Mayor's Message - Beach Erosion Ordinance

What great community events we had this past weekend! We have another great event coming this Saturday – Front Beach Fest from 12:00-4:00. I hope you are able to make this popular event.

As I was attending the events this past weekend and at last Friday’s Coffee with the Mayor, a common topic was the recent action by City Council to pass an emergency erosion control ordinance allowing the construction of revetments or seawalls under certain conditions. Questions like – why did y’all do that? Who voted for it? Didn’t you approve a free for all?

Our staff posted an update on the city website last Thursday explaining the temporary ordinance and what it means as well as posting the ordinance in its entirety. That can be found here: https://www.iop.net/news/emergency-erosion-control-ordinance-update.

My personal view of what City Council approved was a reasonable compromise. This emergency ordinance, valid for 60 days, outlines specifically what is and isn’t allowed and requires the homeowner notify their neighbors of their intent to build an erosion control structure and coordinate with the state agency that has jurisdiction over the public beaches, OCRM, to determine the appropriate building area. This ordinance allows homeowners in the affected area (between 100 and 914 Ocean Boulevard) to do something to protect their property but only if it is entirely landward of the critical area markers placed by OCRM, and no more than 20’ seaward of the maximum building line as defined on their deed. Therefore, we protected our public beaches but allowed homeowners a reasonable opportunity to take action if they felt the need.

This emergency ordinance follows another emergency ordinance adopted last October which allowed owners to install a trench of sandbags landward of the state’s jurisdiction in accordance with certain conditions specified in the ordinance. Another action on the City’s part, in addition to the emergency scraping, trucking in sand and placement of sandbags in an effort to address the erosion issues and mitigate further damage.

Also, homeowners in this area may request their own emergency order from OCRM to conduct sand scraping or the installation of sandbags if their house or pool is within 20’ of the erosion or get a permit from the state to truck in beach compatible sand.

I hope this helps explain what is allowed and more importantly what isn’t allowed for erosion control.