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'If we don't get our sand, we're in trouble': Sand renourishment project in Pinellas County at risk

Every five to seven years, a stretch of Pinellas County beaches gets a visit from the Army Corps of Engineers to get more sand pumped into the beaches.

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Every handful of years, the shores of Pinellas County beaches reap the benefits of a sand renourishment project, funded mostly by the Army Corps of Engineers. The next project is scheduled for 2024 and it's in jeopardy of not happening at all. 

When storms roll through, sand washes away which ends up slowly eroding the beaches. To repair the damage done, sand is pumped in from the gulf and dumped back onto the beach.

The Army Corps of Engineers changed the requirements for the project to be completed in 2024. And it's worrying local beach town mayors. 

"The bottom line is, if we don't get our sand, we're in trouble," North Redington Beach Mayor Bill Queen said.

In order for the 14.2-mile stretch of Sand Key to be eligible for the sand renourishment project, every single beachfront homeowner has to sign a perpetual easement, relinquishing a portion of their property rights for public access purposes adjacent to the beach.

"You're giving the easement for a lifetime," Queen said. "The project only lasts 50 years. That's not the worst part of it — they want 100% compliance from everyone up and down the beach. You're never going to get 100% compliance."

And they haven't. Only 223 of the 461 homeowners have signed the easement agreement, according to Pinellas County Coastal Management Dr. John Bishop. 

"The requirement is almost absurd," Queen emphasized. "There's no common sense being used here."

Whether or not the project moves forward is depending on the beachfront homeowners. The impact extends far past the sand. The owner of Broke N Bored Grill in Redington Shores is situated across the street from the beach. 

"Tourism drives the economy down here — but the beach, it couldn't be more true," Owner Jim Scherer said.

Not only do nice beaches have positive impacts economically, the more sand on the beaches, the more of a buffer in storms. 

"I opened 10 days before Hurricane Irma," Scherer said. "Do you want to talk about protection and being scared to death? the farther away the water is, the better it is for my business."

The Army Corps of Engineers covers 63 percent of the costs. The remaining amount is split between state and county dollars. Pinellas County doesn't have the money in its current budget to foot that entire bill on its own, according to the coastal manager. 

"The county would have to look internally to decide if it could afford it," Bishop said. "The current budget couldn't handle it."

In North Redington Beach, all residents have signed the easement. The mayor of the beach town said he knows it's unrealistic to expect the same of every beachfront homeowner. 

"I don't want everyone to sign the easement," Queen said. "I want the Army Corps of Engineers to use their heads and realize [that] not everyone is going to sign. They need to change the way they're looking at this."

Now, his hope is for the county to successfully negotiate with the Army Corps to not require 100% of beachfront homeowners to sign easement agreements. 

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