Flagler Beach will be receiving almost $9 million from the federal government to go toward restoring its beaches, the county government announced on Wednesday. They were joined at the Flagler County Emergency Operations Center by Congressman Randy Fine.
The funds will help restore areas of beach which were severely eroded during the impact of Hurricane Milton in October 2024. Flagler County has been grappling for years with the long-term answer for beach erosion, as the phenomenon threatens not only coastal roadways but residences and businesses in the area as well.
Work is slated to begin near the MalaCompra Park area, one of the northernmost beach recreation areas in Flagler County. Officials aim to have the dunes standing 14 feet high. From there, this phase will take workers north to Marineland, the town on the very border of Flagler and St. Johns counties. Work will begin on November 1st and span three to four months.
Rep. Randy Fine’s Role
Congressman Fine toured the beaches of Flagler County on Wednesday, August 13th as part of a day of visits around the county. He saw firsthand the ongoing work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore Flagler’s sandy beaches via dredging work approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Fine was joined for the Wednesday announcement by many of Flagler’s elected officials: County Commissioners Greg Hansen, Kim Carney, Leann Pennington, Andy Dance, and Pam Richardson, Flagler Beach City Commissioners Rick Belhumeur and John Cunningham, Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson, Palm Coast Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri, and Mosquito Control Commissioner Mike Martin.
“I appreciate Chairman [Andy] Dance, County [Administrator Heidi] Petito, and their team for showing me the unique issues facing the Flagler County shoreline,” Fine said at the time. “I’ve worked on beach issues since I got elected to the legislature in 2016, understand them well, and I’m excited to help. At the county’s request, my team and I will work with my friends in President Donald Trump’s administration to cut through the red tape on these urgent projects.”
Hurricanes, Climate, and President Trump’s EPA
Throughout local discussions, the coastal erosion has referred to as a hurricane-related problem. Less mentioned but just as vital is the role of climate change in fueling erosion. The incumbent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that coastal property and infrastructure are the top impact resulting from coastal erosion driven by climate change.
The EPA further states that over $1 trillion of property in the United States is within 700 feet of a coast, and thus is threatened by climate-driven erosion. And the impacts don’t stop at private equity. “Critical coastal infrastructure is also at risk,” the EPA says. “The nation’s coasts are home to many military bases, airports, power plants, oil refining facilities, and other infrastructure.”
Flagler’s political environment has made climate change somewhat taboo for local officials to discuss, but it hasn’t blinded them to the importance of confronting the problem. The Flagler County Commission and Flagler Beach City Commission have been working for months to coordinate funding for beach restoration, with neither side overly excited about the prospect of raising taxes to accommodate. The timeliness and effectiveness of the local response will prove a crucial supplement to the volume of state and federal aid and coastal erosion continues.
Watch Randy Fine’s Press Conference on Beach Erosion Funding:
