Crews will have to leave, then come back to finish Hurricane Matthew dune restoration

Action News Jax has learned that restoration of Jacksonville's beach dunes has started.

On Oct. 25, the Jacksonville City Council approved $7.5 million in taxpayer funds to rebuild the dunes destroyed by Hurricane Matthew.

“When we came back, it was hard to see all the damage,” said neighbor Nancy Kelly.

Kelly and her daughter live a block away from where miles of dunes were destroyed when the storm surge from Hurricane Matthew came ashore.

Since then, Councilman Bill Gulliford has worked to get the dunes fixed. He helped get millions of city dollars approved to help pay for adding dune restoration to a current Army Corps of Engineers project that was already pumping sand back onto the beach before Hurricane Matthew.

“In the perfect world, I’d love to see us finish the whole thing now," Gulliford said.

But that won’t happen. Gulliford said the crews will leave for a different job in December.

“They will come back in April or May. They will finish Atlantic Beach, both dune restoration and beach renourishment,” Gulliford said.

Gulliford said the crews will also restore dunes in Jacksonville Beach.

“They will go back south and do the dunes in Jacksonville Beach that haven’t been done and also they will renourish that portion that was eroded by Matthew in extreme southern Jacksonville Beach," Gulliford said.

Gulliford said the cost of bringing the crews back next year could be millions, but he said it will likely not be the city but instead the Army Corps of Engineers that will cover the cost, because the original project of beach renourishment will not have been finished.

“The beach renourishment will not be finished … that was the original contract … so that contract will not be finished so they have to come back. Most of that will be picked up by the Corps as part of that original project,” Gulliford said.

Another way Gulliford said the city will save money is instead of sand being dumped in one spot and trucks hauling sand to the dunes, when crews return they move up and down the coast pumping sand right onto the dunes.

“This way, you’re putting the dunes back the traditional or conventional way by pumping the sand in and pushing the dunes up. So I suspect we’ll see a lower dollar amount,” Gulliford said.

Something that sounds good to neighbors who just want the dunes back before the next storm hits.

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“There’s always that concern, ya know. You hope you don’t have another storm that’s going to come through here,” Kelly said.

Once the dunes are restored, $1 million will be spent to add plants to the dunes and Action News Jax is told laws to protect the dunes will be more strictly enforced.

“The fact they’ve been so quick in responding has been great,” Kelly said.

“I appreciate them enforcing people not walking on them and letting them serve their purpose,” Christina Kelly said.

Gulliford said he’s pleased at how quickly actions were taken to help restore the dunes.

“It happened very quickly, quicker than anything I’ve ever seen happen. Timing was critical to getting anything done … in the whole time I’ve been on the Council I’ve never seen us take action on something that was introduced and voted on in the same night,” Gulliford said.

The city will also be able to apply to FEMA for the possibility of being reimbursed for some of the costs of the dune restoration.

Cox Media Group