Staff outlines decades of beach nourishment, recent large projects and typical volumes

Town staff presented a multi-decade overview of the district's beach-nourishment work and recent projects during the Sept. 17 Beach Protection District meeting.

Mister Dubcek, the staff presenter, said the town "has placed a lot of sand out there over the years since 1973, over 20,000,000 cubic yards," and described a pattern in which major projects occur every three to four years, with more recent individual projects averaging about 1,200,000 cubic yards. He told commissioners that named storms since 2013—Matthew, Irma, Dorian, Ian and Nicole—have led to FEMA obligations that funded recovery projects.

The presentation described the district's strategy of building a feeder-beach segment on North Beach Road intended to capture and then feed sand south along the island. Staff also reviewed a recent large recovery project in response to Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, saying "Total volume on that project was 1,573,837 yards," and that Martin County contributed additional sand as a cost-share partner on that effort.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about specific project footprints and how often projects repeat; staff said the town's practice has generally been to target a flat annual collection or to hold millage flat while values rose, producing a multi-year reserve build that influences project timing.

The district's consultant work (identified in the presentation as Gahagan and Bridal and Ecological Associates) and permit constraints—including a nearshore hard-bottom gap where sand placement is not allowed—were cited as design and operational constraints for large projects.

Looking ahead, staff said the town is pursuing permit modifications with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to extend feeder-beach designs to additional segments and is evaluating offshore borrow-site expansion to secure more predictable future sand supplies.