Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Goals and Objectives

Erosion District Mission: The mission of the Erosion District is to evaluate coastal processes and environmental resources in order to manage critically eroded beaches through enhancement and
preservation. The Erosion District provides technical expertise and sound engineering judgment to evaluate St. Lucie County’s beach erosion and inlet management issues. The District is responsible for long range funding projections, contract administration, project management, consultant oversight, and pursuit of future funding assistance. The District is funded through a countywide ad valorem millage, and operations are primarily dependent on leveraging funds with state and federal agencies. The District provides information, analysis, and staff support sufficient for the County Administrator and the Erosion District Board to make well-informed decisions regarding beach management issues along St. Lucie County’s Atlantic shoreline.

Goals and Objectives: The Erosion District established the following goals and objectives for FY-2023/2024. The goals and objectives are project based and specific to the Erosion District’s mission. An
annual report will be drafted by Dec. 1, 2024, to review the below mentioned goals
and objective for FY-2023/2024 per Florida Statue 189.0694.

Fort Pierce Beach/Fort Pierce Shore Protection Project: 

• Coordinate and prepare for the 2024 federal beach renourishment event at Ft. Pierce Beach (Winter 2024/Spring 2025), which will include the placement of up to 500,000 cubic yards of sand onto the 1.3 miles of beach immediately south of the Fort Pierce Inlet.
• Continue coordination with the USACE to conclude the Section 203/403 feasibility study review assessment report required by Congress; an effort that will remove the conditional status of the previously approved feasibility study and allow the USACE to initiate the PED phase of project development for the new 50-year project agreement with the USACE (including coastal structures).
• Perform year-1 post-construction (permit required) physical and biological monitoring efforts for the recently completed federal beach project (2023).
• Advocate for additional state and federal funding for immediate post-construction physical and biological monitoring events required by permit (2024).
• Begin efforts to review new offshore borrow areas for future phases of the federal beach project. 

South County Beach/St. Lucie County, Florida, Coastal Storm Risk Management
Project

•  Coordinate and prepare for a federal beach rehabilitation event at South County Beaches (Winter 2024/Spring 2025, in response to impacts from Hurricane Nicole), which will include the placement of +/- 300k cubic yards of sand onto the 3.4 miles of beach immediately north of the Martin County line.
• Perform year-2 post-construction (permit required) physical and biological monitoring efforts for the recently completed federal beach project (2022).
• Advocate for additional state and federal funding for the year-3 post construction physical and biological monitoring events required by permit (2025).
• Attain remaining perpetual easements needed by the USACE to complete land certification requirements for the federal beach rehabilitation project.

Fort Pierce Inlet

• Continue post-construction (permit required) physical and biological monitoring efforts associated with both the recently completed Phase 1 Sand Trap and the associated 0.3-acre mitigation reef located off Racoon Island.
• Perform geotechnical investigations to prepare for future maintenance dredging of the Phase 1 sand trap.
• Prepare for the proposed Fort Pierce Inlet Operation and Maintenance Dredging effort with the USACE.
• Advocate for additional state and federal funding for the initial maintenance dredging of the Phase 1 Sand Trap.
• Complete comprehensive survey monitoring report of the Inlet from 2018 to 2023, including a revision to the inlet sediment budget codified in the FDEP Inlet Management Plan (IMP) adopted for Fort Pierce Inlet in 2022.