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St. Lucie County officials describe long-running erosion, seek Army Corps support for T-groins and renourishment
Summary
Port director told the county erosion board the Fort Pierce South Beach suffers chronic sand loss tied to federal inlet stabilization, and that the county is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state on shore protection projects including T-groin structures and periodic renourishment.
Joshua Rebor, director of Port, Inland Beaches for St. Lucie County, told the Erosion District board that Fort Pierce South Beach has a chronic sand deficit caused by stabilization of the Fort Pierce Inlet and associated federal features such as jetties and channel dredging.
Rebor said historically the county has addressed the deficit with beach nourishment projects carried out with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which he said can pay up to 78% of a project because the inlet is a federal structure that creates down-drift impacts. He told the board the county has pursued a long-term solution — including T-shaped groin structures — with the Corps for roughly 15 years and that a feasibility study was submitted to the Assistant Secretary of the Army in 2017.
Rebor said the project received conditional authorization in a water resources bill in 2022 and that for the last four years the county has been working to address the Corps’ listed conditions. He said the county’s response to those conditions is under review by the Assistant Secretary’s office and Corps headquarters; the hope among staff and local advocates is for Corps approval to move into the design phase by year’s end.
Rebor described the intended effect of T-groins as reducing wave energy that reaches the shoreline and retaining sand longer so that renourishment could be needed less frequently — he said engineers hope to move from about a two-year placement cycle to a roughly four-year cycle once the structures and federal shore-protection measures are in place. He emphasized, however, that the structures are expected to provide partial relief, not eliminate erosion entirely.
On near-term work, Rebor reminded the board the county did a truck-haul renourishment earlier in the year. He said the county received a 100% reimbursement from the state for that truck-haul placement and that those spot treatments can buy time until the next federal shore-protection project, which the port director said is expected to commence in February. Rebor also told the board the county intends to continue coordinating closely with the state and federal partners to maintain the Corps’ involvement because the local fiscal burden would be much heavier without federal cost-share.
The Erosion District board received Rebor’s update and heard that staff will continue monitoring the beach and pursue short-term spot placements as necessary while awaiting federal decisions on the larger project.
The erosion district adjourned with no formal vote required on the update.
