Beach renourishment schedule for "1715" beaches........

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Indian River: Slow progress

Because high-quality sand was at such a premium immediately after last year's hurricane season, Indian River County waited until November to complete its beach projects.

"We made a decision that we would accept slow progress in order to have good-quality material," said Jonathan Gorham, the county's environmental analyst. "In retrospect, I think we did the right thing. I may change my mind if we get a big storm next month."

During the summer, the beaches naturally grow, as the long, rolling waves push sand from sand bars back to the beach. In the winter, that sand is pulled offshore again.

That means many Indian River County beaches now are wider than they were after the storms, even though most still lack healthy dunes.

Dunes paid for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency line Wabasso Beach and other central county beaches, and newly planted sea oats have thrived with the heavy spring rains.

There have been no Army Corps renourishment projects scheduled for Indian River County. And without renourishment, federal officials said they weren't surprised that homes fell into the surf.

Beaches that received extra sand before the hurricanes fared better than those that didn't, McMillen said. Fort Pierce's South Beach ? a site of chronic erosion that is renourished every two years ? is an example. The sand dunes there vanished, but the roads and homes remained.

"They sacrificed themselves to protect the upland structures," he said of the dunes. "Those projects did exactly what they were supposed to."

- suzanne.wentley@scripps.com

Indian River County

Ambersands Beach restoration project

Project type: Offshore dredging

Sand volume: 290,000 cubic yards

Length: 2.5 miles

Cost: $6 million in FEMA funding

Timeline: Starts Nov. 1


MOLLY BARTELS
staff photographer

Paul Lucier, a roofer from Peabody, Mass., relaxes on his lunch break at Wabasso Beach recently. The beach, although open to the public, is still without permanent shower and bathroom facilities.

Wabasso Beach to Indian River Shores project

Project type: Trucked-in sand

Sand volume: 217,000 cubic yards

Length: 2.5 miles

Cost: $10.3 million in state funding

Timeline: 20% complete, work continues Nov. 1

Sector 7 project

Project type: Offshore dredging

Sand volume: 360,000 cubic yards

Length: 2.5 miles

Cost: Estimated $6 million in county funding

Timeline: Starts Nov. 1

St. Lucie County

Fort Pierce South Beach renourishment

Project type: Offshore dredging

Sand volume: 640,000 cubic yards

Length: 1.3 miles

Cost: $3.5 million in state, federal and county funding

Timeline: Completed June 6


ERIC HASERT
staff photographer

Playing along the eroded shoreline at Waveland Beach on Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County, Mario Prieto, 5, standing, and his brother Cristian, 10, of Miami dig into the sand as the tide moves in.

South County emergency dune restoration

Project type: Trucked-in sand

Sand volume: 201,300 cubic yards

Length: 3.66 miles

Cost: $4.48 million in state and county funding

Timeline: Completed April 30, analysis ongoing