please keep your microphone & camera off until q&a ...public webinar - sector 7beach and...

Public Webinar - Sector 7

Beach and Dune Renourishment Project

Please keep your microphone & camera off untilQ&A session begins

August 31, 2020

Welcome Coastal Stakeholders!• Reason: The Sector 7 Beach and Dune Renourishment Project has approx.

60% of the required easements signed and a decision point is approaching.

• Today’s goal: Disseminate information on the upcoming beach renourishment project while providing clarification on the easements and common questions.

• You will hear from:• Quintin Bergman – IRC Sea Turtle Environmental Specialist • Eric Charest – IRC Natural Resources Manager• Tem Fontaine – Coastal Engineer (Coastal Tech)• Dylan Reingold – IRC County Attorney• Rich Szpyrka – IRC Public Works Director

Have any Questions?

• Email questions [email protected]

• At the end of the Webinar, Staff will address questions received unless they were already discussed in the presentation

• This Webinar is being recorded and will be made available on www.ircgov.com/coastal

• Reminder: Please keep your microphone & camera off until Q&A session begins

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.ircgov.com/coastal

Project Background

Natural Resources Manager

Eric Charest

Sector 7 - Background

• Indian River County’s 22.4 miles of beach is divided into management Sectors

• FDEP considers Sectors 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 to be Critically Eroded Areas

• 70% of our shoreline

• Sector 7 lost an average of 1.5 foot/year of beach between 2013 and 2019

Sector 7

• 14 Neighborhoods

• 82 properties in total

Treasure Cove

Wyn Cove

Gracewood Lane

Sandpointe

Smugglers Cove

Shorelands

Seagrove

Ocean Ridge

Anglers Cove

Surfside Estates

Bonita Beach

Porpoise Point

Oceanside

Floralton Beach

• The closest City Park is South Beach Park• South Beach to Sector 7 = 1.4 miles

• The closest County Park is Round Island Beach Park

• Round Island to Sector 7 = 1.9 miles

• No Public Parks or Public East/West Access within Sector 7

Area Details

Round Island Park

1.4 miles

1.9 miles

South Beach Park

• Sector 7 was first renourished in 2007 following Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004

• The County placed 362,200 cubic yards of sand fill

Previous Renourishment Project

Porpoise Point

Project costs – Estimated $9.9 Million

Federal Cost Share (FEMA) Total $5.4 Million• Matthew (75% Cost Share) - $2,384,436.65• Irma (90% Cost Share)- $920,130.30• Dorian (75% Cost Share) - $2,145,296.13

State Cost Share • The State is contributing $307,538

• This is Hurricane Irma supplemental funds• Unusual to receive this

County Cost Share• IRC to cover approximately $4,202,892.83 (42%) through Tourist Tax revenues from

the Beach Restoration Fund

Oceanside – Reef Road

Funding Details

• Spending to date is approx. $500,000 dollars

• It is possible that State and Federal funding may not be available if the anticipated construction schedule does not commence on/about Nov. 1, 2020

Funding Details

Surfside Estates

Have any Questions?







Technical Details

County’s Coastal Engineering Consultant

Tem Fontaine PE

Permitting - Design

• In 2018 the County started the permitting process

• During design, the County took a stance to not cover the nearshore reef

• Resulting in a narrower beach

• For address specific design questions email [email protected]

Bonita Beach Sub.

Sand Quality

• Sand must be free from course gravel or rocks, construction debris, toxic material, or other foreign matter.

• The County has specific requirements for sand to be beach compatible. County is more strict than State

• County sand specs are friendly to turtles• Based on comparison data from previous sand projects

• Weathering and time changes beach sand over time.

Construction Access

• No Public Parks or Public East/West Access within Sector 7

• Authorization to use private property to construct Sector 7 near the southern limit

• Waiting on bid opening to determine if this project will be truck hauled or dredge

Wyn Cove

~191 ft. of dune and beach added

Smugglers Cove

~18 ft. of dune added~170 ft. of beach added

Anglers Cove & Surfside Terr.

~22 ft. of beach added

Seagrove

~61 ft. of dune and beach added

Bonita Beach Sub.

~52 ft. beach added

Floralton Sub.

~52 ft. beach added

Have any Questions?







Perpetual Beach Management and Assessment Easement

County Attorney

Dylan Reingold PA

Easement Language

• Negotiated as part of a larger arms’ length transaction with Florida Tech

• The result of back and forth negotiations with the respected law firm of Dean Mead who was representing Florida Tech

• Written for beach management purposes now and into the future Ocean Ridge

In Perpetuity

• Perpetual easements mean that it is tied to the property when it’s sold

• Staff won’t have to track down owners and ask for signatures every time a beach and dune renourishment project is planned

• State provides funding based on their ranking system• Shovel-ready projects rank higher = more funds for more frequent projects

• The easement is not a Cloud on Title, as properties have already been sold• Some view the easement as an asset due to the eroding nature of the

beach

Customary Use

• The sand and project is paid for with public money, public should be able to walk, sunbathe, look for shells on provided sand

• Pre-existing Ordinances prevent non-traditional uses

• Horseback riding, bonfires, camping, dune protections, etc.

Seagrove

Have any Questions?







The County’s Next Steps

Public Works Director

Rich Szpyrka PE

Constructability

• High percentage of signed easements needed• Sector 7 has to be constructible to be cost-effective• Little to no gaps

From the recently complete Sector 5 Project

Current Easements to Date

• The County website has a publicly viewable map to show which properties have and have not signed the easement.

• www.ircgov.com/easements

% Status Description

2.4% Owners declined to sign easement

36.6% Easement pending owner action

42.7% Easement signed and recorded

18.3% Easement in process of being executed

Summary of Easement Status Sector 7

35 parcels

30 parcels

15 parcels

2 parcels

As of August 31, 2020

http://www.ircgov.com/easements

Current EasementsNorthern Project Area

Southern Project Area


Current Easements

• Compare property status with linear footage• Total project area length = 10,612 feet

% Status Description LinearFootage

2.4% Owners declined to sign easement 282 ft.

36.6% Easement pending owner action 4168 ft.

42.7% Easement signed and recorded 4339 ft.

18.3% Easement in process of being executed 1853 ft.


Project Timeline

• Bids will be opened on Sept. 9, 2020• Staff will review and determine the qualified lowest bid• Staff presents to BOCC for Award of Project• November 1st start construction• Finish before April 30th

Anglers Cove

Upcoming BOCC meeting

• On September 15, 2020 Staff will present to the Board of County Commissioners an update on the easement status for both Sectors 3 and 7. Staff will provide the Board with options for both projects based on the percentage of easements that have been obtained for each sector as of this date

Seagrove

• Move forward with construction -or- post-pone the project 1 year.

• Funding is at risk

Have any Questions?







Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I refuse to sign the easement?

• The sand from this project provides upland structures protection against storms, provides space to recreate, and provides endangered and threaten sea turtles the space to nest.


• Other than risk the entire project from being built, properties that don’t accept the easement will not receive sand, resulting in a gap in the dune and beach.

Does signing the easement mean the County now owns my beach?

• No the County does not own the land referenced to in the easement.

• The easement language only addresses accessing the sandy portion for renourishment-related activities and allows for customary use.

Will the public have access to my beach?

• People would only have access to the sandy portion of the property (Blue).

• They would not be permitted over the other parts of the property (Yellow).

How do sea turtles react to new sand? • A requirement of every beach

renourishment project is to compare the nesting efforts on new sand vs natural sand. These comparison studies have shown that new sand has no major negative effects on the reproduction effort of sea turtles.

• Without sand renourishment projects beaches dwindle and sea turtles would loose available nesting habitat.

Loggerhead nesting near Ocean Grill Marine Turtle Permit 166

Won’t the sand wash away and cover the reef?

• The project was designed with the reef in mind. The County’s Coastal Engineering Consultant limited the amount of sand that would naturally drift away to not negatively impact the reef.

• Permits require the County to survey the reef before and after the project to ensure sand hasn’t covered the reef.

• If sand does negatively impact the reef, permits require the County to mitigate the damage by constructing an artificial reef.

Will the entire beach be closed during construction?

• Only portions of the beach that are actively being constructed will be closed to the public as a safety concern.


How will the Contractor build the beach?

When will my portion of the beach be under construction?

• Many specific details pertaining to the Contractor won’t be known. The County cannot control the Means & Methods of the Contractor.

• Staff has been and will continue taking great care in carrying out this project.

Questions & Answers

Indian River County reserves the right to remove or hide inappropriate content, including, but not limited to:

• Profane language or content;• Personal attacks;• Sexual content or links to sexual content;• Content that includes unlawful conduct;• Comments that are clearly off topic from the posted topics; • Advertising services, entities, products or solicitations of commerce;• Spam or links to other websites, pages, or accounts;• Information that may compromise the safety or security of the public

or public systems;• Content that defames any person, group, or organization.

If you have a question please use the “Raise Hand” function and you will be unmuted to state your question.

Thank you!Further questions or comments please send us an email at [email protected]

Find the easement map at www.ircgov.com/easements

This Webinar will be posted on www.ircgov.com/coastal


http://www.ircgov.com/easements


please keep your microphone & camera off until q&a ...public webinar - sector 7beach and...

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