PANAMA CITY BEACH — With more than 18 miles of sand to monitor, the Bay County Tourist Development Council funds one of the largest ongoing beach nourishment projects in Florida.
At a recent meeting, the TDC’s coastal engineering firm presented findings from its 2013 beach monitoring survey, which is completed prior to hurricane season every year.
While the beach is holding up nicely overall, engineers are keeping an eye on three “hot spot” areas that could present problems in the next three to five years.
Nicole Sharp of Coastal Planning & Engineering pointed out areas at Pinnacle Port in Carillon Beach, west of the Russell Fields City Pier and near Spyglass Drive on the east end of Panama City Beach that are losing sand quicker than others, but assured that the areas will likely correct themselves.
“We have noticed a few cuspate features moving into the project area, but these are transitory and normally mitigate themselves over time,” said Sharp, noting that Pinnacle Port underwent renourishment project in 2011. “We did see higher erosion rates there, but it’s noting to worry about. It was to be expected in its first year reaching equilibrium.”
Sharpe said that all of the area’s beaches reached the project’s design standard this year, with an average beach width of 125 feet, more than double the standard of 50 feet.
The TDC began its ongoing beach nourishment project in Panama City Beach in 1996, and it remains one of the agency’s major functions. Of the five cents the TDC collects on short-term rental transactions through the county-levied bed tax, one cent is set aside specifically for these projects.
After the agency’s first major nourishment project, the beaches were relatively stable until Hurricane Ivan impacted the area in 2004, which was followed by another active storm season in 2005.
Following the two years of storm impact, an emergency nourishment project was conducted in 2006.
“Since then, we’ve experienced a slow, long-term recovery from those storms,” Sharp said.
The TDC recently received its project permit with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection that allows the agency to authorize beach construction during the next nourishment cycle. The permit is a 15-year, multi-use permit, which will allow for flexibility with design in case the area sees damage from storms, which typically requires more sand than routine maintenance projects, Sharp said.
The agency also recently received a draft biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, signifying the final stages of the permitting process with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Coastal engineer Steve Keehn, who has been involved with the project since the mid-90s, said he expects the beach to begin reflecting the stable state it was in from 1999 until 2004.
“We monitored it every year and we never got to the point where we were even thinking about a renourishment project,” Keehn said. “Only because the hurricanes came in 2004 did you need emergency projects.”
Although there is no need for a renourishment project in the immediate future, Keehn said the permit is there in case it is needed.
“We’re going to take this permit, stick it on the shelf,” Keehn said. “It’s your ready-to-go card if a storm comes, and you probably won’t have to do anything until that storm comes.”