helped pay for previous projects<\/a> \u2013 usually more than half the cost. However, the County was not able to receive compliant easements from all property owners \u2013 thus losing eligibility for the federal funding.\u00a0<\/p>\nIn 2017, the organization began requiring owners to sign 50-year easements \u2013 which provide legal public access to private property.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not put a grain of sand other than emergency dune placement on the shore since 2018,\u201d Pinellas County commissioner Kathleen Peters explained to the Catalyst. \u201cSo, the elevation of the shoreline was anywhere from six to eight feet below elevation because so many years had gone by with erosion.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2024, Hurricane Helene damaged the beaches significantly because there \u201cwas no sand there to absorb part of the energy of the waves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pinellas County Public Works was approved to oversee the effort and used tourist development tax dollars, paid by visitors and residents, and state grants to fund the nourishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an engineered beach that was designed to provide protection from storms,\u201d Pinellas County public works director Kelli Hammer Levy said, \u201cbut it also provides other benefits such as critical habitats for nesting sea turtles and shorebirds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The County was able to receive an emergency permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete the work, which will expire in March. Construction on the project began in September. She explained that since some residents did not sign an easement, there were gaps in certain areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably one of the biggest challenges was just the fact that everybody was working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,\u201d Levy said. \u201cThere were a lot of temporary inconveniences for a much bigger gain.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since January, the County has also been planting sea oats and other Florida native vegetation in recently constructed sand dunes at most of the beaches as well. This will help \u201cmaintain and bolster\u201d the structures, according to the County\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The process should be completed in the next two weeks, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, dunes are \u201cthe first line of defense against storms and act as a buffer to protect upland property and natural habitats.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They act as a \u201cflexible barrier\u201d to prevent damage from high tides and waves. Additionally, dunes can serve as a \u201chome for many plants and animals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners chair Dave Eggers explained that the beach nourishment project will have key tourism impacts. Visitors come from around the state, country and the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think about our parks, our trail and these beaches, they are all incredibly big, valuable assets to our residents,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t invest in them, then you lose not only what our residents like to have, but you lose the economic benefit and the protection benefit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pinellas County is currently working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reestablish a partnership, Peters added, and find a resolution on how to meet the requirements of the federal government.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud that we decided as a community that it was important to do it ourselves,\u201d Eggers explained. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough decision, but certainly the right one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In record time, Pinellas County\u2019s beach nourishment project has been completed. Local leaders and elected officials came together…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-150958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}