The Town of Palm Beach admits they expect to pay 3 million in mitigation costs because of damage past beach renourishment projects caused to Breaker’s Shallow Reef.
Are you paying attention Hillsboro Beach?
The Palm Beach Daily News reports the Palm Beach Shore Protection Board announced Monday the town expects to pay $3 million dollars for artificial reefs to mitigate for sand that buried shallow reefs offshore from the Breakers Hotel.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been investigating the cause of the reef burial since at least 2009.
The DEP may find that the town’s 2003 and 2006 sand fills at nearby Midtown Beach are responsible for the sand drift, Town Manager Peter Elwell said.
The DEP has not yet reached a conclusion on the cause, its spokeswoman, Dee Ann Miller, said Monday in an emailed statement. The town and its consultant are working with the DEP, and expect a decision in late summer, Public Works Director Paul Brazil said.
“We expect in the months ahead that this will come to conclusion and we’ll be advised what the town’s obligation is going to be,” Elwell said. “The magnitude of this is still under review, and there is still some consideration of what of this was caused by hurricanes and what of this was caused by Midtown” beach fills, he said.
Artificial reefs are boulder fields that generally cost about $1 million per acre to build.
Read Palm Beach Daily News article: http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/shore-board-recommends-4-7m-beach-protection-budget-1378187.html
Related Reef Rescue Blog from December 2009: http://reefrescue.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/the-town-of-palm-beach-may-have-to-pay-millions-for-reef-damage/
[...] Town of Palm Beach must pay 3 million for beach renourishment reef damage: http://reefrescue.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/town-of-palm-beach-must-pay-3-million-for-beach-renourish… [...]
By: Clay for Earth Day « Reef Rescue – Coral Reef Blog on April 13, 2011
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