beach erosion - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T15:15:28Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/beach+erosionAlong the Coast: Boca-Highland condo group expands to Delrayhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-boca-highland-condo-group-expands-to-delray2021-12-01T17:16:25.000Z2021-12-01T17:16:25.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Rich Pollack</strong></p>
<p>For almost four decades, officers and managers of condos east of Federal Highway in Boca Raton and Highland Beach met regularly to share information and to listen to key speakers on topics that affect them all. <br />Now, with the collapse of Surfside’s 12-story Champlain Towers South in June still on the minds of many and with recertification regulations coming down the road in some communities, the Beach Condo Association of Boca Raton and Highland Beach is expanding to welcome representatives from condos in Delray Beach. <br />“Our organization is about community and this is about neighbors helping neighbors,” said Emily Gentile, the association’s president. “It’s about courtesy and kindness to our neighbors in Palm Beach County.”<br />The association meets for an hour and a half the third Tuesday of every month from October through April. It focuses on sharing information on topics that are common and of interest to most associations. <br />During past meetings, members have discussed a wide range of issues from crosswalks on State Road A1A to beach erosion and storm protection. They have shared ideas about security, maintenance and repairs and even staffing. <br />In addition, the association offers board certification classes and other continuing education classes that are useful to condominium leaders and managers. <br />“Meeting board members from other buildings is always helpful,” said Janet Friedman, a vice president on the board of Villa Costa, a 36-unit building in Highland Beach. “We always have a common problem or question and I can either get information or possibly give information to a fellow board member with something we at Villa Costa have faced in the past.”<br />Friedman says she goes to meetings to keep up with changes to relevant legislation on the state and local levels and to work with others on important issues. <br />“It is always good to collaborate with others that have the same interests,” she said. <br />Joanne Chester, president of the board of the 55-unit Mayfair of Boca Raton, agrees about the value of swapping ideas. <br />“Just hearing stories of what other buildings are doing is priceless information,” she said.<br />Now, Gentile says, there is a great focus on structural integrity and recertification of buildings, topics with lots to learn that can often be confusing.<br />“Recertification is an issue that requires a lot of education,” Gentile said. “We want our neighbors to know what we know.” <br />With that in mind, the Beach Condo Association last month held a Recertification Experts Panel meeting on Zoom featuring building officials, code enforcement officers, two structural engineers, an electrical engineer and structural contractors. Members had an opportunity to learn more about ordinances passed by Boca Raton and Highland Beach relating to recertification and to get an idea of how certification requirements will be rolled out. <br />Condo board members and managers also now have a better understanding of the structural and electrical issues facing buildings — especially those on the barrier island — and what inspectors will look for. <br />“We have a lot more to come,” Gentile said. “We’re pulling out all the stops to educate our members and give them all the information they need.”<br />Future meetings, she said, will include related topics including how the Champlain Towers collapse will impact insurance. The association also plans to hold a meeting focused on financial issues with banks and other institutions, discussing what options are available should condo associations need to finance major structural or electrical repairs. <br />Annual dues for the Beach Condo Association of Boca Raton and Highland Beach are $150 per building per year. Meetings are open to condo association officers and committee chairs as well as managers. Meetings are hosted at different condominiums along the coast. </p>
<p><em>More information is available at <a href="https://beachcondoassociation.com">https://beachcondoassociation.com</a></em></p></div>Lantana: Town considers partnership with neighbors to restore beachhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/lantana-town-considers-partnership-with-neighbors-to-restore-beac2021-12-01T17:12:55.000Z2021-12-01T17:12:55.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9868336501,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9868336501,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="9868336501?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>On Nov. 8, Lantana’s public beach was scoured by a heavy storm. This shows the beach south of the Imperial House. </em><strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
<p><strong>By Mary Thurwachter</strong></p>
<p>Lantana’s public beach is sand-starved, and a plan spearheaded by the town of Palm Beach aims to assuage that hunger.<br /> Lantana officials and residents heard of the proposal during a special meeting on Nov. 3 hosted by Brian Raducci, Lantana’s new town manager. He said the town has an opportunity to partner with Palm Beach, South Palm Beach and Palm Beach County to enter an interlocal agreement for a dune restoration project.<br /> Rob Weber, the coastal program manager for the town of Palm Beach, said the program would add sand to Lantana’s beach, similar to what had taken place in South Palm Beach earlier this year.<br /> “There are opportunities that if we are impacted by a storm the sand can be replaced with FEMA funds,” he said. “So we are trying to work together, trying to be as smart as we can and judicious with our funds and to be able to have a program to have a beach that is healthy for everyone to enjoy.”<br /> Palm Beach has been doing beach renourishment projects since the 1940s. The sand flow, which goes from north to south, was interrupted in the 1920s when the Lake Worth inlet was trenched.<br /> “Ever since that point, there was noticeable erosion that occurred south of the inlet and then we started doing beach nourishment in the 1940s,” Weber said. “It wasn’t until the 1970s, when environmental regulations really took hold, that we started getting projects permitted. Our first permitted project was in midtown (Palm Beach) in 1995.” <br /> The first project in the southern area near South Palm Beach was the Phipps Ocean Park project that was constructed in 2006.<br /> “Each time we’ve done a beach renourishment project in the south end, we’ve also had a dune restoration, and a dune restoration is not just building a dune, but adding sand above the knee-high water line, not just placing sand into the water,” Weber said. “When you place sand in the water, you need a federal permit from the Corps of Engineers; when you’re placing sand above the knee-high water line, you only need a permit from the state of Florida.”<br /> In 2013, a beach management agreement, the only one of its kind in Florida, was signed for Palm Beach island, regardless of municipal boundaries. <br /> “We started implementing our program,” Weber said, “and after we had it signed in 2013, and most recently this year, we did a partial beach nourishment project in Phipps Ocean Park to restore some of the impacts we had from previous hurricanes.” At the same time, they did dune restoration south of the Lake Worth Pier between the Bellaria and La Bonne Vie condominiums and placed sand in South Palm Beach. <br /> “The ultimate goal here is to keep adding as much sand as we can to the system to be as healthy as possible,” Weber said. “The beaches overall will perform better with more sand. … If the beaches are healthier here in South Palm Beach and Lantana, then our program will be that much better and we’ll be stronger altogether.”<br /> Mike Jenkins, the engineering consultant for Palm Beach, said if dune projects are done in concert together over a larger area, they tend to perform better.<br /> The proposed project would involve transportation of sand from an existing stockpile at Phipps Ocean Park and placement on the beaches of South Palm Beach and Lantana.<br /> Jenkins said that within last year’s major nourishment project, some extra sand was reserved on the beach to distribute in dune projects this season. The work can only be done outside of turtle nesting season.<br /> The project, expected to take two weeks, would require access to the beach to truck in and place the sand. <br /> “South Palm Beach can’t resolve the issue just by themselves,” Jenkins said. “The town of Palm Beach really can’t solve it just by themselves. We’re going for a regional response.” <br /> Construction would happen in January or February and would require beach closures.<br /> “One of the critical aspects of this is if Lantana joins in this program to maintain a beach through repetitive dune projects, those projects would then become eligible for FEMA funds if there’s a declared disaster after a hurricane,” Jenkins said.<br /> The beach at Lantana is a public beach, unlike the private beaches in South Palm Beach, and more likely to receive government money.<br /> Some residents at the meeting didn’t like the idea that access to Lantana’s beach would be over the existing sea wall, but Jenkins said he did not anticipate damage to the sea wall. Covering it with sand and mass, he said, would preserve the wall during the process. “The contractor would be contractually obligated to repair anything if he were to damage it.” <br /> Weber said the cost to Lantana would be zero.<br /> “The idea is that the town of South Palm Beach would be covering that cost,” Weber said. “The town of Palm Beach is obviously doing the work, but South Palm Beach are the ones that would take on that cost in exchange for the access.” <br /> South Palm Beach Town Manager Robert Kellogg said: “The current proposal calls on us to pay for the sand at Lantana Beach for providing access for our project.”<br /> Kellogg said the king tides and northwest winds in November washed the sand from the first phase of the project away from the beach.<br /> “We are assessing the volume of sand we will need in January-February. The second phase will include both us and Lantana,” he said. “As I don’t have an idea of the volume of sand needed, I can’t give you a cost.” <br /> South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer implored Lantana officials to consider the proposal.<br /> “I don’t see any downsides other than a little inconvenience,” she said. “It’s just a win-win for us.”<br /> However, some residents pointed out that closing the public beach during peak season is not ideal.<br /> Raducci said he expects the proposal to come before the Town Council soon. </p></div>South Palm Beach: After residents sound alarm, council douses idea of fire station in townhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-after-residents-sound-alarm-council-douses-idea-2021-12-01T16:35:17.000Z2021-12-01T16:35:17.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Joe Capozzi</strong><br /> <br /> With a unanimous vote Nov. 29, the South Palm Beach Town Council extinguished the idea of including a fire station in plans for a new or renovated Town Hall. <br /> The vote was met with cheers from more than 20 residents who attended the meeting to voice their opposition to a fire station — an idea many of those same residents spoke against Nov. 4 at a charrette hosted by the architectural firm designing options for a new Town Hall.<br /> At that session, councilman Mark Weissman indicated support for including a fire station at Town Hall to replace Palm Beach County Fire Rescue’s cramped station less than a mile down State Road A1A at Manalapan Town Hall.<br /> But, three weeks later, Weissman voted against the idea.<br /> “Quite honestly my goal was to put pressure on Manalapan. They need to do it,’’ he said in an interview after the Nov. 29 meeting, referring to renovation of the station. <br /> Something else happened in the weeks after the charrette that many residents believe influenced Weissman to change his stance: Weissman and councilman Bill LeRoy drew challengers during the qualifying period for the March 2022 election. <br /> The challengers, Monte Berendes and Cindy Furino, were among the residents who attended the Nov. 29 meeting.<br /> “You want to get re-elected, don’t vote for it,’’ one resident yelled just before the council vote. <br /> Residents against the idea say a fire station in South Palm Beach would be too noisy and incompatible with the area. <br /> “Let’s put an end to this talk about a fire station. We don’t need it. We don’t want it,’’ Berendes said Nov. 4. “Amen,’’ replied many of the 30 residents at the meeting that day. <br /> On Nov. 29, Mayor Bonnie Fischer quickly doused the controversial idea before residents could say anything. <br /> “Out of respect to the public outcry,’’ she said, “I make a motion that accommodating fire rescue shall not be any part of a remodel or rebuild of our Town Hall.’’<br /> When the motion passed unanimously a few seconds later, the crowd erupted in cheers. <br /> “A lot of people were confronting them with emails” in the weeks after the Nov. 4 meeting, said Kevin Hall, a resident and condo manager. “I believe they got the message.’’<br /> Less-than-ideal conditions at the Manalapan station are prompting the county to explore options for a new location once fire rescue’s lease there expires in two years. <br /> On Nov. 4, Weissman had warned residents at the charrette that if South Palm Beach rejects a fire station, fire rescue’s “next move will be further south, further from us, further from when you need fire rescue.” <br /> “We have some control over that by saying, ‘How would you like to come here?’ This is a health and safety issue for all of us,’’ he said that day.<br /> Many residents didn’t buy that argument and said Manalapan, with its wealthy tax base, should renovate its fire station. <br /> A fire rescue station in South Palm Beach would have required at least 10,000 square feet, about the same space occupied by the current Town Hall, which is on a narrow strip of land between two condominium buildings. <br /> That would have forced a Town Hall to be built vertically into a multistory building, similar to a previous architect’s plan for a $6 million five-story structure that was vehemently opposed by residents a few years ago as a grandiose “Taj Mahal.’’<br /> Sirens and truck engines would also disrupt residents in condos next to Town Hall, said Berendes, who lives next door in The Brittany.<br /> Ironically, the existing Town Hall’s first use was as a fire station in the 1970s, the first of “three generations” of improvements to the building, said Merrill Romanik, principal architect at Synalovski Romanik Saye, the firm hired for $63,000 to draw up options. <br /> “An addition in the ’90s brought the Town Hall functions. Then another addition expanded the meeting room spaces and the meeting room space we are sitting in today,’’ she said. <br /> The current Town Hall includes a substation for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, which replaced the town’s police department in 2019. PBSO will be included in a new Town Hall plan. <br /> Many residents who spoke at the charrettes favored a renovation of the existing facility or a limited expansion, including a one-story Town Hall elevated on stilts for protection against sea level rise. <br /> But others felt it was time for something new. <br /> “This building has been Scotch taped together,’’ said Richard Hegarty. “Times are changing. This isn’t the ’60s. It’s not the ’70s or the ’90s. We have to change with it ‘’ <br /> The Town Council will have final say over what the new Town Hall will look like, a decision that will be made after SRS hosts more public input meetings in December and January. As of Nov. 29, there were no firm dates for those meetings.</p>
<p><br /> <strong>In other business last month:</strong><br /> • Fischer said the new sand that was washed away from the town’s beachfront during king tides will eventually return to the shoreline. <br /> “You’re all wondering where’s the sand and all the money we spent?’’ she said, referring to a recently completed $747,471 beach replenishment project. <br /> “I can assure you the sand is still in the system. And that’s the most important thing,’’ she said. “Slowly you’ll see some sand coming back. It’s not going to be dramatic but the point is it’s there. I would expect some initial recovery within the next few weeks.’’<br /> • The Town Council approved a program to pay the tax bills of qualified senior citizens in town, as part of the Palm Beach County Low-Income Senior Citizen Municipal Tax Exemption program. • The council voted to spend about $67,000 on 45 solar LED lights for town sidewalks.</p></div>South Palm Beach: Town approves planting of sea oats for rebuilt dunehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-town-approves-planting-of-sea-oats-for-rebuilt-d2021-06-02T16:16:35.000Z2021-06-02T16:16:35.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>It took plenty of hard work and some last-minute scrambling, but South Palm Beach saw its beach project completed on budget and on time during the first week in May, avoiding interference with the height of turtle nesting season.<br /> “We put 20,000 cubic yards of sand within the confines of South Palm Beach,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said during the Town Council’s meeting on May 11. (Consider that a typical dump truck can carry between 10 and 15 cubic yards of sand.)<br /> Fischer added a note of concern, however: “We all know it is the luck of the draw on whether this is going to last.”<br /> The hope in South Palm is that nature will be kind and not send a tropical storm to tear up the dune line that has just been rebuilt. Meanwhile, the town is committed to doing its part to give nature a hand.<br /> The council unanimously approved a $15,000 contract with Earth Balance to plant sea oats along the beach to protect it against erosion. Based in North Port, the company has done coastal restoration and environmental management projects for dozens of municipalities and governments around the state.<br /> “We need to get the sea oats on it to stabilize it,” said Town Manager Robert Kellogg. “I realize this is a significant amount of money. But we’ve invested over $700,000 in this project, and $15,000 is a small price to pay to preserve and keep what we have.”<br /> Fischer again offered thanks to the town of Palm Beach, which dredged the sand and sold it to South Palm Beach, and to former Mayor Gail Coniglio and Robert Weber, Palm Beach’s coastal coordinator.<br /> “Without them, none of this would have happened,” Fischer said.<br /> Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb commended Fischer for her years of effort to bring the project to the town. <br />“Mayor, I want to congratulate you on working, after 10 years, to get this beach project done,” he said. “It’s the first time we’ve done anything — anything — to our beaches.”<br /> The Town Hall chambers erupted in applause.<br /> In other business:<br /> • The council, on a 3-2 vote, approved a civility policy for behavior during the town’s public meetings.<br /> Gottlieb and Councilmen Mark Weissman and Bill LeRoy supported the measure, saying it was necessary to maintain decorum and keep people from being accosted. Fischer and Councilman Ray McMillan voted against the resolution, worrying the language might be too restrictive and make the town vulnerable to legal challenges. <br /> “I think a pledge of civility is enough,” Fischer said.<br /> Officials said the policy is similar to what neighboring municipalities use.<br /> • The town’s staff is beginning work on the budget for fiscal year 2021-2022, and Kellogg told the council one of the proposed expenditures for consideration is incentive payment for condo buildings to install onsite charging stations for residents with electric vehicles.<br /> Kellogg said Florida Power & Light, with the approval of the Lantana Town Council, is going to pay for and install two supercharging stations at Lantana Beach Park. So, electric vehicle owners may soon have more options. </p></div>South Palm Beach: Joy, relief greet long-awaited dune restoration on beachhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-joy-relief-greet-long-awaited-dune-restoration-o2021-04-28T17:01:28.000Z2021-04-28T17:01:28.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8862813068,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8862813068,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="8862813068?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>Palmsea condo residents Carmine (foreground) and Bob Scalia watch a dump truck and bulldozer work on a project that calls for delivery of up to 1,000 truckloads of sand to the dune line of South Palm Beach. As the project progressed in the cousins’ backyard on April 21, Carmine said, ‘I hope this is a once-in-a-lifetime event for us.’</em><strong> Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
<p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Hundreds of truckloads of dredged sand arrived from Palm Beach in April, bolstering South Palm Beach’s dune line and buffering condo buildings from the relentless seas.<br /> For Mayor Bonnie Fischer, it has been an often excruciating and frustrating journey that at times seemed impossible to complete.<br /> Fischer has spent more than 10 years pushing the project. She attended dozens of meetings and environmental conferences, made hundreds of phone calls and twisted more arms than an army of chiropractors to get the work done.<br /> But the most important thing she did was make a friend — former Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio.<br /> “An engineer told us, ‘If it wasn’t for the relationship between their mayor and your mayor, all this would never have happened,’” Fischer says. “That touched my heart.”<br /> Coniglio and her council allowed South Palm Beach to purchase as many as 1,000 truckloads of sand that Palm Beach dredged as part of the town’s extensive beach renourishment project.<br /> And when things got tough, Coniglio was unwavering in her support for her southern neighbors. Two years ago, Palm Beach County abruptly pulled out of a project to install groins on the South Palm beaches, citing rising costs and objections from communities to the south.<br />Conigilio stepped in to offer South Palm Beach a piece of her project. It will cost the town somewhere between $700,000 and $900,000, money that has been saved in reserves for years to repair the beach.<br /> Fischer is the first to admit it’s not a perfect solution. One strong storm could wash away much of the work.<br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8862821066,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8862821066,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" width="102" alt="8862821066?profile=RESIZE_180x180" /></a>“The groins would have been a better option,” the mayor says. “I was really disappointed that didn’t happen. But we had two options left — do this, or do nothing.”<br /> Finding some sort of strategy to deal with the eroding beachfront became an inescapable issue in South Palm Beach in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma tore through Florida.<br /> By the time the hurricane left Palm Beach County, South Palm Beach’s coastline was devastated and several condo buildings had nothing but battered seawalls to stand up to the relentless waves.<br /> It took more than 10 years to actually develop the groin plan with the county and win the approval of state regulators. The original cost for deploying the network of a half-dozen concrete sand holders on South Palm’s beaches was estimated at $5 million. The state was to pay half, the county 30% and South Palm 20%.<br /> By 2019, however, that price tag ballooned to something closer to $10 million and the county abruptly pulled out of the project. It didn’t help that both Manalapan and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa threatened to sue over allegations the groins would steal sand destined for their beaches.<br /> The Town of Palm Beach offered its alternative a few months later — a much more modest plan but one that was clearly more practical. Rather than a beach stabilization project, Palm Beach offered a dune restoration project, with sand and sea oats restoring what nature had eroded away.<br /> It’s not a small paradox that South Palm wound up getting more help from Palm Beach than its own residents. Despite years of trying by Fischer and three city managers, South Palm Beach never did get all the easements it needed from condo associations and homeowners to work on the beach. They, too, lawyered up, expressing worries about damage liability and opening access to the public.<br /> In the end, Palm Beach gained access to haul in the dredged sand on its side of the border line between the two towns.<br />Fischer said that the contributions of Robert Weber, Palm Beach’s coastal program manager, were invaluable. Weber effectively became South Palm’s project manager and saw the work through. <br /> After five terms in office, Coniglio decided not to run for re-election in March. Fischer said she’s grateful Coniglio stayed long enough to help her friends in South Palm Beach.</p></div>Along the Coast: Beach sand to get refreshed during seasonhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-beach-sand-to-get-refreshed-during-season2019-10-30T17:44:24.000Z2019-10-30T17:44:24.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith and Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Three South County beaches will be restored this season with nearly 800,000 cubic yards of sand, costing $13.66 million.<br /> Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Oak Brook, Illinois, will dredge the sand offshore and then coat the southern coast of Delray Beach, from Casuarina Road to the city line with Highland Beach.<br /> Boynton Beach’s Oceanfront Park beach, about 1,000 feet long, will receive extra sand.<br /> The contractor also will restore about 3,000 feet north of Oceanfront Park and about 2,000 feet south of it. Both parcels sit in Ocean Ridge.<br /> Heavy equipment will be stationed at Oceanfront Park, said Michael Stahl, deputy director of the county’s Department of Environmental Resources Management. <br /> “The projects will restore sand lost during Hurricane Irma,” he said. <br /> Initial assessments didn’t reveal that much sand was lost during the 2017 storm.<br /> “It wasn’t until we did the studies that showed the substantial sand loss below the waterline,” Stahl explained. <br /> The projects will be paid for with federal tax dollars, authorized by Congress in June under the Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Act. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will oversee the work. <br /> The Delray Beach work is estimated to start in December and the Boynton Beach/Ocean Ridge project in February, according to David Ruderman, Army Corps spokesman. <br /> In addition, Ruderman said the Army Corps office in Jacksonville awarded a separate $8.39 million contract to Great Lakes to restore the Jupiter area beaches in northern county. That work is scheduled to start by the end of 2019 and add 517,000 cubic yards of sand.<br /> In South Palm Beach, the Town Council is hoping to partner with neighboring Palm Beach for a beach renourishment project early next year, paid for with federal tax dollars.<br />South Palm would purchase about $700,000 worth of sand from Palm Beach so the project can be extended five-eighths of a mile south. The town already has the money set aside.<br /> But both municipalities are having the same problem getting the joint venture started: easements. Palm Beach needs 51 easements from property owners to reconstruct 2.8 miles of its beaches. As of October, only about 40 have agreed to grant access. The others are balking, saying they’re reluctant to open their private waterfront to public use.<br /> South Palm Beach needs 16 easements and has 15 in hand, according to Mayor Bonnie Fischer. The holdout is one of the town’s few single-family homeowners.<br /> Fischer said she remains optimistic that agreements can be reached with that homeowner and with those in Palm Beach.</p></div>South Palm Beach: Long-awaited beach renourishment could take place in Aprilhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-long-awaited-beach-renourishment-could-take-plac2019-09-05T13:44:52.000Z2019-09-05T13:44:52.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>With the help of next-door neighbor Palm Beach, the town of South Palm Beach has a chance to begin a beach renourishment project by early next year.<br /> “I would imagine we’d probably plan on the month of April,” Robert Weber, Palm Beach’s coastal protection coordinator, told the South Palm Town Council on Aug. 13. “That’s the furthest we could work before the beginning of the turtle season.”<br /> Palm Beach is scheduled to begin dredging sand in November to replenish the beaches in the southern end of the town. Weber said the plan is to bring the dredging off the coast of Phipps Ocean Park by March. From the park, sand could be trucked the short distance into South Palm Beach to feed its eroding beachfront.<br /> “I think that the project will take around three weeks to complete,” Weber said, and he estimated that it might take as many as 1,000 truckloads to build up the South Palm shoreline.<br /> Along with the new sand, the plan calls for restoring the town’s dune line where possible by planting sea oats and other erosion-resistant species.<br /> South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer and Weber expect the cost of the project to run about $700,000. The town already has the money set aside. It was to have been used for a beach stabilization project that would have installed concrete groins along the shoreline. But Palm Beach County officials abruptly ended their support for the project earlier this year, saying it had become too costly and faced the threats of lawsuits from disgruntled neighbors to the south.<br /> Because Palm Beach has been working with county, state and federal officials on renourishment efforts for the last two decades, no extensive permitting is required. The partnership benefits both towns: Palm Beach can reduce its costs by selling sand; South Palm can repair its beachfront by buying it.<br />The project still needs a number of important issues resolved in order to move forward:<br /> • The Army Corps of Engineers must give its final blessing and then the go-ahead to get dredging started.<br /> • Palm Beach must get satisfactory bids from two contractors, one for dredging and another for trucking. <br /> • South Palm must negotiate easements from several condo associations to get access to the beaches for trucks and workers.<br /> • Both towns must negotiate the details of an interlocal agreement to clarify the ground rules for the project.<br /> • The storm season has to remain quiet so the dredging season isn’t delayed and doesn’t run into the turtle nesting season in May.<br /> “I hope that everyone understands how lucky we are that Palm Beach is going to include us in this project,” Fischer said. <br /> <strong>In other business</strong>, the Town Council unanimously approved setting the tentative millage at the full rollback rate of $3.59 per $1,000 of taxable property value.<br /> The rollback rate is the millage level at which tax revenues remain flat compared with the last fiscal year. Property values in South Palm are up a healthy 5.57 percent over 2018. Even with the rollback, the town can expect to generate about a $90,000 budget surplus because of spending cuts, most notably the upcoming switch to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for police services.<br /> “We’ve been able to give taxpayers a break on their taxes for four years in a row now,” Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb said.</p></div>South Palm Beach: South Palm could join Palm Beach for beach restoration projecthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-south-palm-could-join-palm-beach-for-beach-resto2019-07-31T15:44:59.000Z2019-07-31T15:44:59.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>After Palm Beach County abruptly pulled out of a plan to stabilize her town’s eroding shoreline in February, South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer said she was determined to find another option.<br /> Now Fischer says she’s working on the details of a Plan B that she says would bolster the town’s dune line and replenish the lost sand on its beaches.<br /> The partner this time isn’t the county but the town of Palm Beach. Fischer is negotiating an agreement with her neighbor to the north to work together on a beach dune restoration project that calls for buying tons of newly dredged sand from Palm Beach and moving it to the shores of the South Palm Beach condos.<br /> Besides sand, the project would involve new plantings — sea oats in particular — to fortify the town’s dunes.<br /> The cost to South Palm Beach could run about $700,000. The town has the money in hand, having put it away over the past five years to pay for the scuttled project with the county. The mayor said the sand likely would be trucked from Palm Beach to South Palm Beach.<br />The advantage of using dredged ocean sand, rather than hauling it from inland sources, is that it more closely matches what’s already on the beaches.<br /> Fischer said she has the support of Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio and her counterpart’s Town Council for the partnership.<br /> “Gail has been extremely helpful,” Fischer said. “We’re very fortunate if this goes through with Palm Beach and we’ll be able to get some sand. Otherwise, we have no other option. We’re all private beach. The state’s not going to come in and fund a project.”<br /> State Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach, has confirmed that no help is likely to come from Tallahassee anytime soon. During a report on the legislative session given to the South Palm Beach council at its July 23 meeting, Caruso said the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael last year has drawn all the state’s beach resources to the Panhandle.<br /> “Mexico Beach still doesn’t have electricity and still doesn’t have water,” Caruso said. “One of the things I was disappointed about is that almost all the dollars for beach restoration and dune recovery were shipped up there to help those who were devastated by Michael.”<br /> Fischer said she hopes to have Robert Weber, the coordinator of Palm Beach’s coastal protection and dredging program, discuss the plan at South Palm Beach’s Aug. 13 meeting. Work could begin as early as November when turtle season ends.<br /> One major hurdle that remains is gaining easement access to bring the sand to the coastline. Fischer and Town Manager Robert Kellogg have been meeting with condo groups during the past month to negotiate agreements.<br /> Easements from condos were also a problem with the county project, which called for installing a network of seven concrete groins to hold sand and stabilize the town’s beaches. The project, which was conceived after Hurricane Wilma tore up the South Palm waterfront in 2005, also was met with opposition from neighbors to the south who claimed the groins would interfere with the natural flow of sand and damage their beaches.<br /> The town of Manalapan and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa threatened to sue to stop the project. In the end, county officials cited soaring costs — from a $10 million plan to something closer to $25 million — for shutting it down.<br /> “It’s still a roll of the dice because one storm could take out all the sand,” Fischer said of South Palm’s Plan B. “But we don’t have another choice.”</p></div>South Palm Beach: Town looks for lobbyist despite demise of beach projecthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-town-looks-for-lobbyist-despite-demise-of-beach-2019-04-03T18:51:27.000Z2019-04-03T18:51:27.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>South Palm Beach council members are looking for a lobbyist to get behind their beach project. Never mind that they don’t have a beach project to get behind.<br /> The plan to stabilize the town’s shoreline with concrete groins fell apart in February when county officials pulled out their support because of soaring costs and opposition from neighbors to the south.<br /> That left South Palm Beach scrambling to find an alternative project that would do something to address residents’ concerns about their eroding beachfront.<br /> “We’re looking at other options,” said Mayor Bonnie Fischer. “Nobody is giving up.”<br /> Fischer said during the March 19 town meeting that she wasn’t ready to disclose those options. She also said she wasn’t ready to hire a lobbyist.<br /> “I’m not against a lobbyist. But I think it’s a little premature.”<br /> Despite her reluctance, Fischer grudgingly supported the proposal from newly seated Councilman Mark Weissman to find a lobbyist who can convince state and county officials that the town needs help to save its beach. Weissman’s motion passed 4-0 with Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan absent.<br /> “It’s good to have a lobbyist,” said Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb. “But we also need a project to lobby for.”<br /> Weissman argued the town should search for the right person now so the council is ready to go when it settles on an alternative project.<br /> “Perhaps in the investigation we can find out who we want to engage, who’s available, who doesn’t have a conflict,” Weissman said. “Perhaps there’s somebody who’s done this at another municipality along the coast.” <br /> Because condo buildings in South Palm Beach sit on a rocky ledge so close to the waterline, traditional beach renourishment projects are not feasible, environmental engineers say. Without groins to hold it, sand trucked in and deposited on the beach would quickly wash away.<br /> “One little, tiny rainstorm and there goes the beach,” Fischer said. “It’s very disconcerting.”<br /> Residents of Manalapan and farther south oppose groins because of concern they will interrupt the natural downstream flow of sand to their beaches. Manalapan and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa threatened to sue to block the project.<br />Despite the opposition, Fischer said the town and the county “still have momentum” to move forward and find a plan that works for everyone.<br /> In other business, the council honored police officers David Hul and Adam Farrish for lifesaving efforts.<br /> Farrish provided aid to a heart attack victim walking along State Road A1A on Jan. 21.<br /> Hul was first to respond in front of the Imperial House condominium on Jan. 24 when a motorist struck Rinaldo Morelli and his wife, Lena, police say, as they walked along A1A. Rinaldo Morelli, 75, died despite Hul’s efforts to save him with CPR. Lena Morelli was treated at Delray Medical Center and released.<br /> Investigators from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office have not finished their report on the incident. Police believe the driver, Janet J. Reynolds, 91, of Palm Beach, drove her 2009 Lexus off the road and struck the couple. Officials say the investigation is likely complicated because of efforts to look into the driver’s health and medical background.</p></div>South Palm Beach: Beach project appears dead after county backs outhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-beach-project-appears-dead-after-county-backs-ou2019-02-27T20:03:28.000Z2019-02-27T20:03:28.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960866097,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960866097,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960866097?profile=original" /></a><em>Traditional beach renourishment techniques do not work well with the rocky hard bottom partially visible in this 2017 image of South Palm Beach. The neighboring towns of Lantana and Manalapan to the south are concerned that groins would prevent sand from making its natural migration to their beaches. <strong>The Coastal Star/Google Map</strong></em></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>For nearly 13 years, Palm Beach County and South Palm Beach have worked together on a controversial plan to use a network of concrete groins to relieve the town’s chronic beach erosion problems.<br /> They spent $1.7 million and devoted countless hours to the joint venture, consulting with scientists and engineers, lobbying politicians and state officials, and twisting the arms of skeptical residents and neighbors.<br /> Now, months before construction of the groins was scheduled to begin, it appears the project is dead in the water.<br /> On Feb. 5, the county sent a letter to the state Department of Environmental Protection officially withdrawing a request for the permits needed to move forward. County environmental managers say the project has grown too expensive to make sense anymore.<br /> “We have determined that the project is cost prohibitive,” said Michael Stahl, deputy director of the county’s Environmental Resources Management department.<br /> What was envisioned as a $10 million plan a decade ago has ballooned now to something closer to $25 million, Stahl said. Though the state has promised to cover half the cost, the new estimate is a deal breaker for the county, which would have to pay 30 percent, and for South Palm Beach, which would owe the remaining 20 percent.<br />Still, the county and Mayor Bonnie Fischer say they would continue to negotiate in an effort to persuade the DEP to take a more favorable view of the project.<br />Fischer said the town was “exploring other options” but no decisions are at hand. “We’re never going to quit. We’ll keep fighting for our beach.”<br />Stahl told the South Palm Beach Town Council on Feb. 12 that the DEP has made two new permit requirements that will be virtually impossible for the county and town to afford.<br /> Because the groins might do environmental harm to the rocky hard bottom that runs along the South Palm Beach shoreline, the state is requiring the construction of an artificial reef covering close to 8 acres offshore to mitigate any damage. That alone would cost millions.<br /> Perhaps more daunting and more expensive, however, is the long-term requirement to keep neighbors happy.<br /> The town of Manalapan threatened to sue the county and South Palm Beach to stop the project and was joined in the mounting legal offensive by the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. The opponents believe the groins would interrupt the natural north-to-south flow of sand and cause erosion of Manalapan’s beaches.<br /> Because of Manalapan’s complaints and threats, the state wanted the county and South Palm Beach to commit to repairing potential beach damage south of the town. Stahl said the newly conceived state standard for claiming damage is relatively generous: Any public or private entity with a beach less than 45 feet can make a case for sand replenishment, and the county and South Palm would be on the hook for that.<br /> “This is a condition that could result in perpetual placement of sand,” Stahl said. “It gives anyone the right to order a survey and demand corrective action.”<br /> The potential legal liability for South Palm Beach could bankrupt the town, officials say.<br />Manalapan Mayor Keith Waters, who said for months he was committed to “taking any means necessary” to stop the project, said the town had to protect its beaches.<br />“We didn’t have a choice,” Waters said after the Feb. 26 Town Commission meeting. “We got specific reaction from the entire community, from the Eau and from people on the ocean. They felt that it was going to have just an immediate impact on their beach.”<br />Waters said his town tried to negotiate with South Palm Beach and the county but was unable to find a solution or dissuade the project’s supporters from moving forward. <br />Threatening to sue was the only option, he said.<br />Town, county left reeling<br /> “I know it’s not easy for anybody to take this news,” said Deborah Drum, the county’s environmental resources director. “We don’t take it lightly. We’ve all invested a lot of time and resources and funds to get to this point. This isn’t where we wanted to end up.”<br /> As for a Plan B for South Palm Beach? There isn’t one.<br /> Because of the rocky bottom along the town’s five-eighths-mile shoreline, traditional sand renourishment techniques do not work. Stahl said the county made a half-dozen attempts between 2003 and 2009 to haul in sand and place it on the town’s beach, but with nothing to hold it in place, the wave action washed it away within months.<br />The county also wanted to protect Lantana Municipal Beach, the public access sandwiched between South Palm Beach and Manalapan. The town of Lantana was essentially a silent partner in the county’s plan, with no financial requirements because of its public beach access.<br /> After Hurricane Wilma tore up the shoreline in 2005, officials turned to stabilization with groins as a last resort that might hold sand and protect not only the beach but condominium sea walls — and, in the face of sea rise, the condominiums themselves.<br /> “Everybody has to understand that we’re dealing with a dynamic medium,” said Fischer. “You’re talking about looking at a beach project over 12 years.”<br /> South Palm has a “continuously wet beach,” she said, and issues that are truly unique. Fischer said just as the storms and tides would come and wash sand in and out of the beachfront, the DEP seemed to shift positions constantly.<br /> “There were a lot of stipulations and roadblocks, and meanwhile everything (on the beach) is changing every day,” Fischer said. “The county was constantly inundated with requests for additional information. ... This has been a highly regulated issue.”<br /> To date, the county has spent a little over $1.3 million on studies and permit applications for the project, and South Palm has paid about $330,000. The number of staff hours invested in the effort is incalculable.</p></div>South Palm Beach: Mayor cites progress in getting condo easements for beach restoration planshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-mayor-cites-progress-in-getting-condo-easements-2016-03-30T15:02:22.000Z2016-03-30T15:02:22.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960638491,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960638491,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960638491?profile=original" /></a><em>Under the proposal, seven concrete groins will run perpendicular to the shor</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>stretching up to 75 feet out into the ocean. This conceptual drawing shows the groins uncovered,</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>but they will be buried under 7 feet of sand. The sand will gradually wash away and the beach will need</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>renourishment every two or three years.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Conceptual drawing provided by Palm Beach County</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /><br /> Mayor Bonnie Fischer and Town Manager Bob Vitas are going door-to-door along the South Palm Beach oceanfront, selling the town’s beach restoration plan to residents.<br /> Much of their campaign is spent debunking rumors and distortions. But their main focus is getting 16 easements from the 16 property owners on the 5/8-mile coastline.<br /> “If one says no, then we don’t have a project,” Vitas said.<br /> The easements will allow engineers and surveyors to begin setting the stage for the installation of seven groins that officials hope will restore the town’s shrinking beaches and slow erosion for maybe — just maybe — the next 50 years.<br /> The $5 million restoration plan for South Palm Beach is nearly 10 years in the making and is built on a partnership between governments that have committed to split the bill: The federal government will pay 50 percent of the project, the county will pay 30 percent from its tourism bed tax coffers, and the town will have to cover the remaining 20 percent.<br /> South Palm Beach has been putting money away for years, even during the Great Recession, and has $1.5 million in reserves earmarked for restoration.<br /> But nothing happens unless Fischer and Vitas sell the 16 property owners — mostly condominium association boards — on allowing the easements.<br /> “Things have been going well so far,” Fischer said. “But there are so many rumors and so much false information out there.”<br /> Much of the confusion stems from a poor understanding of groins. What are they and how will they work?<br /> Groins are concrete panels that are mounted on concrete support piles. Think of them as similar in structure to the concrete sound walls that are erected along Interstate 95 to shield neighborhoods from noise.<br /> The seven groins will run perpendicular to the shoreline, some of them stretching as far as 75 feet into the ocean. Once the groins are installed, you won’t know they’re there, engineers promise, because they will be buried under 7 feet of sand and planted deep into the ocean’s hard bottom. The groins will not be attached to the condo seawalls.<br /> Over time, the ocean will take its toll, gradually carrying the sand away from the groins. Engineers expect that every two or three years more sand will have to be brought in to keep the groins covered. The cost of this replenishment is expected to average about $200,000 a year and is the town’s responsibility to pay.<br /> The goal of the project is to stabilize the town’s shoreline and maintain about 75 feet of beach from one end of South Palm Beach to the other. <br /> Fischer and Vitas say they hope to have the 16 property owners committed to allowing the easements by the end of April. The county then could sign off in June on beginning the survey work.<br /> But the heavy construction is still many months away. The target date for beginning installation of the groins is somewhere between the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018, Fischer said.</p></div>Editor's Note: A wish for residents in 2016: Be informed, get involvedhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-a-wish-for-residents-in-2016-be-informed-get-involv2015-12-30T16:47:16.000Z2015-12-30T16:47:16.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p> As I sit at my desk the day after Christmas — with several extra pounds on my waist and a purring office cat on my lap — I think about how much there is to be thankful for as we slip into the New Year. <br /> Because I’m in the business of publishing a community newspaper, I also think about all that we need to keep an eye on in 2016. No matter how sated we may be with the sugar and tryptophan of the holidays, it’s important to remember that we can’t protect democracy by building gates around our personal desires and forgetting our place in the larger community. <br /> Here are my top three local issues for the coming year: <br /> • Beach erosion: It isn’t going away. Even if you believe that pumping sand on public beaches is a waste of time and money, it does allow one of the main economic drivers of Florida (tourism) to continue. As our population increases (there are now 6 million people living in the South Florida corridor), there is a growing need for recreational space — and there are very few public beaches remaining. No matter how many gates we put up, tourists (and residents) will want to come to the beach. Those of us lucky enough to live along the shore need to take a broader look at the role beaches play in our economy and not succumb to an “I’ve got mine” mentality.<br /> • Sober homes: The recovery industry’s meteoric rise over the past few years has taken almost everyone by surprise. We’ve all known family, friends or neighbors who have battled with addiction and are thankful for professionals who provided assistance for this disease. What we didn’t expect was for the sober home industry to explode when laws and a lack of regulations provided access to easy money for those who prey on the needs of others. <br /> Now we have the fourth-largest industry in Palm Beach County giving little back to the communities where they see the most potential profit. It’s become an issue for government agencies (aka our tax dollars) to deal with. Unless recovery industry leaders step up their efforts to police their own (it’s not like they don’t have the money), it’s going to take a long time for the wheels of government to provide a solution that benefits both the communities and the growing need for addiction treatment. <br /> • Guns for hire: Advance apologies to all my attorney friends, but it seems that no dispute (no matter how small) is settled in our area without costing thousands of dollars in legal fees. Again, much of this ends up being paid by the taxpayers. In meeting after meeting, I watch individuals, businesses and developers seek special allowances from local government by hiring well-connected lawyers who know what it takes behind the scenes to get things done. Can’t blame them, it’s how things work. <br /> But after seven years of attending local government meetings, I see the same attorneys before our councils and commissions again and again and again. It becomes obvious that a very few people are behind the changes (good and bad) happening in our communities. Someone is profiting, and seldom is it the taxpayer. <br /> Will any of these concerns be mitigated or solved in the coming year? Doubtful. These are complex issues. <br /> Still, I have hope for 2016. <br /> Already I see citizens organizing and becoming better informed. In today’s changing media world, this is essential. It has become more and more important that traditional “follow-the-money” journalism be supplemented by courageous citizens who are willing to become part of the solution: solutions that work for everyone.<br /><br /><em>Mary Kate Leming,</em><br /><em>Editor</em></p></div>