Consultants present 10‑year project planning and implementation workflow for Amelia Island beach renourishment

A coastal engineering consultant presented a consolidated 10‑year "Project Planning and Implementation" workflow that maps annual monitoring, contract schedules, permit updates and funding steps required to keep the Amelia Island renourishment program on track.

"The landward pile . . . is what we call the design beach volume," consultant Al Browder said, explaining that the design beach volume restores minimum dune height and beach width while a seaward "advanced fill" is the sacrificial sand that erodes over time.

Why it matters: the workflow is intended to make the full project lifecycle readable and repeatable so staff or incoming consultants can pick up tasks, know when to issue task orders and budget for monitoring, and be prepared for a future construction year. Participants said the document should be a living tool, with clearer emphasis on communications for MSBU petitioning and on the items that are permit‑required.

Key points: - Schedule and monitoring: Browder described a roughly 10‑year cycle (renourishments in 1994, 2002, 2011 and 2021) and said the group is at the end of year 4 with the year‑5 monitoring window approaching. He recommended late‑spring surveys (May–June) with draft reports by September so the county fiscal year can account for work and reimbursements. "We try to shoot for late May or June to pick a nice calm period of time where the beach has not been recently impacted by bad weather," he said.

- Permits and borrow area: The group is operating under a permit that requires periodic monitoring and data submission; because the current borrow area was a one‑cycle approval the consultant recommended beginning permit update discussions in year 6 or 7. The consultant said historical aerial evidence suggests the borrow area should refill sufficiently before the next construction cycle, but sampling and analysis will be needed to confirm.

- Contracts and procurement: The consultant explained the division of work: consultants prepare technical specifications and drawings and the county advertises and awards construction contracts. Smaller maintenance tasks (scarps, decompaction, turtle nest protection) may be procured under task orders or small contracts, requiring separate procurement clocks.

- Funding and reimbursements: The consultant reviewed the DEP Beach Management Funding Assistance Program application cycle (call for applications June 1 each year) and explained that grant approvals follow the state budget process; reimbursements are requested once deliverables and invoices exist. The consultant also outlined FEMA workflows for post‑storm assistance: pre‑storm surveys, preliminary damage assessments, and design surveys to document damage for reimbursement.

- Project roles: recurring partners include the coastal engineering consultant, communications support, volunteer sea turtle monitors (Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch), shorebird consultants (Amelia Naturally / Christina Nelson), PFM (MSBU financial manager), and legal counsel (Neighbors, Giblin & Nickerson). Attendees asked to add an identified liaison manager ("Buddy") to the contact list.

What was not decided: no formal votes were taken at the meeting. Participants requested the workflow call out, in a more prominent way, the MSBU petition and assessment steps, and directed staff to expand communications and community outreach timing so petition drives and public meetings align with resident presence and the county’s hearing/assessment calendar.

Next steps: attendees asked for the workflow to be updated with a larger communications and outreach schedule for petition collection, to add a highlighted MSBU timeline entry in year 8, and to prepare a schedule of permit pre‑application outreach to DEP in year 6 or 7.