Millions of dollars will be used to restore Flagler County's dunes along the coast, but county officials want to make sure homes are protected before another storm with the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season less than three months away.

  • Meetings in Flagler County ahead of hurricane season
  • Main goal is to restore and protect the sand dunes
  • Oceanfront property owners meeting with engineers

Flagler County will hold a series of meetings with oceanfront property owners to discuss a restoration plan before the season begins.

"Our goal is to get the barrier in there as soon as possible," County Administrator Craig Coffey said.

The sand that disappeared from Flagler County's coastline after Hurricane Matthew struck in October is still noticeable, but leaders are now working on the next steps to replenish the sand.

"We have some areas where whole neighborhoods are threatened, and we have 600 homes that could be flooded if we don't restore these dunes," Coffey said.

The county and contracted engineers are holding the meetings Wednesday and Thursday (March 8 and March 9) to discuss protective sand dunes with residents who live along the 12-mile stretch north of Flagler Beach. The stretch includes Beverly Beach and Painters Hill.

The county has about $10 million from the state and money it must match in order to get the work started.

"You couldn’t think of a more critical project," Coffey said. "Hurricane season is not far off, so we're really trying to ramp up and we're going to keep right through hurricane season right through turtle season. And we have measures in place to protect the turtles."

The meetings, which also allowed homeowners to talk to engineers in a one-on-one setting, were broken up by work areas the county plans to start with first to restore the depleted dunes. The county wants people to be ready for the construction.

"We hope to start in early April — putting sand on the beach," Coffey said.

Thursday's meeting will be held at 79 Malacompra Road. Meetings will be held hourly, beginning at 1 p.m., for affected oceanfront property owners in the following four zones:

  • 1 p.m. Painters Hill/Beverly Beach (near Flagler Beach)
  • 2 p.m. Painters Hill/Beverly Beach (near Varn Park)
  • 3 p.m. Malacompra to Washington Oaks Gardens State Park (Sea Colony, Armand Beach, Marineland Acres and Johnsons Addition)
  • 4 p.m. Washington Oaks Gardens State Park north (Matanzas Shores to the county line)