Flagler County, DEP present Phase 2 beach‑and‑dune plan and seek to record erosion control line

Flagler County officials and staff from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday presented plans for a Phase 2 beach‑and‑dune restoration and held a formal hearing on establishing an erosion control line (ECL) that would fix the seaward boundary between private upland parcels and state sovereign submerged lands between FDEP range monuments R46.1 and R68.9.

"We are gathered here tonight to talk about the erosion control line," said Ansley Ryn Key, Coastal Engineering Administrator for Flagler County, introducing the workshop portion of the meeting. Guy Weeks, a planning manager in DEP's Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection, described the hearing process and legal role of the ECL.

Why it matters: the ECL records the mean high waterline as surveyed on Oct. 1, 2024, and—if approved by the hearing officer and recorded by the state—becomes the fixed seaward boundary for affected parcels even after public sand is placed. County and DEP staff said the Phase 2 work would rebuild the beach berm and dune, place sand on both private and public areas seaward of the established line, and require easements from upland property owners to construct and maintain the dune features.

Project scope and schedule: the presenters said the permit application describes placing about 1,800,000 cubic yards of beach‑compatible sand sourced from a nearshore borrow area identified as Area 3A (the same general area…