Brevard County gearing up to replenish 25 miles of beaches with nearly $80 million dune restoration project

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - Beaches in Brevard County are getting an $80 million makeover starting next week, thanks to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and new funding sources.

"It provides a better nesting habitat for turtles. It also provides a source of sand for ‘Mother Nature' to work with the next time we have a big storm," said Mike McGarry who’s the program manager for Brevard County’s Beaches, Boating and Waterways Program.

Machinery is already in place on Wednesday near South Spessard Holland Park to start moving more than a million cubic yards of new sand to replenish the dunes after last year’s hurricanes.

"We will take that vertical cliff and build it back into a slope which is more stable, it won’t collapse," he said.

 McGarry said the county is seeing success without seawalls, and he believes dune restoration is a better tool for tourism and the environment.

MORE STORIES

• Thanksgiving Day: Orlando restaurants that will be open
• Is Walt Disney World open on Thanksgiving Day? See all Central Florida theme park hours
• Here's what stores will open and when on Black Friday
• Weather outlook: Thanksgiving travel off to a good start despite earlier storms in the East

"Elsewhere in the state, they’ve built a lot of seawall and armor, and when that happens, you really end up with not an attractive beach for the public or wildlife to use," said McGarry.

Over the past 20 years, the county has been committed to maintaining wide beaches. The Cocoa Beach Pier was much skinnier in the year 2000. Since then, the county has been adding more and more sand.

Last December, images showed it hadn’t washed away yet, and that’s what McGarry wants to see.

"I feel good because Brevard County and county commissioners have supported this effort for 20 years," he added.

The new project, mostly funded by the DOD and county tourism taxes, will take a couple of years to finish. In total, nearly 25 miles will be restored with the $78 million investment.