Nearly $126 million beach project begins with gaps

Pinellas County has embarked on a long-awaited $125.7 million emergency beach nourishment project that encompasses most of Sand Key, Treasure Island and Upham Beach.

The project’s storm damage reduction benefits surpass $10 billion. However, 125 properties will not receive sand because owners have not signed temporary construction easements.

Public Works Director Kelli Hammer Levy called that a concern at an Aug. 20 Tourist Development Council meeting, “because missing easements create a weak point.” She compared it to a chain with missing links.

“Due to the exorbitant cost of this project, continuing to do this on our own is just not sustainable,” Levy said. “We really need our partner back.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers historically covered 65% of the cost for beach renourishment projects. However, the agency began requiring all property owners to sign 50-year easements in 2017.

Those documents allow public access to private property, and an entire segment of coastline is ineligible for renourishment if one person refuses to participate. Local, state and federal politicians have advocated for policy change, to no avail.

A devastating 2024 hurricane season exacerbated the problem. Still, over 100 beachfront property owners have refused to sign less-restrictive, temporary county construction easements.

The first step, which began Friday, involves installing a pipeline at 197th Avenue in Indian Shores to carry dredged sand. County officials announced that the beach will remain “mostly open” during construction.

Levy said $14.2 million in state grants will help fund the work. “The heartburn – we’re missing out on $103 million in federal emergency funds because of the easement issue.”

“It’s still in the bank; it’s still assigned to our beaches,” Levy added. “But we have to be compliant to use it.”

A graphic highlighting Sunset Beach post-Hurricane Helene (left) and after the last renourishment project. Image: Pinellas County documents.

Pinellas has 35 miles of white sandy beaches, with 12 regularly receiving renourishment. The sand and dunes provide a natural barrier from storm surges.

Officials have the temporary easements needed to renourish the entirety of Upham and Sunset Beach on Treasure Island. They are still missing 48 in Indian Rocks, 47 in Indian Shores and 30 in Redington Shores, which affects properties to the south.

“We have done every Hail Mary we can think of to reach folks, to talk with them and to see what the impasse is,” Levy said. “Some of them, understandably, can’t get past it.”

She noted that legal issues, short-term rentals and unresponsive owners have hindered progress. However, “some just flat-out told us ‘no,’ they’re never going to provide an easement. Not a temporary one, not a permanent one. They’re just not.”

Levy explained that the county easements forego a public access requirement. Dunes are now optional.

Officials launched an educational campaign in February to garner community support. They lacked 147 easements in June and can no longer wait to repair critically eroded beaches.

Levy said residents who did not sign easements will “still be impacted by pipelines that will cross in front of their property, west of the erosion control line.” Their beachfront will be lower than the renourished areas, creating a gulley that could hold water.

“Without easements, we can’t have future projects,” Levy added. “That’s our biggest hurdle.”

The Sand Key project extends from Clearwater to North Redington Beach, excluding Bellaire Shores. Levy said the county is “basically building the Army Corps’ project,” and it is one of, “if not the largest,” renourishments in the area.

She noted that Treasure Island, particularly Sunset Beach, requires more protection. Levy called it the county’s “most erosive beach.”

New Jersey-based Weeks Marine, Inc. will first use sand from borrow areas along the county’s coastline to renourish the northern segments. Gator Dredging, headquartered in Largo, will dredge the Port of Tampa Bay’s federal channel to rebuild the southern beaches.

Levy said the county has extensive turbidity, sea turtle and seabird monitoring requirements. Officials must also complete the project before their emergency permits, issued by the Army Corps, expire in March 2026.

“If folks are still considering an easement, we’re still accepting them,” Levy said. “We will accept them as long as we can.”

The county’s tourist development tax, a 6% surcharge on overnight stays, will fund the emergency renourishment project. Commission Chair Brian Scott noted that it will benefit “everybody.”

“It not only protects our economy, it protects property, and locals go to the beach,” Scott said. “We have to have a beach. That’s all there is to it.”

To view the construction schedule and map, visit the website here. To sign an easement, email the address here.