South Ponte
Vedra-Vilano
Beach
Restoration Association, Inc.
Restoration Association, Inc.
Frequently Asked Questions Page (FAQ's)
We hope that the following questions and answers will help you understand the reason that South Ponte Vedra-Vilano Beach Restoration Association, Inc. was formed. .
Each of the categorized questions has one or more detailed questions and answers to further explain the specific process of our beach restoration. You can always click on "Main" to start back at the original categories.
Is there a solution to the erosion problem?
QUESTIONS
- What is full beach restoration?
- What are the benefits of beach restoration?
- How long does a beach restoration last?
- How soon could we have a beach restoration project?
- How much will a beach restoration cost?
- Who would pay for our beach restoration project?
- What is an MSBU?
- Will the Federal Government contribute toward our beach restoration?
- How much will it cost an individual property owner?
- Will the GTM NERR support or oppose a beach restoration?
ANSWERS
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What is full beach restoration?
A full beach restoration project typically involves dredging beach-compatible sand from an offshore site, pumping it onto the beach, and then moving it around with bulldozers to achieve the designed shape. The sand is placed both above and below the water level of the beach, elevating and widening the beach and constructing or inflating dunes. The design includes additional “sacrificial sand,” which is intended to feed the expected erosion that occurs over the life of the project, both slowly and rapidly, as in storms. Restoring or maintaining a beach through restoration is not a new process. This is a proven, DEP acceptable, environmentally-friendly method of preserving the dunes, the turtle and other coastal wildlife habitat, and the quality of life for all of us who love the beach. There are a number of other solutions that are either no longer permitted (e.g., rock revetment), or are in experimental stages (e.g., removable porous groin), or not appropriate to the scope and conditions of our coast.
Note that beach restoration is very different from the Emergency Sand Project (see faq "What is the Emergency Sand Project?"), intended to provide interim protection.
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What are the benefits of beach restoration?
It has been demonstrated from both field studies and theory that a wide beach provides significant benefits in the form of storm damage reduction. During storms, a wide beach absorbs the wave energy rather than impacting on the upland structures and infrastructure. The storm damage reduction benefits of beach restoration projects have been well established. The protection extends to all the properties behind it – including the roads, buildings, and sewer and water lines. That means fewer flood insurance claims and disaster assistance requests.
Beach restoration can also improve habitat for sea turtles, sea birds and beach flora. An eroded beach removes the habitat for sandy beach creatures and so restoration is a positive contribution. There are numerous controls in place to protect the environment during the restoration process.
An additional important benefit of restoration is that after a beach has been restored, and if it also meets certain Federal criteria, it will be considered an engineered beach and will qualify for FEMA funding assistance to repair extensive storm damage. Following a declared disaster, FEMA will pay for up to 75 percent of recovery efforts for the restoration of an engineered beach.
Finally, restoration of property values should follow the restoration of the beach.
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How long does a beach restoration last?
Some of our property owners expressed concern that beach restorations don’t last. That is often true. Beach restoration usually has a finite lifetime and maintenance is almost always required. There are instances where the nourished beach has continued to grow naturally, adding secondary and even tertiary dunes. The time between projects, when required, and the extensiveness of those projects, is predicted at the time of initial design but cannot be guaranteed. In addition, the project expects, and designs for, expected erosion that occurs over the life of the project, both slowly and rapidly, as in storms. This is referred to as “sacrificial sand.”
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How soon could we have a beach restoration project?
The process for beach restoration is lengthy and constrained by State and Federal standards. A non-Federal beach restoration project usually takes 2-3 years, so the very soonest we could begin restoration of the beach is late 2010, and it would be safer to assume that it would be at least another year or two beyond that due to typical challenges encountered regarding engineering, permitting, and financing. In contrast, a Federal beach restoration project has more requirements to be met (such as the project must be considered of “benefit to the nation”), requires multiple Congressional authorizations and separate Federal funding appropriations, and takes many more years to complete.
As a result of our efforts over the past year, our state-matched, non-Federal Feasibility Study is fully funded, underway, and scheduled for completion by December 2008.
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How much will a beach restoration cost?
The exact cost of the project depends on many factors, such as length of shoreline, width of beach, and the source of sand and the associated process for moving the sand. The exact cost will not be known until after the feasibility study and then the detailed engineering analysis and design are completed, and contractors have submitted bids for the project. Similar projects have cost in the range of $1.5-4 million per mile. So, for the entire 10 miles of our coastline, the cost could be $15-40 million; if only the two critically eroded sections were nourished, the cost could be $5-11 million.
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Who would pay for our beach restoration project?
Funding the project in cooperation with the State of Florida is the most expeditious way to fund a full beach restoration. We will seek to maximize our qualification for matching funds from the State DEP, and to finance the project cost over several years through a county financing vehicle such as a Municipal Services Benefit Unit (MSBU). Numerous coastal areas, within the State of Florida as well as in other coastal states, are funding beach restorations this way.
At the State level, the Florida Beach Erosion Control Program is the primary vehicle for implementing a state-wide beach management effort. The Program works in concert with local, state, and federal government entities. Financial assistance in an amount up to 50% of project costs is available to Florida’s county and municipal government districts or special taxing districts for shore protection and preservation activities.
While the State of Florida has previously budgeted $30,000,000 per year, in matching funds for local government beach erosion control projects, and more for hurricane or other emergency conditions, with the current budget crises at all levels of government, we are already seeing those annual funding level commitments to be reduced. One result of the budget reductions is that projects that are approved for matching funds must wait longer to receive those funds.
We have already benefited from this State financial assistance in that our Feasibility Study, which costs $280,000, qualified for matching funds from the State DEP, so that the property owners’ cost is only $140,000. To qualify for as much as 50% state matching funds toward the subsequent (and much more expensive) engineering and construction tasks, two requirements must be met: first, the Beach must be declared “Critically Eroded” by the FDEP, and second, requirements for public access and parking must be met. Part of the beach is already designated critically eroded, from R84-R94 and R109-R117. Currently public access and parking is limited particularly in the South Ponte Vedra Blvd segment of the beach, but numerous accesses are platted and could be made available. Our engineering contractor is beginning to explore the possibilities of additional parking and marked accesses. It is important to note that it is possible to obtain DEP permits and nourish a segment of beach that is not determined to be critically eroded, or for which public parking and access does not meet state requirements; however there will not be matching funds for that segment of the project. Numerous other beach restoration projects in the State are composed of multiple segments that meet the requirements to different degrees.
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What is an MSBU?
The Municipal Service Benefit Unit (MSBU) is a special financing vehicle commonly used by the County for sewer lines, water lines, and paving of dirt roads, but which also can be used for beach restoration projects.
The MSBU is a financing vehicle wherein the cost of a project can be financed over a period of years using low-interest, tax-exempt county bonds. The County borrows the money and pays for the project, then repays the bonds with funds collected from the affected property owners via an assessment included on their annual property tax bill. Other municipalities in Florida as well as in other states have funded, or are in the process of funding, beach restoration using this vehicle. Some examples include: Amelia Island, Navarre Beach, Longboat Key, Stump Pass, Gasperilla Island, Okaloosa Island and City of Destin. Others, for example Captiva, Marco Island/Collier County, Vanderbilt Beach, Hutchinson Island, and St Joseph Peninsula Beach, are using variations such as MSTUs or special taxing districts.
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Will the Federal Government contribute toward our beach restoration?
In addition to our state-matched Feasibility Study, which is fully funded and scheduled to be completed in November 2008, there is an ongoing Federal Feasibility Study, which now includes the South Ponte Vedra coastline. The Federal Feasibility Study for St Johns County, which initially included the critically eroded Vilano Beach segment and Summerhaven, was initiated in 2005, with a total cost estimate of $1.54 million. In 2007, South Ponte Vedra Beach was added to the scope of the study. It is not known how many more years until its completion. Over the four years through 2008, approximately $650,000 of the total $1.54 million study cost has been funded through a combination of Federal, State, and County funds, with a remaining unfunded cost of approximately $900,000 over an unknown number of remaining years. Congressman Mica is aware of our beach erosion issues and is very supportive of our efforts. He has introduced bills to attempt to provide the additional Federal funds in 2009 to complete this Federal Feasibility Study, but the result of that request will be uncertain for many more months. Once the study is funded and completed, there is no guarantee that a Federal restoration project for our beach would be authorized. If it is subsequently authorized, there is still great uncertainty as to when funding for the restoration construction project would be appropriated.
Note that the Federal government does not consider beach restoration a priority, and Federal funds had not been appropriated for such projects for the last several years, other than in states of emergency such as following a major storm and when very stringent criteria are met. The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007 was enacted into law in November 2007, the first WRDA since 2000. WRDA authorizes projects for a Federal study. After a study results in recommendations for a Federal construction project, WRDA separately authorizes a construction project. In either case, having authorization is only part of the Federal process, since each project must also have an appropriation to fund the work. Many of the projects authorized in WRDA are awaiting funding from future fiscal year budgets.
Even in cases where it can be shown that some action taken by the Federal government contributed to the beach erosion, the process for study, approval, and funding appropriation to restore the beach takes many years. A common example is the erosive impact on a beach downdrift of an inlet created by dredging, such as the St Augustine Inlet (there are numerous other such examples).
For example, the St Augustine Beach Restoration project was originally authorized in 1986, its authorization then revised in 1999, and the initial beach restoration completed in January of 2003. That’s 17 years.
As another example, North Topsail, NC had agreement from the Federal government in 2002 to help fund a restoration project in 2007, but that was slipped in 2004 to a 2009 project, and then slipped again in 2006 to a 2012 project. That’s 10 years and still counting.
Because the federal process takes so long and there is no guarantee that a “federal interest” in our area would be identified, we are continuing to focus our effort on the local and state-only approach for the initial restoration. Our best hope from the Federal process is that a subsequent restoration might be included in a Federal program. Other municipalities, such as Okaloosa Island and the City of Destin, have chosen the same path. That is, they are funding an initial beach restoration through a cooperative effort with the State only, while concurrently proceeding along the long process to attempt to secure Federal funds. If the Federal approval and funding is ultimately secured, a subsequent maintenance restoration project could be constructed under the Federal process.
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How much will it cost an individual property owner?
As mentioned before, the exact cost of the project depends on many factors, such as length of shoreline, width of beach, and the source of sand and the associated process for moving the sand. The exact cost will not be known until after the feasibility study and then the detailed engineering analysis and design are completed, and contractors have submitted bids for the project. Similar projects have cost in the range of $1.5-4 million per mile. For the calculation below we’ve assumed a cost of $2.5 million per mile, inclusion of the full 10 miles of coastline, and qualification for full 50% state matching funds. The funding period of 7 years is used, because that is the average length of time until a follow-up beach restoration might be required. One can easily adjust the bottom line annual cost to different assumptions. For example, double if zero state matching funds, double for a 150 foot lot, or add 50% more if our costs come closer to $4million/mile. Even at triple the cost estimate, the annual expense buys a great deal of protection and peace of mind during our frequent storm events, as well as restored beauty and habitat.
Rough Cost Estimate (rounded):Project Cost, assuming $2.5 million/mile for 10 miles $25,000,000 Reduced project costs, assuming full 50% match by State DEP $12,500,000 Annual payment against cost, with 5.5% bond interest, and county administrative fees $2,200,000 Annual payment allocated per foot of oceanfront $41 Annual payment for 75 foot oceanfront lot $3,125
Some property owners are concerned that this is yet another significant annual expense that may not be affordable. Although the payment mechanism is in the form of an annual tax assessment, it is useful to consider the payment as if it were an insurance premium to insure the land that you own. Homeowners hazard, wind, and flood insurances all provide compensation to restore the structures on the property; but none of those insurances compensate for the lost sand (and resulting receding property line). It is also helpful to compare the cost of an individual property owner’s share of restoration (which provides substantial storm protection) to the cost of constructing coastal armoring, which provides much less substantial protection and is not permissible for everyone.
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Will the GTM NERR support or oppose a beach restoration?
Some of our property owners have expressed concern that nothing can be done because much of the affected coastline is part of the GTM NERR. We have met with the NERR Director at GTM, and have confirmed the NERR is as concerned about the impacts of the erosion as we are, and it is not opposed to beach restoration as a solution so long as the appropriate studies are done and the criteria for restoration are met.
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