INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Federal regulators’ concern with sea-turtle nesting prompted county commissioners Tuesday to stretch a $7.3 million North Beach-restoration job over two years.

“They don’t have a high level of confidence in the (inland sand) material the county is proposing,” county Coastal Resources Manager Jonathan Gorham told commissioners.

Commissioners in September picked Ranger Construction Industries Inc. of West Palm Beach, which had bid $7.3 million to put 472,000 cubic yards of sand from John’s Island north to Ambersands Beach.

In a departure from prior projects, in which an Illinois company piped sand to the beach from underwater borrow pits, Ranger is trucking sand to the beach from three inland mines. Commissioners chose the inland sand this time to bolster the local economy.

But Gorham said he has run into reluctance from federal officials to accept the inland sand. He said he had a telephone conference Monday with scientists from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to get some early feedback as they review his application for a permit.

Agency spokesman Ken Warren, contacted after the meeting, said the scientists had information from other counties that restored beaches with inland sand. It carries “the potential of lower nesting and hatching success” than offshore sand, he said. But Warren said he didn’t know which other beach projects the scientists had in mind.

“We’re very concerned, so we want to proceed very slowly and cautiously,” Warren said.

In a 4-0 vote, commissioners agreed to Gorham’s proposal for a phase approach to the new project. Chairman Wesley Davis abstained because of a conflict of interest. His brother, Brian Davis, owns a sand mine but isn’t supplying to Ranger.

Gorham said the new approach would place the first half of the sand this year on beaches south of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge.

“Most of that area is the more critically eroded,” he said, citing Sea Oaks, Bay Tree, Marbrisa, Disney, John’s Island and other areas. “This will allow the county to proceed without delay and address the most critical part of the sector.”

The county is to monitor that stretch during the next turtle-nesting season, he said, which hits a peak in May. The new nest counts would be compared with counts from the prior season.

If the county gets good results with the inland sand, he said, contractors will proceed to truck the new material after November 2010 to beaches within the Carr refuge, Gorham said.

Other options, he said, would have been to go back to offshore sand or to continue with the plan as a single phase and try to convince the federal regulators that turtles would have no problem with the inland sand.

While the project is being changed to two phases, Commissioner Peter O’Bryan said, the county is still seeking a single permit from state and federal officials.
By Henry Stephens, TCPalm.com

Tags: beaches, bids, contract bids, environment, erosion, federal regulations, inland sand, parks, restoration, turtle nesting

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