Beach widening work tests neighbors' nerves

Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Brittany Wallman

Published February 29, 2016

 

This time of year, tourists flock to beachfront motels. Brides plan weddings on Broward's scenic seashore. Oceanfront condo owners slide the doors open to inhale the sea breeze.

But what's that incessant beep-beep-beeping? Why is that convoy of dump trucks rolling in at 7 a.m.? Is that a bulldozer laboring down the beach where sunbathers normally rest?

 

The first major beach renourishment in Broward County in a decade is entering its eighth week in Pompano Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Fort Lauderdale. And some neighbors of the staging sites are groaning under the burden.

Because of sea turtle nesting season, the work had to be done during tourist season and construction access points couldn't be moved mid-project to spread out the inconvenience.

That means neighbors of Southeast 12th Street in Pompano Beach, Palm Avenue in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Vista Park in Fort Lauderdale are expected to remain construction zones for the duration.

It'll last the longest around Vista Park, where sand crews will work until May 1. Beach widening in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is expected to be complete Friday, and work in Pompano Beach will be complete by March's end, Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca said.

Beach renourshment work is seen at Vista Park on Ocean Drive in Fort Lauderdale, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. Residents say the ongoing work is disturbing the once-quiet neighborhood.


  
Emails to and from county officials show the frustration emanating from the neighborhoods and businesses. In Pompano Beach, the manager of the Beachcomber Resort and Villas worried about the lengthy construction work "breaking the hearts of future brides as well as alienating many established guests.'' He asked the county to use an empty lot to the south to stage the work. One tourist from Atlanta who booked a beachfront home in Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break asked the county to stop the trucks during his $10,000, weeklong vacation.

Vista Park homeowners and condo residents complained that they shouldn't have to host the construction for four months. The city of Fort Lauderdale had approved other access points for the work, but the decision to use only Vista Park was made by the county, which determined that switching from one point to another would cost more and take longer. LaMarca said the county would have used Oakland Park Boulevard, but the city of Fort Lauderdale rejected it.

The decision didn't sit well with leaders in Sea Tower condo, situated just behind Vista Park, just south of Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.

"As important as this may be, it appears "Turtles 1, People 0," Sea Tower condo President Larry Handle wrote in a December email to city and county officials. "The needs of the local residents MUST be considered and are certainly as important as the turtles."

The $55 million "Segment II'' beach widening uses sand from a mine in LaBelle, west of Lake Okeechobee, a method that was deemed environmentally favorable over dredging sand from the ocean floor. But it requires hundreds of dump trucks loaded with sand to roll in from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. When they drive in reverse to dump their loads, the beeping starts.

Standing outside the Sea Tower this week, Handler and condo Vice President Rita Honan said they support the project but think the county should reciprocate when it comes to cooperation. For example, Honan said the county should have knocked on doors of neighbors directly affected by truck traffic. Honan took it upon herself to let one woman know.

"She actually broke down and cried," Honan said.

Another woman, in her late 80s, has to hose down sculptures on her pool deck twice a week, Honan said, because dirt and sand from the work, directly across the street from her home, discolor them. She and Handler pointed out patches of grass on the roadsides torn out by truck tire treads. Though a small street sweeper was present on Tuesday, cleaning the roadways, they said it was the first one they'd seen in weeks. They said they have trouble getting answers to questions, and getting their issues resolved. And they said trucks are driving faster than idle speed, and shouldn't be.

"We all knew about this,'' Honan said. "We were all very happy and very willing to cooperate and collaborate. It's just that four months we were unprepared for. And we're paying the price for it. ... It's a construction site for them. It's our home. It's our neighborhood.''

Guy Courchesne, whose first floor, corner condo unit is closest to the truck traffic, said the drivers come in too fast, requiring them to apply the brakes when they round the corner beneath his unit. The sound and vibration are unbearable, he said, stressing his nervous system.

"For me, to be in my apartment, I cannot talk on the phone even when all the doors are closed,'' he said. "So it's uninhabitable. I have to go back to Quebec now.''

Another neighbor had his phone line severed twice by incoming trucks, one Lauderdale Beach homeowner association resident, Joe Amorosino said, but he hasn't complained. Neither has Amorosino, who lives on the truck route on Central Avenue and said they're "a welcome sight,'' even though about 140 of them arrive each day.

"All of my outdoor furniture is dirty everyday,'' Amorosino said. "You just clean it. You just live with it. This is a major project that we've been waiting for for 20 years."

Broward beach program manager Nicole Sharp said the project is going well. Contractor Eastman Aggregates is working so efficiently, she said, Saturdays were eliminated from the work schedule.

"We've been able to alleviate that little bit of burden on the community," said Sharp.

She and LaMarca said the county will restore the neighborhoods — planting turf where it's needed, and cleaning up — when the work is done.

"I believe all their concerns will eventually be addressed,'' Sharp said.

LaMarca concurred: "I'll definitely be there to restore everything, to make sure we left everything the same or better than how we found it.''

Truck traffic there should decrease by the end of March, he said, when work on the beach north of Vista Park is finished, and sand will only be needed to the south.

In addition, when Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Pompano Beach work is complete in March, trucks will start delivering sand to Northeast 18th and 23rd streets in Fort Lauderdale, working north.

Even when May 1 comes, the 4.9-mile job will only be partially complete.

Pompano Beach from Southeast Fourth Street to about 700 feet into Lauderdale-by-the-Sea will be widened, as will the shoreline from Commercial Boulevard to 18th Street in Fort Lauderdale. That span includes the Galt Ocean Mile, a condo tower stretch that's never been renourished before. Some of the beach south of 18th Street might also be widened, LaMarca said.

But work to widen Fort Lauderdale's beachfront to Terramar Street, which is south of Sunrise Boulevard, will have to wait for sea turtle nesting season to end, Sharp and LaMarca said.

That work will be done next November and December, LaMarca said, with trucks expected to use Sunrise Boulevard to access the beach.

The new, wider beach — 750,000 cubic yards of sand worth — is expected to last 15 to 20 years, LaMarca said. The county will keep the permit active for 10 years if possible, he said, to patch erosion hot spots torn away by storms.

The last project, a decade ago, rebuilt 6.2 miles of Broward's "Segment III'' southern beaches. A redo of that part of the beach is the next major project planned, expected to cost $53.9 million.

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