The federal government is refusing to restore eroded beaches in Pinellas County unless homeowners agree to one condition: public access.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/37059204

Lisa Hendrickson is almost out of sand.

Hendrickson is the mayor of Redington Shores, Florida, a well-heeled beach town in Pinellas County. Her town occupies a small section of a razor-thin barrier island that stretches down the western side of the sprawling Tampa Bay metro area, dividing cities like Tampa and St. Petersburg from the Gulf of Mexico. Many of her constituents have an uninterrupted view of the ocean.

The town’s only protection from the Gulf of Mexico’s increasingly erratic storms is a pristine beach that draws millions of tourists every year — but that beach is disappearing fast. A series of storms, culminating in last fall’s Hurricane Idalia, have eroded most of the sand that protects Redington Shores and the towns around it, leaving residents just one big wave away from water overtaking their homes.

  • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
    18·
    1 month ago

    The Corps often rebuilds eroded beaches by hauling in thousands of tons of sand, but the agency is refusing to deliver $42 million of new sand to Pinellas County unless the area’s coastal property owners grant public access to the slivers of beach behind their homes. Hundreds of these property owners, however, are in turn refusing to sign documents that grant these points of access, which are known as easements. The faceoff has brought the area’s storm recovery to a near standstill.

    They don’t want anyone to use the beach but then and yet demand our money to fix it. They will learn to swim.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
    4·
    1 month ago

    I hope their elemental insurance learns about this and sends them a nice “We are sorry to have to let you go”.

    Because the climate issues are not getting any better, even if DeSantis removes each and every instance of the phrase “climate change” from all books in Florida.

    Adding sand for $42M will be an expensive stopgap measure - the sea has taken this part of the beach, and it will take it again. In a few years they will be back at the same point. A Herculean effort on a Sisyphos job, not more.