Families fighting to save their Ponte Vedra Beach homes from shrinking shoreline

Close to a dozen homes in Ponte Vedra Beach have already been condemned.

People who live along the beach are pushing for the county to do something before their homes end up in the ocean.

With every hurricane and nor'easter, Ponte Vedra Beach is dealing with a shrinking shoreline.
It was a packed meeting at the Ponte Vedra Branch Library as homeowners demanded that county and state officials do something to save their beaches and their homes.

"We can't wait until our houses are showing concrete or they've fallen in the ocean for someone to do something," homeowner John Hoffecker said.

Tony McNeal, with the Florida Coastal Construction Control Line program, said that under Florida statute, the structure must be vulnerable to damage in a frequent storm to allow coastal armoring.

Homeowners want this changed because they said most of their houses aren’t considered vulnerable.

"The issue is that there's a set of rules that were built by who knows who and no one talked about how those can get changed," Hoffecker said.

Marti Lafaye said she had to move out of her house Wednesday because the ocean is now too close to her home.

"I’ve lost 90 feet of dune in one year," Lafaye said.

The St. Johns County public works director said he is working with other departments to find a solution.

Cox Media Group