group believes that seawalls alter the natural currents of rivers, estuaries and shorelines, and not only take away from a beach’s natural aesthetic but, over time, take away the beach itself.
And city officials agree.
Flagler Beach City Commissioner Kim Carney noted that it has taken six years for Save Flagler’s Beach to complete its research on all beach alternatives, and it has done its due diligence.
“This (issue) will change the life of every Flagler County resident,” Carney said, in an email. “When tourism goes away, so goes Flagler County.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began a feasibility study in 2004, in Flagler, to measure the impact other alternativesmight have on local beaches, wildlife and the tourism economy. In April, sea-wall construction was put on hold when the Florida Department of Transportation withdrew to give the Corps more time to conduct its study.
Results are expected in three to four years, according to Carney.
“(But) we do not believe we have that long to wait,” she said.
To date, total accrued costs include $1.2 million on a temporary sea wall and $8 million on a 10-block rock revetment. Additionally, the Corps’ study has already cost $3.5 million in tax contributions.
“That is before a single piece of sand is deposited on our beach,” she said. “The real story is all the wasteful spending and the lack of concern about what the citizens want.”
Even with a sea wall in place, the Corps estimates that Flagler Beach will need to be renourished every three to five years.
According to Flagler Beach City Commissioner Steve Settle, “(Residents) demanded the opportunity to participate in these discussions.
Each alternative will be investigated in terms of effectiveness, cost, immediacy and permanence of design.
Multi-purpose reef
The first alternative on the hearing’s agenda was multipurpose reef systems, presented by John Hearin, coastal engineer for ASR Limited, a global, coastal and marine consulting firm.
Multipurpose reefs are offshore coastal structures which aim to reduce beach erosion and enhance marine habitats. These submerged systems vary in size and shape, but are made of geotextile sand-filled containers — or “giant sandbags,” as Hearin calls them — each one anywhere from 30 to 60 yards long, about three yards tall and about 300 tons. Deployed empty then pumped full of sand underwater, they are said to reduce and redirect wave energy to stabilize the shoreline.
“The size and shape of the reef is completely designed for the site,” Hearin said. “It’s all site-specific … One site does not fit all.”
Systems can be single-layered, with bags clustered on the seabed, or multi-layered, and stacked.
Whereas sea walls are meant to protect the land surrounding a beach, multi-purpose reefs are meant to protect and stabilize the coastline, according to Hearin. But Flagler’s problem may not have one solution, he added, prior to the hearing.
“I’m going to suggest that they use dune restoration, they’re going to have to nourish the beach … and then (they) need to put a multi-purpose reef out there, that will help stabilize it,” he said. “You really need a combination of all three to do it properly … If you don’t do something to change the erosion process, it’s just a band-aid.”
ProTecTube
The ProTecTube alternative was to be presented next by Maureen Woods, professional engineer and owner of Maxwell Marine Consulting Engineers, Inc. Woods was not present at the meeting but sent information to local officials Sept. 16.
Designed by Coastal Restorations Systems, LLC, Pro-Tec Tubes are wedge-shaped, sand-filled goesynthetic tubes, lined parallel to the water along a beach. Designed for dune restoration, over time they are said to cover with three to five feet of sand to extend the width of a shoreline.
A ProTecTube system has been installed on 100 feet of Volusia County beaches for 21 years, and to great effect, according to Volusia County Coastal Division Director Joe Nolin.
In a June letter to Gary Hamilton, president of Coastal Restoration Systems, Nolin wrote, “The project was perhaps the first of its kind in the state … and served to demonstrate innovative and alternative shore protection systems for high-energy ocean beaches.”
Holmberg Undercurrent Stabilizer
The Holmberg Undercurrent Stabilizer, which Save Flagler’s Beach’s promotes, was presented third, by hydrologist Dick Holmberg.
Modular geo-textile tubes filled with concrete composites placed at right angles from the dune system, the stabilizer is meant to foster long-shore sediment transport, reducing incoming wave energy and forcing sand build-up. As the tubes become sand-covered, beaches should grow in width and elevation.
Although USACE reports claim that stabilizers may trap sand in isolated regions of the beach, creating down-shore deficits, Save Flagler’s Beach points to Florida’s Gulf coast, where the technology has purportedly been used successfully.
“Undercurrent stabilizers do not ‘trap’ sand,” the group wrote on its site; “they increase natural accretion … over an area much larger than the installation. They have shown to increase adjacent beaches, (as well).”
Terry Potter, an organization representative, also commented on the technology’s cost.
“Holmberg’s system is a one-time cost,” he said, “requiring no further management. And that cost is likely far less than any other, less effective alternative.”
Reef Ball
Reef Ball technology as a shoreline stabilization alternative was to be presented by Maureen Woods, as well, who sent in information prior.
Noting that she has not personally performed any physical observations or data collection, Woods stated that it remains uncertain whether Reef Balls would make sense in Flagler. But she called success “likely,” given past performance at similar locations.
Concrete Reef Balls were initially designed as a fish habitat, but have been used successfully for coastal protection throughout the Caribbean, Woods noted. They are designed to attenuate wave energy and modify the predominant wave angle, enhancing natural beach accretion.
Woods believes the technology is not currently used for alternative shoreline stabilization in the U.S. because of strict permitting, powerful interest groups and “red tape bureaucracy.”
Woods is not affiliated with the Reef Ball Foundation.
WE WANT OUR BEACH BACK
The mission of Save Flagler’s Beach is to “make Flagler Beach the first coastal community in the United States to restore and retain a permanent, naturally sustainable dune and beach system.”
For more, visit www.saveflaglersbeach.com.
— Brian McMillan contributed to this story.
