SEGMENT II - GALT MILE BEACH REPLENISHED

November 21, 2017 - After twenty years of navigating Congressional gridlock in Washington DC, fighting with foot-dragging Tallahassee bureaucrats, and fending off demagogues who view tidal erosion as the �wages of sin� for befouling pristine barrier islands, delighted Galt Mile residents spent 2016 watching an armada of trucks ferry sand from upstate mines to severely eroded north Broward beaches. For two decades, officials advocating for beach renourishment argued that the beaches were indispensable to State and local tourism economies and provided the only real protection for people and property threatened by hurricanes and tropical storms. They also knew that the protection would soon be tested.

IRMA HITS BROWARD BEACHES

In September 2017, when Hurricane Irma whipped across South Florida, North Broward Segment II beachfront properties that were shredded by Katrina, Wilma and Sandy were left relatively unscathed. Structures and adjacent roadways (i.e. A1A) dodged extensive damage when waves of cyclonic storm surge were stripped of energy as they crashed against the newly broadened beach reinforced with sand dunes.

BROWARD NATURAL RESOURCE ADMINISTRATOR NICOLE SHARP

The Segment II renourishment successfully shielded $billions in upland property and protected vulnerable infrastructure. If you also noticed that some of our new sand was reclaimed by the ocean, you might recall assurances provided by Broward Beach Administrator Nicole Sharp when she addressed Galt Mile residents attending a December 16, 2015 pre-project meeting in the Sonesta Hotel.

LAMARCA HOSTS BEACH FIX MEETING

Upon taking the reins as Broward Beach Administrator, Nicole Sharp outlined a sea change in the County�s Shore Preservation protocols. Describing the historical �segmented� approach to beach management as �an outmoded and futile strategy,� Sharp adopted a long-term regional plan. Mindful of the accelerated rate that natural resources are degraded by climate change and rising sea levels, Sharp�s beach management program would proactively meet the growing risks while reducing the frequency and scope of future renourishments.

Instead, occasional beach fills could address �hot spots� along a more stable County coastline. She explained, �It�s a cheaper way to put sand into the system.� Armed with Federal and State Permits that extend to 2020 and 2029, Sharp can unilaterally repair stretches of beach reduced by accelerated erosion or cyclonic weather events (hurricanes, tropical storms, etc.). She may soon realize this opportunity.

A few days before the storm, Sharp dispatched her minions to survey the Broward coast. They returned the day after the storm, when they documented sand loss, dune impacts and �Hot Spots� crippled by acute erosion. On September 13, 2017, Sharpe sent evidence of the damage documented with photographs to the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), along with a request for assistance with rehabilitating beaches widened via the county�s federal shore protection project. She plans to follow up the request with a detailed post-storm beach survey supporting the need to restore the Segment II and Segment III beaches to pre-storm conditions.

BROWARD COMMISSIONER CHIP LAMARCA

As the sole Republican on the Broward Board, District 4 County Commissioner Chip LaMarca is annually charged with carrying the County�s legislative package to Republican Tallahassee, which typically includes a presentation designed to unlock resources for the next in a series of projects planned to stabilize the entire Broward shoreline. Anticipating election year chaos, lawmakers voted to schedule the 2018 legislative session a few months early. Since the 60-day span will run from January 9 through early March, the pre-session committee weeks began this fall.

Beach projects in LaMarca�s 2018 wish list include the Port Everglades sand bypass project, which would transfer 50,000 to 80,000 cubic yards of sand annually from the north to the south side of the Port entrance channel, bridging a disruption in the littoral drift that starves South County beaches of sand. Once the inlet no longer impedes the natural southerly flow of sand along the Broward coast, the county plans to renourish the depleted South County shoreline with a $53.7 million truck haul project in 2020. Completing these projects will also realize Sharp�s vision for a stable Broward coast.

By ghosting a 1998 mandate that annually delivered $30 million in documentary stamp tax funds to the Beach Management Funding Assistance Program (BMFA), lawmakers have allowed 410 miles of the State's shoreline to become critically eroded, almost half of the 825 miles of sandy beaches visited each year by millions of tourists who generate $billions for the state budget.

In recent years, LaMarca and Statehouse Representative George Moraitis have teamed with officials in coastal jurisdictions across Florida to replace an unworkable funding formula that has cost the State $billions in Tourism revenues. Environmental funds holstered in the Land Acquisition Trust Fund (LATF) are annually plundered by the Governor and Budget wonks to plug operational deficits � in violation of a 2014 Constitutional Amendment. The fiscal scraps are then distributed according to a skewed ranking system.

The Land Acquisition Trust Fund was supported by every Florida Administration since its 1963 inception � until Governor Rick Scott began gutting appropriations to virtually every State environmental program, and pinched off revenues to the LATF. When he quashed funding for the enforcement of safe drinking water standards, angry Florida voters approved Constitutional Amendment 1 in 2014, restoring a funding source for the State�s Land Acquisition Trust Fund that the Governor couldn�t molest.

PRO LATF GOVS CLAUDE R. KIRK, JEB BUSH, ROBERT MARTINEZ SEATED: WAYNE MIXSON, REUBIN ASKEW AND FARRIS BRYANT

Since Amendment 1 organized LATF as an environmental catch-all that included the aquifer, wetlands, drinking water, the Everglades, clean air, fish and wildlife habitat, rivers, lakes, beaches, forests and a panoply of other natural resources, as an unintended consequence, eroded beaches would have to compete with water quality projects, wetlands restoration, the Everglades and other environmental projects for funding. Although charged with crafting an equitable system for distributing the resources, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) instead devised the ranking system from hell.

Each year, FDEP hosts an environmental smackdown for applicants in every category. To rank local beach projects for state support, FDEP assigns applicants up to 115 points among 29 criteria. In violation of its mandate, the ranking system favors big projects over smaller ones, prefers projects that receive federal money, rewards spans of beach that were previously renourished and buries communities that can�t afford to match the state allocation.

FDEP SAID - NO BEACH EROSION FROM HURRICANE SANDY

FDEP is supposed to ascribe points to measure the impact of tidal erosion on a beach. When Hurricane Sandy washed out a stretch of State Road A1A in 2012, FDEP inexplicably decided the area didn�t merit points for erosion, ignoring a study by the Army Corps of Engineers that measured significant prior erosion as well as the huge volume of sand stripped away by Sandy. Incredibly, FDEP claimed the beach actually grew. �I can�t say I have a lot of confidence in how the list is produced,� said state Rep. George Moraitis (R-Fort Lauderdale). Broward Beach Administrator Nicole Sharp remarked �It�s hard to tell a city that had a road fall into the ocean that they don�t have erosion.�

SENATE PRESIDENT JOE NEGRON

FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER STEVE CRISAFULLI

The FDEP beach list also serves as a rubber duck for legislative leaders. From 2012 to 2016, $52 million of the $149.5 million that lawmakers approved for beaches went to the five counties represented by former House Speaker Steve Crisafulli (R - Merritt Island) and Senate President Joe Negron (R - Stuart). When asked if politics played a role in how he and Negron cornered one-third of the state's beach renourishment funds over four consecutive years, Crisafulli said �I wouldn�t say politics. I would say the push by local communities to lay out their case, the push by members of the Legislature to make their case.� YIKES!

In January 2015, the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR � research arm of the Florida Legislature) released a study that focused primarily on the fiscal impact of beach renourishment. Entitled �Economic Evaluation of Florida�s Investment in Beaches�, the EDR report calculated the Return on Investment (ROI) of Beach Restoration, assessed the economic risk of disasters and concluded that beaches are the most important feature of Florida's �Brand�. During the study�s 3-year review period (covering FY 2011, 2012 and 2013), the state invested $44 million in the Beach and Management Restoration Program (roughly 30.5% of the total cost shared by Federal, State, and local sources). This investment directly increased State GDP an average $2.4 billion per year.

By identifying each revenue source and calculating its tax impact, the study tracked how the incremental GDP plumped state revenues by $237.9 million over the three year period. After crunching complex funding formulas to validate the raw data, the report concluded that $44 million invested in the State Beach Program �generated a positive return on investment of 5.4�, based solely on tangible financial gains or losses to state revenues. The study also uncovered another flaw in the FDEP ranking system. When calculating the economic impact on candidates for beach renourishment, the FDEP decided to omit the tax revenue they provide to a community and the State, thereby grossly understating the fiscal repercussions of neglecting beaches degraded by tidal erosion.

The study triggered two significant responses. Having repeatedly stripped tax dollars from Florida beaches, Governor Rick Scott suddenly asked lawmakers to approve a $50 million cash bucket for beach projects during the 2017 legislative session, doubling the negligible $25 million he proposed in each of the past four years. Secondly, lawmakers who were historically recalcitrant about subsidizing beach neighborhoods enthusiastically approved a beach funding boost once their in-house bean counters monetized the investment�s windfall dividend.

CHIP LAMARCA & REP. GEORGE MORAITIS

FSBPA PRESIDENT DEBBIE FLACK

During the 2017 legislative session, LaMarca headed to Tallahassee with President Debbie Flack of the Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association to once again lobby lawmakers to create a reliable funding source for beach projects. In order to file the relevant legislation, they met with Statehouse Representatives George Moraitis (R � Fort Lauderdale), Evan Jenne (D � Dania Beach), Broward Commissioner Steve Geller's brother Joe Geller (D � Aventura) - and other members of the County�s legislative delegation. Soliciting support for the proposed legislation, when they distributed copies of the EDR study to their peers, even inland lawmakers who disparage beach funds as coastal pork reversed course, and agreed to support reliable funding for beach and inlet cost-sharing projects.

SENATOR JACK LATVALA

In the Senate, they had an ally in Chairman Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater) of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who said that he considers increasing annual beach funding to at least $50 million �a top priority�. Latvala said, �There is no doubt in my mind the impact of beaches on our Florida economy. They kind of define Florida. I mean, who goes to Texas to go to the beach?� On March 3, 2017, Latvala filed Senate Bill 1590, which would revise how Florida prioritizes beach and inlet projects while annually cloistering $50 million in the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to rehabilitate eroded beaches.

On March 3, 2017, Representatives George Moraitis (R � Fort Lauderdale), Bill Hagar (R � Delray Beach), and Kathleen M. Peters (R � Treasure Island) co-filed the companion bill � House Bill 1213. On April 27, 2017, the full Senate unanimously approved Latvala's bill (37 Yeas vs. 0 Nays) before sending it to the House for consideration. After unanimously sailing through two of its three vetting committees, Moraitis' House Bill was throttled on the calendar while awaiting a hearing by the House Government Accountability Committee, where it died.

REPRESENTATIVE KATHLEEN M. PETERS

REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE MORAITIS

During the Committee weeks prior to the early 2018 session, an undeterred Latvala refiled his legislation as Senate bill 174 on August 18, 2017. On October 9, it was unanimously approved in the Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation by 10 Yeas vs. 0 Nays. On October 25, it was unanimously found favorable by 7 Yeas vs. 0 Nays in the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources and forwarded to its final committee stop - the Committee on Appropriations, which Latvala Chairs. In the Statehouse, Representatives George Moraitis and Kathleen M. Peters filed companion House Bill 131 on September 1, 2017.

HOUSE SPEAKER RICHARD CORCORAN

In assessing the bills� prospects, Latvala admonished that the legislation�s fate was in the hands of the powerful new House Speaker Richard Corcoran, exclaiming �I think there's a lot of people would like to see it passed. If (House Speaker) Richard Corcoran heeds the requests he gets, they will get it done. Or if we don�t get it done, he�ll be responsible.� With Corcoran�s recent ascendance, a substantial number of House votes have devolved into knee-jerk formalities.

In addition to $50 million in annual funding and a reasonable ranking system, Latvala said the bills will implement a three-year planning process that would enable communities to schedule these projects rather than what he called the year-to-year �grab bag� they face now. Since Nicole Sharp is sitting on long-term Federal and State cost-sharing agreements, this final piece of the puzzle should clear the way for a Segment II hot spot hunt at her discretion, which should make you smile.

SEGMENT II - GALT MILE BEACH REPLENISHED

April 25, 2017 - The recently completed Segment II beach renourishment capped an 18-year struggle to salvage our shrinking beach. For many Galt Mile residents, nearly two decades of crushing disappointments replaced enthusiastic support for the project with a thinly veiled rage. When construction vehicles rolled into north Broward beachfront staging sites on January 4, 2016, the mind-numbing frustration began melting away.

Although virtually every Galt Mile resident and visitor is delighted with their reclaimed beach, few have forgotten nearly twenty years of bureaucratic abuse, an ordeal that provided hundreds of local residents with first-hand insight into the structural consequences of tidal erosion. While watching the new sand migrate south along the coast, many are understandably apprehensive about County intentions to maintain their newly widened beach � without revisiting the dilatory state and Federal regulatory meat grinders.

To this end, Broward beach boss Nicole Sharp is overhauling the County�s Beach maintenance protocols, while Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca and Statehouse Representative George Moraitis probe a more reliable funding source in Tallahassee. For the benefit of recent arrivals to our neighborhood � some background...

In 1965, the 89^th U.S. Congress authorized funding to fortify Broward�s shrinking beaches (Section 301 of Public Law 89-298, October 27, 1965). Twenty years ago, former Broward Beach Administrator Stephen Higgins complied with the Congressional intent by designing the Broward County Shore Protection Project.

FORMER BROWARD BEACH ADMINISTRATOR STEVE HIGGINS

After beating back unprecedented regulatory obstacles for 14 years, Higgins rehabilitated the Segment III South County beaches in 2005 and was preparing to fix the county�s Segment II northern shoreline. When Higgins retired in 2011 amid relentless bickering among Segment II stakeholders, it was mistakenly construed as the project�s death knell. A few weeks later, when Higgin's former boss - Eric Myers � asked Galt Mile officials if they would help revive the Segment II beach fix, they placed him on an upcoming meeting agenda.

BROWARD BEACH ADMINISTRATOR ERIC MYERS

At a February 7, 2011 Presidents Council meeting in Coral Ridge Towers (Original), Myers announced his intention to reorganize the dormant project. The project�s recovery hinged on two contingencies, a recrafted plan that eliminated the most egregious regulatory obstacles and unilateral cooperation by coastal jurisdictions and beachfront homeowners. A few months later, when Myers pitched the Segment II Beach renourishment at the May 17, 2011 Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting, Commissioner Bruce Roberts backed his play.

COMMISSIONER BRUCE ROBERTS

Roberts told the Commission that Galt Mile residents � whose staunch project advocacy was grounded in the belief that a healthy beach was critical to the protection of beach neighborhoods, the area�s economy, and the lives of their families � have been waiting since 1998 for the County to make good on promises to renourish the Segment II beaches. As the newly appointed Broward Beach Administrator, Myers spent the next three years convincing stakeholder jurisdictions to merge their political capitol just long enough to accomplish this shared objective.

BROWARD COMMISSIONER CHIP LAMARCA

With the backing of Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Myers recruited Chip LaMarca and headed to the State Capitol. After two years of dismantling bureaucratic opposition in Tallahassee, when Myers retired and passed the baton to Nicole Sharp, the fight moved to Washington DC.

After a year of battling with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) and an unresponsive Commerce Department, the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Committee finally gave Sharp the green light to negotiate Interlocal Agreements with Segment II Stakeholders and draft a Project Participation Agreement (PPA) that detailed the shared Federal, State and local fiscal obligations.

Once the project was farmed out, the PPA became a reimbursement blueprint - a Hefty Bag of open-ended promissory obligations. Funds laid out by the County on behalf of stakeholders were technically secured by the PPA. However, given the County�s skeletal leverage in Tallahassee and Washington DC, County officials are forced to discretely beg the respective funding agencies to loosen the State and Federal purse strings. The slow-moving Feds still haven�t reduced their $30 million Segment II obligation. Although Tallahassee already kicked in its $11.4 million share of Segment II, the County is still seeking $87,860 to monitor the beach fill�s impact on nearby coral reefs.

Since the County is also preparing to fund a long-awaited $19.2 million sand bypass at Port Everglades, wherein migrating sand accumulating on the north side of the Port�s entrance channel is trucked to sand-starved beaches in Hollywood, Hallandale and Dania, Broward bean counters plan to roll over funds due on the Segment II renourishment while tweaking the current legislative session for additional beach revenues.

Beautiful Broward Beaches Thank You Photo Shoot

Hoping to cajole the county�s State and Federal funding �partners� into paying their Segment II debt without dampening their predisposition to future projects, LaMarca decided to disguise a dunning notice as a love letter. Recruiting political beefcake from stakeholder jurisdictions (District 3 Broward Commissioner Michael Udine, Mayor Jack Seiler and Vice Mayor Bruce Roberts from Fort Lauderdale, Vice Mayor Mark Brown from Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, etc.), Broward officials merged an invoice and a supplication for future funding with a customized �Thank You� card � an aerial beach graphic generated at LaMarca�s March 4^th �photo op�.

LaMarca�s blended message also housed a request for a reliable funding source for beach projects that fuel the State�s tourism economy. LaMarca�s planned photo op was hatched in late February; about the same time that Governor Rick Scott asked lawmakers to approve a proposed $50 million cash bucket for beach projects, doubling the negligible $25 million he proposed in each of the past four years. Although the allocation is the largest proposed by Scott since he took office, it�s a pittance when compared to the resources needed to rescue more than 410 miles of Florida�s critically eroded coast.

Created by the Florida Legislature in 1963 to offset damage by commercial polluters and urban creep, the Land Acquisition Trust Fund (LATF) was designed to fund the purchase of recreation and conservation lands that would otherwise fall prey to overdevelopment. Since the original funding mechanism, a five percent tax on outdoor clothing and equipment (like bathing suits), proved wildly unpopular with tourists (disparaged as the �bathing suit tax�), it was abandoned in 1968, when the legislature opted to fund LATF through the sale of recreation bonds paid for by a documentary stamp tax on real estate transactions and financial documents (i.e., mortgages and other loans, stocks, bonds, etc.).

Having shifted the cost from the residents and visitors who benefit from conservation, to the polluters and developers who threatened the State�s natural resources, lawmakers would later adapt the income stream into a recurring funding mechanism for the 1979 Conservation and Recreation Lands (CARL) Program, and the 1999 Florida Forever Program, a conservation catch-all for natural resources. Since the parent legislation also mandated management of acquired conservation lands, a spectrum of management programs were developed to oversee compliance with environmental objectives. Trust funds were established to reverse ecological damage, either by polluters, encroaching development, or Mother Nature (as in the case of tidal erosion).

PRO LATF GOVS CLAUDE R. KIRK, JEB BUSH, ROBERT MARTINEZ SEATED: WAYNE MIXSON, REUBIN ASKEW AND FARRIS BRYANT

In 1998, Florida lawmakers dedicated a portion of the Ecosystem Management and Restoration Trust Fund to restore the critically eroded coast. Funded by the documentary stamp tax, $30 million was annually allocated to the Beach Management Funding Assistance (BMFA) Program � for cost-sharing projects matched by federal and local contributions

To safeguard an environmental legacy that fuels critical tourism revenues, the Land Acquisition Trust Fund was supported by every Florida Administration since its 1963 inception � until Governor Rick Scott took office in 2011. To balance the budget, Governor Scott annually gutted appropriations to virtually every State environmental program, including the enforcement of safe drinking water standards. Angry Florida voters approved Constitutional Amendment 1 in 2014, reinstating a funding source for the State�s Land Acquisition Trust Fund.

Although the fund was originally created to manage and restore natural systems while enhancing public access and recreational use of conservation lands � LATF conservation projects would now include the aquifer, wetlands, drinking water, the Everglades, clean air, fish and wildlife habitat, rivers, lakes, beaches, forests and a panoply of other natural resources. As an unintended consequence of Amendment 1, eroded beaches would have to compete with water quality projects, wetlands restoration, the Everglades and other environmental projects for funding.

Of the $50 million in beach revenues proposed by Scott, only $10 million would be annually disbursed from the trust fund. Since the remaining $40 million would come from general revenue, it is a one-time allocation. Jurisdictions would still need an annual source of State revenues for beach and inlet cost-sharing projects.

As the sole Republican on the Broward Board, LaMarca is annually charged with carrying the County�s legislative wish list to Republican Tallahassee, which typically included a beach funding presentation that addressed its impact on tourism and the threat posed by storm surge to people and property. Last year, LaMarca bulked up his arsenal with a January 2015 study by the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR � research arm of the Florida Legislature).

Entitled �Economic Evaluation of Florida�s Investment in Beaches�, the EDR report calculated the Return on Investment (ROI) of Beach Restoration, assessed the economic risk of disasters and concluded that beaches are the most important feature of Florida's �Brand�. During the study�s 3-year review period (covering FY 2011, 2012 and 2013), the state invested $44 million in the Beach and Management Restoration Program (roughly 30.5% of the total cost shared by Federal, State, and local sources). This investment directly increased State GDP an average $2.4 billion per year.

By identifying each revenue source and calculating its tax impact, the study tracks how the incremental GDP plumped state revenues by $237.9 million over the three year period. After crunching complex funding formulas to validate the raw data, the report concluded that $44 million invested in the State Beach Program �generated a positive return on investment of 5.4�, based solely on tangible financial gains or losses to state revenues. Since in-state tourism was not included in the analysis, the actual ROI exceeds 5.4. Apparently, it worked. Even inland lawmakers who disparage beach funds as coastal pork were intrigued. In the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers filed bills that could reinstate reliable funding for beach and inlet cost-sharing projects.

FSBPA PRESIDENT DEBBIE FLACK

Snatching the Photo and a legislative wish list, LaMarca headed to Tallahassee with President Debbie Flack of the Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association to lobby lawmakers for a dedicated funding source for beach projects. In order to file the required legislation, they would meet with Statehouse Representatives George Moraitis (R � Fort Lauderdale), Evan Jenne (D � Dania Beach), Broward Commissioner Steve Geller's brother Joe Geller (D � Aventura) - and other members of the County�s legislative delegation.

SENATOR JOE NEGRON

In the Senate, they had an ally in Chairman Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater) of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who said that he considers increasing beach funding to at least $50 million �a top priority�. Although one-third of the annual stamp tax revenues were constitutionally allocated to LATF for conservation - less the debt sevice on specified environmental bonds (Florida Forever bonds, Everglades restoration bonds, etc.), budget wonks pilfered $millions for general expenses. In 2016, as polluted discharges from Lake Okeechobee triggered a state of emergency in Martin, St. Lucie and Lee counties, and Brown Tides caused a fish die-off in Brevard County, incoming Senate President Joe Negron spearheaded efforts to protect the water supply by filing legislation entitled "The Legacy Florida Act". Lawmakers enacted companion legislation in the other chamber House Bill 989, creating ch. 2016-201, Laws of Florida), which annually dedicates $200 million for Everglades restoration and $50 million for Florida springs. Beach fills and inlet sand by-passing would have to slug it out with scores of other environmental projects for funding table scraps.

SENATOR JACK LATVALA

On March 3, 2017, Latvala filed Senate Bill 1590, which revises how Florida prioritizes beach and inlet projects, and annually dedicates $50 million from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to rehabilitate eroded beaches. On March 22, Latvala�s bill was unanimously approved by the Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation (7 Yeas vs. 0 Nays). On April 13, it was unanimously approved by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources (6 Yeas vs. 0 Nays). On April 20, the bill cruised to a 16 Yeas vs. 0 Nays approval in its final vetting committee - the Senate Committee on Appropriations - which Latvala chairs - before being sent to the floor for a vote by the full Senate. On April 27, 2017, the Senate unanimously approved the bill (37 Yeas vs. 0 Nays) before sending it to the House for consideration.

REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE MORAITIS

The companion bill, House Bill 1213, was filed by Representatives George Moraitis (R � Fort Lauderdale), Bill Hagar (R � Delray Beach), and Kathleen M. Peters (R � Treasure Island) on March 3, 2017. On March 20, it was unanimously approved by the House Natural Resources & Public Lands Subcommittee (15 Yeas vs. 0 Nays) and voted favorably by the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee on March 28 (14 Yeas vs. 0 Nays). The bill is currently under review by the House Government Accountability Committee, its final House Committee stop.

The beach bills have excellent prospects for enactment, and lame duck Governor Scott seems to have reversed his tenure-long aversion to salvaging the State�s natural resources, having indicated his support for a more stable source of beach funding. That said, Scott's desk is always a crap shoot.

At a December 16, 2015 pre-project public meeting in the Sonesta Hotel, when Galt Mile officials inquired about maintaining the beach after it was renourished, Broward Beach Administrator Nicole Sharp outlined a sea change in the County�s Shore Preservation protocols. Describing the historical �segmented� approach to beach management as �an anachronistic exercise in futility,� Sharp adopted a long-term regional plan. Mindful of the accelerated rate that natural resources are degraded by climate change and rising sea levels, Sharp�s beach management program proactively meets the growing risks.

The Port Everglades sand bypass should help stabilize the south county beaches. Sand that ordinarily migrates south along the coast collects at the north side of the Port Everglades inlet (adjacent to Point of Americas), where 85% is lost seaward to tidal erosion. As a result, when sand placed along south county beaches during the 2005 Segment III renourishment drifted south into Miami-Dade County, it was never replenished by sand migrating south from beaches in Fort Lauderdale and points north.

PORT EVERGLADES INLET

Within five years, south county beaches lost two-thirds of the sand received in 2005, as the ocean once again laps against Hollywood, Hallandale and Dania Beach seawalls. To preserve the $billions they generate in tourism revenues, and resurrect storm surge protection for infrastructure and inhabitants, a second Segment III renourishment is being planned. After installation of the Port Everglades Sand Bypass restores the coastal flow of sand that will naturally replenish those beaches, a $53.7 million truck haul project will salvage the depleted shoreline in 2020.

The Port Everglades sand bypass project would transfer 50,000 to 80,000 cubic yards of sand annually from the north to the south side of the Port entrance channel, restoring the currently disrupted littoral drift. It entails constructing an offshore sand trap to collect alongshore migrating sand for transport to the south side of the inlet. When adjacent Point of Americas residents opposed blasting the sea bottom, the plan was redesigned by raising the lower elevation above the hard rock and widening the trap to maintain sufficient storage capacity.

HILLSBORO BBEACH INLET

Just as the Port Everglades inlet impedes the flow of sand to South Broward beaches, sand migrating south from beaches in South Palm Beach and Deerfield would be blocked by the Hillsboro Inlet if not for the Hillsboro Beach Sand Bypass. A special taxing district created in 1957 oversees an FDEP management plan to perform regular maintenance dredging of the inlet�s navigational channel and sand bypassing to beaches downdrift of the inlet. Following expansion of the exterior inlet channel and sand trap in 2003, the District acquired a new hydraulic cutterhead dredge in 2008 to facilitate in-house maintenance. Without the Hillsboro Inlet sand bypass, newly expanded beaches in Pompano, L-B-T-S, the Galt Mile and Fort Lauderdale would also be back to square one within 5 years. Instead, approximately 120,000 cubic yards of sand will be transferred annually to replenish our Segment II beaches.

BROWARD NATURAL RESOURCE ADMINISTRATOR NICOLE SHARP

Sharp outlined how re-establishing the natural southerly flow of sand along the coast would also substantially reduce the frequency and scope of future renourishments, explaining, �It�s a cheaper way to put sand into the system on the southern beaches.� Instead, occasional beach fills could address �hot spots� along a more stable County coastline. Armed with Federal and State Permits that extend to 2020 and 2029, Sharp can unilaterally repair stretches of beach reduced by accelerated erosion or cyclonic weather events. Federal, State and local parties to the cost-sharing agreements ultimately fund these projects with tax revenues. Taken together with the new energy-absorbing dune system crested with sea oats, Sharp�s stabilization plan to triage emerging �hot spots� with a few truckloads of sand would save taxpayers $hundreds of millions over the next decade.

PORT EVERGLADES ENTRANCE CHANNEL

The sand bypass was originally proposed by former Broward beach Guru Stephen Higgins, who observed �Unless the entire Broward coast is treated and maintained like a single structural entity, this project will fail. The stability of every segment depends on the stability of its adjacent segments.� In 2014, Eric Myers remarked �Every big deep-water inlet is a huge barrier to the drift of sand along the East Coast. It really starves beaches to the south.�

Myers� observation begs the question, �Why didn�t they first build the sand bypass at Port Everglades,� as Higgins� recommended? Since Point of Americas is home to some of the region�s �Masters of the Universe�, when they hinted to the Fort Lauderdale City Commission that the project would disrupt their Karma, the Sand Bypass was DOA. City officials shrugged off a threatened County legal action, until Myers later explained �Had we built the sand bypass at Port Everglades, beaches in South Broward County would still be healthy.� adding that Fort Lauderdale�s decision will cost taxpayers another $50 million. The City Commission sucked it up and relented, as long as the Segment II project preceded the bypass. After once again crawling through Tallahassee�s regulatory sewage dump, FDEP finally granted Sharp State Permit 0289308-004-JC on February 3, 2017, authorizing the elusive Port Everglades Sand Bypass.

If enacted, the new legislation will help facilitate Sharp�s plan. However, the bills could still wind up in the cornfield. Until Scott pockets his veto pen a few weeks after Sine Die, anything goes. For the endgame... clock in next month.

SEGMENT II - L'HERMITAGE BEACH REPLENISHED

February 18, 2016 - When a brigade of construction vehicles rolled across Broward County on January 4, a time-hardened layer of skepticism was pealed from the Galt Mile - like a rancid Band-Aid. After seventeen years of rain-dancing in Tallahassee, Congressional foot-dragging and gridlock in Washington DC and nearly two decades of broken promises by Broward officials, back-hoe excavators, bulldozers, front end loaders and off-road trucks descended on several beachfront staging areas along the North Broward coast. The equipment belongs to bid-winning contractor Bernie Eastman, proprietor of Eastman Aggregate Enterprises. Having recently fleshed out 5 miles of beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (LBTS), Eastman�s intimate familiarity with the Broward shoreline proved an insurmountable advantage during the October 2015 Segment II bidding process.

SEGMENT II - 12 STREET IN POMPANO

Of Broward County�s 24 miles of sandy beaches, 21.3 miles were originally declared �critically eroded� by the Coastal Engineering Section of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). Nearly half of these depleted beaches were replenished during the South Broward Segment III project completed in March of 2006, when 1.7 million cubic yards of sand dredged offshore Deerfield Beach was deposited along 6.2 miles of the 8.1-mile span from the Dade County line to John U. Lloyd Beach State Park. As originally conceived, the Segment II project was anticipated to do the same for 10 miles of North Broward beaches, adding 935,000 cubic yards of sand to the County shoreline from Hillsboro Inlet to just north of Port Everglades. The plan was scrapped after Hurricane Sandy.

For years, beach and port projects underwritten by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) were frozen as Congress played partisan political ping pong with the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, a multi-$Billion pork-fest and funding Pi�ata for the nation's ports, inland waterways and beaches. When Sandy turned picturesque East Coast cities and towns into post-apocalyptic wastelands, ACOE scooted around the Congressional shell game.

LBTS NEAR COMMERCIAL BOULEVARD

To restore eligible East Coast beaches pulverized by Hurricane Sandy, the Corps triggered its Flood Control and Coastal Emergency program (FCCE) authorized by Public Law 84-99 (PL 84-99), which empowers the Corps to directly provide disaster relief on its own authority. Along with scores of Northeastern coastal communities, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea jumped on the FCCE bandwagon, severing dependence on the County�s then tenuous Segment II beach fix. From November 2013 through February 28, 2014, Corps contractor Eastman Aggregate Enterprises trucked 126,700 cubic yards of beach quality sand from the E.R. Jahan Ortona sand mine in Moore Haven to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, where it was dispersed along 5.1 miles of eroded shoreline.

SEGMENT II PLAN PROJECT LIMITS

LBTS was no longer dependent on Segment II sand. Also, the ten miles of north county coast originally planned for renourishment was reduced by half. Instead of buying 935,000 cubic yards of sand, the remaining 4.9 miles of eroded beach would only require 750,000 cubic yards of sand. What remains of the Segment II project are two stretches of beach. About 170,000 cubic yards of sand is currently being spread along the 1.4 mile northern reach, which begins at SE 4^th Street in Pompano Beach and extends south, ending about 700 feet into Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (behind the Ocean Colony Condominium). The longer 3.6 mile span from Commercial Boulevard - across the Galt Mile - to Terramar Street in Fort Lauderdale, will receive 550,000 cubic yards of sand.

On January 4, the Broward Segment II project was launched from beachfront staging sites in each of the three municipalities. In Pompano Beach, Eastman cloistered a crew at SE 12^th Street. For two weeks, beach fill operations moved north to SE 4^th Street, after which the contractor turned south. Construction is expected to reach to the Ocean Colony Condominium in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea by late April.

LBTS - PALM AVENUE STAGING AREA

Another crew assembled at Palm Avenue in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and initially headed north along the beach. After a few days (before reaching Commercial Boulevard), it turned south toward Galt Ocean Mile. A week later, construction along the Galt Mile Beach had proceeded past Plaza South.

BEACH FILL SOUTH OF L'HERMITAGE

In Fort Lauderdale, a third staging area was located just south of the Galt Mile at Vista Park in Lauderdale Beach. Moving north, Eastman�s crew built out the beach areas behind L�Hermitage and Southpoint within a few weeks. In pressing fill operations from two different directions, project planners hope to complete construction along the Galt Mile beach by the end of March (before Sea Turtle nesting season suspends the project), as Eastman�s converging crews are expected to meet behind either Playa del Mar, The Regency Tower or Galt Ocean Club.

CONSTRUCTION VEHICLES AT VISTA PARK

Following completion of the Galt Mile beach fill in late March, the staging areas will be vacated as Eastman�s crews move to NE 18^th Street in Fort Lauderdale, a staging site for the southernmost project segment. After continuing operations through the end of April, Eastman will pack it in until Sea Turtle Nesting Season ends in November, when the crews will reoccupy the SE 18^th Street staging area, along with a second launch point on Sunrise Boulevard. Nine to ten weeks later, the final curtain comes down on the Segment II project.

At a December 16 public meeting convened by project planners at the Sonesta Hotel. Broward Beach Administrator Nicole Sharp, project contractor Bernie Eastman, and Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca reviewed stakeholder concerns and invited questions from attending association officials and homeowners. Concerned about how their respective beaches would be impacted by the project, some Association officials asked about the size and location of dunes and how existing vegetation would be integrated with new flora.

LAMARCA HOSTS BEACH FIX MEETING

BROWARD NATURAL RESOURCE ADMINISTRATOR NICOLE SHARP

Although Sharp had explained that areas allocated to dune restoration or vegetation would be balanced with adequate recreational space, homeowners inquired about how this would specifically apply to their respective beaches. More importantly, they wanted to know when each beach would be overrun by construction. Unable to accurately address inquiries about the existing condition of individual association beaches, Sharp invited attendees to contact her at [email protected].

BEACHFRONT GALT MILE ASSOCIATIONS

Over the next month, while Sharp visited a few associations that contacted her to discuss project issues, she still lacked a reliable vehicle for addressing the concerns of all 23 beachfront associations. Since she had no way of determining exactly when the contractor�s crews would arrive at each association beach, she was also stymied by inquiries into when the construction would impair beach access for each association�s homeowners and visitors.

BEACH FILL BEHIND L'HERMITAGE

After the January 21, 2016 Advisory Board meeting, Galt Mile officials and Sharp explored whether pictures of the beach adjacent to each association might assist with responding to these inquiries. To facilitate this option, L�Hermitage Advisory Board member Len Sanders offered a helicopter for snapping aerial shots of each beach. Forwarded to member associations on January 30, some of the resulting photographs provided a useful basis for discussing how to best balance dunes and vegetation with recreational space, although others did not. Also, Sharp was still unable to predict construction progress with sufficient specificity to provide association officials with a credible operational timetable.

Sharp had informed Galt Mile officials that a scheduling conflict precluded her attending the February 1 Presidents Council meeting at Plaza South. Standing in for the Broward Beach Administrator was Beach Program Specialist Greg Ward, who works hand in glove with Sharp on Segment II issues. An official County contact for Beach Renourishment inquiries, Ward was instrumental in creating the Beach Project presentation at the December 16 introductory meeting, where these issues were first raised by association officials.

Following his introduction, Ward informed the Presidents Council that each association would be contacted shortly before the contractor rolls across its beach, thereby providing its officials with an opportunity to impact how their dunes and vegetation are configured. As such, association officials could only provide their members with a loosely estimated timetable until they receive the call from County planners. A few days before construction is planned for each property, the administration can provide unit owners with a more reliable start date.

Addressing a security concern posed by Galt Mile officials, Ward explained that dunes needn�t be placed adjacent to a seawall, where they might be abused as springboards for trespassers. Speaking to fearful rumors about an 11-foot high mountain of sand blocking access to the beach, Ward assured attendees that the dune heights were modest and mildly graded (the State Permit defines a vertical/horizontal ratio of 1:2, yielding a gradient of about 26.5 degrees). When an association official observed that even modest-sized dunes might present an access impediment to elderly beachgoers, Ward described how dunes can be configured in a manner that doesn�t impair beach access, such as carving a downward slope toward the beach egress to provide a level pass-through.

Although Ward�s plan falls short of providing the kind of reliable notice that association officials and unit owners would have preferred, it does give associations a hand in shaping their beaches. Also, if fill operations continue to move at the current pace, beachfront Galt Mile Associations may be out of the woods by the end of March, ending our neighborhood�s twenty-year tenure as a regulatory pincushion. More to come...

SEGMENT II BROWARD BEACH PLAN ROLLS OUT

December 22, 2015 - For the past year, Galt Mile residents have been repeatedly assured that the Segment II beach renourishment would begin following the November conclusion of Sea Turtle nesting season. It didn�t. For some veteran Galt Mile residents, two decades of crushing disappointments replaced enthusiastic support for the project with a numbing cynicism � on a hair trigger. After 20 years of flimsy excuses, foot-dragging and bald faced lies, the delay was perceived as evidence that the project would once again be derailed.

The passionate blowback by frustrated residents wasn�t unreasonable, considering how protection of $4 billion in upland property � and the lives of our families � may ride on this project. Only a healthy beach can shield a coastal population from catastrophic storm surge. Also at stake are three local economies, a regional economy and a large slice of the State�s tax pie.

Fortunately, the missed deadline didn�t veil another bureaucratic shell game, just the delays that ordinarily belabor complex infrastructure projects. To begin with, County and City officials will not casually forgo $41 million of federal & State sugar allocated to the $56 million project. Also, planners finally have their ducks in a row. After years of Congressional gridlock and partisan bickering, Congress restored the Army Corps of Engineers� lapsed funding for ports, waterways and beaches in the Water Resources Development Act of 2013.

Although Tallahassee loosened renourishment resources, before it could nail State funding, Broward had to revise the Segment II sand source to circumvent the regulatory obstacles that impair dredge projects. After negotiating project terms with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) throughout 2013, Broward beach officials landed State Permit Number 0314535-001-JC on January 31, 2014.

JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT COMMANDER COL. ALAN M. DODD

In 2014, the Federal permit process stumbled when a foot-dragging bureaucrat in NOAA Fisheries withheld an opinion letter required by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). With the help of Corps officials from the Palm Beach Gardens Regulatory office, Broward beach boss Nicole Sharp secured the opinion letter and completed the remaining Permit requirements by April of 2015. A few days later, ACOE District Commander Colonel Alan Dodd issued Federal Permit Number SAJ-1999-05545(SP-GGL) in Jacksonville.

SEGMENT II PLAN PROJECT LIMITS

Since County officials were hard-pressed to complete project preparations before the anticipated late autumn 2015 start date, they simultaneously entered into cost-sharing talks with the Corps and the three municipal stakeholders � the City of Pompano Beach, the Town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and the City of Fort Lauderdale. The County began drafting a Project Participation Agreement (PPA) in April, which details the parties� project costs, responsibilities and objectives, and specifies how the County will meet environmental and financial benchmarks.

The pact also legally obligates the Corps to a negotiated cost-sharing formula. Since vendor agreements are subject to terms spelled out in the PPA, it had to be executed before the County could contract with prospective vendors. Any vendor agreements entered into by the County prior to official execution of the PPA (before it was signed by the Assistant Secretary of the Army) would be ineligible for federal reimbursement.

County PPA negotiations with ACOE would also determine how the County and cities budgeted for the $55.6 million project, although it would proceed whether or not the Feds chipped in the 55% ($30.58 million) reimbursable under a 2014 Limited Reevaluation Report. The State of Florida had already committed $10.43 million to the project, a healthy chunk of the non-federal share. Incremental to their regular share, the County also donated $10.1 million recently collected from the City of Hollywood for a previous project. Of that amount, the County credited 33% to help the cities meet their obligations while the remaining 67% was applied to the County�s costs. Since the remaining balance would be shared by the County and the three municipalities (on a 67% - 33% basis) with or without the Federal contribution, in July the County sent each municipality funding estimates for both scenarios.

Without the $30.58 million in Federal funds, the County�s 67% share would come to $23.76 million, while the 33% due from the three municipalities would total $11.31 million. If the Feds signed the PPA and shouldered 55% of the $55.6 million project cost, the County share would drop to $2.26 million while the cities would collectively pay $2.23 million. The percentage cost to the municipalities is based on the volume of sand added to their respective beaches - 72.4% for Fort Lauderdale, 22.3% for Pompano Beach and 5.3% for Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (LBTS). However, if the LBTS share exceeded $350,000, the County agreed to make up the difference. As such, the projected costs to each municipality (with and without Federal Funds), were $1.61 - $8.38 million for Fort Lauderdale, $500K - $2.58 million for Pompano Beach and $120K - $350K for Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

SOUTH POMPANO BEACH

The LBTS cost cap was not a by-product of politically prompted preferential treatment. In 2013, the Army Corps of Engineers approved an LBTS emergency beach fill under its Flood Control and Coastal Emergency program (FCCE) authorized by Public Law 84-99 (PL 84-99), which empowers the Corps to directly provide disaster relief on its own authority, and was implemented to fortify eligible East Coast beaches shredded by Hurricane Sandy. The Corps approved reconstructing 5.1 miles of eroded shoreline in south Pompano Beach and LBTS.

LBTS NEAR COMMERCIAL BOULEVARD

In November 2013, Corps contractor Eastman Aggregate Enterprises began trucking 126,700 cubic yards of beach quality sand 106 miles from the E.R. Jahan Ortona sand mine in Moore Haven to Pompano and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beaches. An average of 130 trucks per day made the two-hour trip from the mine to LBTS staging areas, where the sand was delivered for dispersal along the beach. Completed on February 28, 2014 (before the March 1^st commencement of Sea Turtle nesting season), the project required about 10,000 deliveries.

LBTS BEACH FIX

Although the newly fleshed out LBTS beaches had little need for Segment II sand, the town�s shoreline served to connect beaches in Pompano and Fort Lauderdale that were targeted for renourishment. To structurally integrate the coast along all three north Broward municipalities, the County solicited town permission to taper the LBTS shoreline adjacent to beaches in Pompano and Fort Lauderdale that were planned to receive sand. Since the sand was being placed on LBTS beaches solely to stabilize newly renourished adjacent beaches in Pompano and Fort Lauderdale, the County agreed to limit the town�s financial exposure.

As Sharp and ACOE negotiated the PPA cost-sharing terms, each of the three municipalities set about executing Interlocal Agreements (ILA) with the County. The ILAs detailed the parties� respective financial and regulatory responsibilities. On October 6, the County placed the Segment II project out to bid (on Bidsync), citing November 6 as the closing date for beach fill services and artificial reef construction vendor proposals. By starting the bidding process prior to execution of the PPA, County Beach officials would be ready to roll once the PPA was signed, avoiding delays due to vendor scheduling conflicts.

In soliciting vendor proposals, the County split the project into two groups; the northern beach fill segment in Pompano Beach and part of LBTS was Group 1 and the southern segment for the rest of LBTS and Fort Lauderdale was bid out as Group 2. Dividing the project would allow each segment to move forward independently. By the November 6 deadline, bids were received from Eastman Aggregate Enterprises (the vendor selected by the Corps two years earlier for the emergency LBTS beach fill), MCM Construction, Phillips and Jordan, Inc., Ranger Construction Inc., and an incomplete proposal was filed by the Rio-Bak Corporation.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY JO-ELLEN DARCY

On October 9, an elated Commissioner LaMarca notified the neighborhood association �The US Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to the financial terms of our project and they are in the process of signing off on the federal participation of 55% of the total project.� Later that day, Broward Beach boss Nicole Sharp cautioned that although the County had completed negotiating the terms of the Project Partnership Agreement (PPA); until it was signed by Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy - projected for early November � it carried no legal weight.

CITY MANAGER LEE FELDMAN

While addressing Galt Mile officials at the October 5^th Presidents Council meeting at Ocean Club condominium, City Manager Lee Feldman enumerated City concerns with the draft ILA received from the County. Citing an unfair funding ratio, potential conflicts with City projects (i.e. Auberge, etc.) and prospective future liability for obligations not clearly defined in the agreement, Feldman also intimated that the County deliberately sent the draft ILA shortly before the projected November start date as a negotiating tactic, suggesting that the abbreviated time frame was meant to pressure City concessions to questionable pact provisions.

COMMISSIONER BRUCE ROBERTS

Having weathered decades of indefensible project postponements, when angry members inveighed against additional bureaucratic delays as intolerable and heatedly suggested that the City quickly settle any contract impediments, Commissioner Roberts and Feldman assured attendees that the obstacles were being addressed and would soon be resolved. After Feldman�s full list of Fort Lauderdale exceptions to the draft ILA was received by the County, a detailed response was returned by County Administrator Bertha Henry on October 30. City and County officials agreed to meet and hash out any remaining differences.

Following the November 6 bid deadline, the $37,016,422.42 proposal submitted by low-bidder Eastern Aggregate Enterprises was �Recommended for Award� (RFA) by the County and placed on the Purchasing Division website for 5 business days for public review. Since no comments or protests were filed, the County was cleared to enter into a federally reimbursable contract with the Lake Worth-based vendor as soon as the PPA was signed by the Corps.

On Monday, November 9, the Corps finally delivered a signed and executed PPA to exuberant County Beach officials, equipping the Federal cost-sharing commitment with legal teeth. The next day, the Pompano Beach City Commission passed a resolution approving their ILA with the County. Also on November 10^th, the County Commission empowered Broward Administrator Bertha Henry to execute agreements integral to the Segment II renourishment, including the municipal ILAs, the PPA and the vendor agreement (Eastern Aggregates).

Suddenly, a lawsuit was filed naming Sea Turtles as plaintiffs, whose right to peaceful enjoyment would be violated by a beach fill project, and named as defendants any entity with project standing, including the participating jurisdictions, their agencies, beachfront homeowners and the Galt Mile Community Association. Ironically, environmentalists and environmental agencies staunchly support salvaging severely eroded nesting habitat for endangered Sea Turtles and foraging habitat for scores of threatened species like the Piping Plover, as documented in the Army Corps� Final Environmental Impact Statement. The Broward Commission had also pumped up environmental protection for the project, adding $3,364,078 to their existing $11,155,077 contract with Nova Southeastern University for Segment II reef building and Biological Monitoring.

While responsible legal actions occasionally improve a beach project, frivolous lawsuits are designed as a �Hail Mary� deterrent. In the past, project impediments were the brainchildren of lobbyists funded by the Scuba Industry (beach projects temporarily disrupt their members� offshore business venue), self-appointed environmental radicals hoping to return the barrier island to a pristine state by ejecting human beings, failed attorneys exploring a new practice field or a disgruntled resident with a personal agenda.

On November 12, City and County staff met to negotiate final terms of the Fort Lauderdale beach project ILA with Broward County. Acknowledging that the City will receive 550,000 of the 750,000 cubic yards of sand placed on Segment II beaches, the City agreed to pay 72.4% of the $2.23 million still due from the three municipalities after the Federal, State and County contributions. Fort Lauderdale�s $1.61 million share is payable in three annual installments of less than $540,000.

COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BERTHA HENRY

Since Bertha Henry had already addressed Feldman�s more substantive concerns, most of the remaining items were less than earthshaking. For example, for cities to remain vested in future federally reimbursable beach projects, instead of coughing up �a minimum of 10%,� the County will retain a flat 10%. Also, if the City drives up costs by submitting a change order to the contract, instead of the County unilaterally deciding how much the City must pay, the cost �will be mutually determined by County and City.�

While a few other tweaks were approved, the City did wangle a valuable �most favored� clause. In short, beach renourishment benefits or terms granted by the County to any Broward municipality would also accrue to Fort Lauderdale. Specifically, any financially preferable changes to the cost-sharing formula for the impending Segment III renourishment of South County beaches would be retroactively applied to Fort Lauderdale�s portion of Segment II.

Having hammered out bumpy provisions in the County pact, on December 1^st, the City Commission passed a resolution approving the ILA with Broward County for the Segment II Shore Protection Project. Fort Lauderdale was officially on board. With contracts between the County and all three municipalities in hand, vendor Eastern Aggregates could finally begin drafting a schedule for delivering sand to the staging areas.

BROWARD COMMISSIONER CHIP LAMARCA

On December 10, Lamarca notified Galt Mile officials that the vendor, while coordinating with the sand mines, would commence sand placement surveys on Monday, December 14. On December 11, LaMarca sent an email blast to stakeholders, announcing a 6 p.m. project presentation by Eastern Aggregates at the Sonesta Hotel (999 Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard) on Wednesday, December 16.

BROWARD NATURAL RESOURCE ADMINISTRATOR NICOLE SHARP

To host the meeting, LaMarca and Nicole Sharp were joined by contractor Bernie Eastman, founder and President of Eastern Aggregate Enterprises. Representatives from most of the Galt Mile beachfront associations attended the meeting with two major objectives. In addition to confirming the project start date, they sought to learn exactly when the construction team would flesh out the stretch of beach behind their respective properties, and how long it would impair member access to the beach.

After announcing that the project would begin on Monday, January 4, 2016, Sharp did a two-step around the second query. She said that construction progress would be posted on the Broward County Beach Renourishment web page, and invited interested parties to first check the current location of the construction and then calculate how long it would take to reach their stretch of beach. After reading the perplexed faces in the audience, she suddenly blurted, �Please call or email me with questions that specifically relate to your beach.�

SAND PROCESSED AT ORTONA MINE

According to Sharp, 750.000 cubic yards of sand harvested from the Ortona Sand Mine in La Belle, Florida (Glades County), an upland commercial mine north and northwest of Broward County, will be trucked 125 miles to Fort Lauderdale. Owned by E.R. Jahna Industries, Inc., a dredge sucks sand from the bottom of an artificial lake, filters out pebbles, extracts water, removes silt or clay and sorts the sand by grain size.

YELLOW SAND FROM ORTONA'S MAN-MADE LAKE

This light yellow silica sand selected for the project typically has a larger average grain size and a smaller fines fraction than material found in offshore borrow areas. Due primarily to its imperceptibly larger grain size, the sand is more stable and produces less post placement turbidity in the nearshore environment. Originally deposited 5 million years ago when the shoreline ran up the spine of the state, it also more closely matches the color of our native beach sediments than the grey sand dredged from offshore borrow sites.

The construction methodology for renourishing a beach using mined sand is significantly different from using sand dredged offshore. The sand must be delivered to the beach by truck, stockpiled, transferred to off-road equipment, and placed mechanically on the beach. Traffic on regional thoroughfares and local streets along the route will be temporarily affected by the hauling and placement of material during the construction process. The project will also require several accessible and sufficiently sized dedicated staging areas for the delivery, handling, transfer and temporary stockpiling of sand material.

LOCKHART STADIUM - HOME OF THE STRIKERS

To allay regulatory concerns about the variability of materials at the source, and enforce Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) protocols throughout the construction period, Sharp explained that the trucks filled with sand will first stop at Lockhart Stadium, home field of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League. Located at 1350 NW 55^th Street (next to Fort Lauderdale Stadium and Executive Airport), Lockhart will serve as an initial staging area. When a truck rolls in, after a sample of the sand cargo is tested for consistency and compliance with project standards, the truck will be directed to one of 5 beachfront staging areas.

SAND TRUCKED TO LOCKHART STAGING AREA

Each day, trucks will make 120 trips from the mine to the staging areas, collectively carrying 2500 tons of sand. In Pompano, sand will be delivered to a beachfront staging site at SE 12^th Street, and be dispersed along the beach north of the staging area. In Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, sand will be trucked to the beach at Palm Avenue, and offloaded by conveyer belt to the staging area. The beachfront staging areas in Fort Lauderdale are at Vista Park in Lauderdale Beach, NE 18^th Street and E. Sunrise Boulevard. Here�s the bad news.

Due to regulatory delays that shifted the project start date from November 1 to January 4, 2016, there isn�t sufficient time to complete the entire project before the onset of Sea Turtle Nesting Season, when State Law will temporarily freeze construction. Work along various segments will continue through mid-March or late April. Sharp observed that while the smaller northern project area will likely be completed before the regulatory deadline, the larger southern project limits will not. The Eastman crews will roll their equipment back to the company�s Lake Worth Headquarters until they return to southern staging sites (NE 18^th Street and E. Sunrise Boulevard) and complete the beach fill after the October 31 conclusion of Sea Turtle Nesting Season.

ELKHORN AND STAGHORN CORALS

In Fort Lauderdale, beaches will be widened from 70 to 240 feet. Questioned why the project only included beaches north of Terramar Street in Fort Lauderdale, Sharp cited the need to protect fragile offshore coral beds just south of the project limits. Sharp explained that as construction proceeded along the coast, for the most part, it would not interfere with direct access to the beach from beachfront associations. In cases where the project impeded direct access, since the construction sites are anticipated to be roughly a few hundred feet in length, signs would direct unit owners around the roped off work sites to the beach.

Since dune building is integral to stabilizing the coast, association officials inquired about the planned size, shape and placement of these structural buffers against tidal erosion. Dunes also mute storm surge damage by helping to absorb the energy created by storm waves. When asked if dunes might serve as obstacles for elderly beachgoers, Sharp assured attendees that the mild elevations wouldn�t block access. However, dunes located adjacent to a seawall create security concerns, as they would be abused as springboards for trespassers.

PLAZA EAST PRESIDENT GLENN ROLLO

Attendees also asked about beach vegetation, another project component included to blunt erosion. Describing how plants provided by the North Port-based Earth Balance Nursery will help protect the beach, Sharp said that beach grasses and other beach vegetation block the wind, as their roots grab the sand. At an earlier Presidents Council meeting, Plaza East President Glenn Rollo told sharp that the adjacent beach is paper thin, and observed that if the added sand were covered by dunes or vegetation, little or no room would be left for beachgoers.

Sharp assured Rollo that areas allocated to dune restoration or vegetation would be balanced with adequate recreational space. When an association official asked how existing beach vegetation would be preserved or integrated with new plantings, Sharp noted that questions about existing vegetation or prospective dune placement on a specific stretch of beach are more productively addressed individually with the property owner. In closing, she invited attendees to contact her with their concerns at [email protected]

After almost 20 years, this dog learned to hunt. Although we have never been so close to salvaging the beach, longtime Galt Mile residents will tell you, �Until I feel the sand in my toes, I don�t believe a word of this.� When the construction progress page is uploaded to the Broward County website, we will notify member associations about the construction schedule. Of course, every association can reach out to Nicole Sharp, and get the info directly from the Broward Beach boss. Punctuating her departure from the December 16 presentation, an incredulous Galt Mile official commented �Pinch me; sand is finally on the way.�

At the meeting, Nicole Sharp said that the project could be tracked from the Broward County Beach Renousishment website, where the County Natural Resources staff plans to post current info about the project and its progress. The following links will help shed some light on the project, its environmental and fiscal impact, and how construction proceeds across the project limits.

NEW SEGMENT II BROWARD BEACH PLAN

October 15, 2015 - Once again, the Galt Mile community is anxiously awaiting the long-delayed Segment II Broward Beach Renourishment. Every non-comatose Galt Mile resident knows the project is scheduled to begin in November 2015 - just days away. Given the shrinking beach�s critical importance to the neighborhood�s economy and their quality of life, Galt Mile homeowners - and their associations - have passionately pursued its rescue for more than twenty years. 50 years - if you harken back to a 1965 entry in the Federal Register, when the 89^th U.S. Congress appropriated a then whopping $1,093,000 to flesh out Broward�s severely eroded coast (Section 301 of Public Law 89-298, October 27, 1965).

More importantly, Impact Statements filed by the Army Corps of Engineers confirm that a healthy beach is their only real protection against catastrophic Hurricane damage. In addition to saving thousands of lives, the Corps concluded that a renourished beach would preserve fast-eroding nesting and foraging habitat for a litany of species cited as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act while buffering both public infrastructure and private property against the devastating impacts of cyclonic storm surge and high category windstorm events. Coastal engineers admonished that broadening Broward beaches would protect more than $4 billion in otherwise vulnerable upland property.

2003 FLORIDA CABINET

For decades, Broward officials annually assured Galt Mile residents that their disappearing beach would be renourished �next year.� As these promises systematically proved empty, enthusiasm for the project gave way to a numbing cynicism. Not surprisingly, Galt Mile residents are currently waiting for an all too familiar second shoe to drop. As the start date draws near, hundreds of residents who fought for the project both here and in Tallahassee, and thousands more who signed petitions and attended meetings to overturn political & regulatory roadblocks, grow increasingly apprehensive about the prospect of facing another crushing disappointment.

SOME SEGMENT II STAGING AREAS

Following approval of the Federal Permit by the Army Corps of Engineers earlier this year, Galt Mile officials have been monitoring the project�s progress. Regular updates were solicited from District 4 Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca, Broward Natural Resource Administrator Nicole Sharp and City of Fort Lauderdale officials. Although a County-managed project, since Fort Lauderdale�s beaches anchor its tourism economy, the City Commission and City Manager have ardently supported the project.

With State and Federal permits in hand, the County began drafting a Project Participation Agreement (PPA) in April, which will serve as a Federal reimbursement blueprint once the project is fully farmed out. While seeking Federal regulatory approval of their PPA (from the Army Corps of Engineers), the County also had to configure ILAs (Interlocal Agreements) with the three municipal stakeholders (the Cities of Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach and the Town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea), optioning estimated funding formulas.

TRUCKING SAND TO BEACH STAGING AREAS

Last June, LaMarca remarked �The County is gearing up with the three cities to be ready for the procurement process so that we have a contractor and we are ready for November.� The County will outsource transporting 750,000 cubic yards of sand from the upstate mine to beachfront staging areas. Broward will also contract out the distribution of sand across the 5.2 mile project limits. The contract terms will provide the basis for a project timetable, useful for determining when each section of beach will be rehabilitated.

COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BERTHA HENRY

On September 22, 2015, County Administrator Bertha Henry observed in a Segment II Beach Renourishment Commission memo �Based on most recent conversations with Corps staff at various levels, receipt of the PPA is expected sometime in November. As stated previously, this document is required to award the project to a contractor.� Concerned about the incomplete PPA blocking a scheduled November project start, leery Galt Mile officials asked LaMarca if Henry�s comment cloaked a delay. LaMarca confirmed that the project would commence in November.

CITY MANAGER LEE FELDMAN

At the October 5^th Presidents Council meeting in Ocean Club Condominium, City Manager Lee Feldman announced having recently received a proposed ILA from the County. While lamenting a funding ratio which he characterized as unfair to the City, Feldman promised to support the project, as did City Commissioner Bruce Roberts. However, Feldman admonished that City Commissioners may opt to slug it out with their counterparts on the County Board. By waiting until the eleventh hour to distribute the municipal ILAs, Feldman intimated that the County had deliberately afflicted the cities with a negotiating deterrent, as the fast approaching November start date is anathematic to the siege mentality that often belabors negotiations between Fort Lauderdale and Broward County.

ELKHORN AND STAGHORN CORALS

Project costs for the Segment II renourishment were initially estimated at $45,343,805. In the past few years, the County spent an additional $6,886,719 circumventing heavily obstructed regulatory gauntlets while chasing the State & Federal Permits. To address concerns raised by environmental watchdog agencies with regulatory standing (i.e. FDEP, NOAA Fisheries, etc.), County planners agreed to enhance safeguards against adverse impacts to the nearshore hardbottom and protected species of coral (i.e. Elkhorn and Staghorn). These additional mitigation & monitoring measures are projected to cost $2,330,000 in 2016, and $500,000 annually in 2017 and 2018. As such, the total estimated cost of the Segment II project is actually $55,560,524.

The municipal ILAs distributed by the County depicted funding scenarios with and without Federal participation. If the Federal Government snubbed the $55.6 million project, the State would ante $10.43 million; the County would pay $23.76 million, while the three municipalities would collectively chip in $11.31 million. In short, the County would pay a bit more than twice the cities� contribution, which Lee Feldman cited as less than the County share in past projects. However, the County also agreed to toss in an incremental $10.1 million recently collected by Broward from the City of Hollywood for a prior project.

As defined by a 2014 Limited Re-evaluation Report cost sharing formula, up to 55% of the project cost is federally reimbursable. If the Feds kicked in their anticipated 55% project reimbursement ($30.58 million), the County share would drop to $2.26 million (plus the $10.1 million reimbursed to the County by Hollywood), while the 3 municipalities would cough up $2.23 million (of which Fort Lauderdale would shoulder $1.61 million).

After the October 5^th meeting, Galt Mile President Pio Ieraci contacted LaMarca about the proposed County-City cost-sharing formulas, and requested verification that the project would not be delayed by PPA negotiations between the Corps and Broward County. On October 9, 2015, LaMarca shot off the following response.

When LaMarca�s message to Galt Mile officials was forwarded to the City of Fort Lauderdale, skeptical City officials thought it prudent to verify LaMarca�s missive. Fort Lauderdale Environmental Services Manager Todd Hiteshew contacted Broward Beach Administrator Nicole Sharp to assess LaMarca�s perspective. Sharp responded with the following message.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY JO-ELLEN DARCY

Having recently completed another agreement with the Corps � a measure to sufficiently deepen the Port Everglades channel to accommodate huge Post-Panamax shipping vessels � County negotiators know that any understanding is subsequently rubber-stamped by Jo-Ellen Darcy - Assistant Secretary of the Army. In her response, Sharp was unclear about whether the Feds said they would or would not participate, or if the agreement was simply awaiting Darcy�s signature. To demystify the negotiated outcome, and ascertain if the Corps had acceded to inclusion in the PPA, Sharp was asked point blank whether or not the Corps had agreed to the 55% cost-sharing ratio. The Broward beach boss responded �The PPA does include the 55% cost-share ratio, but we cannot confirm approval of the cost-share ratio until the document is signed off on by the Assistant Secretary of the Army and executed.� The Feds were on board.

Sharp�s admonitory suggestion that the City prepare for a worst-case funding scenario would mean appropriating $2.8 million annually for 3 years (total $8.38 million) � which would be reduced (or repaid) � by as much as $6.77 million when Federal reimbursements are recovered. If City planners decide against Sharp�s conservatively tentative budget gymnastics, the annual appropriation for 3 years would drop to $540,000 and the City�s net expense would be $1.61 million.

HOLLYWOOD BEACH - SEG III REPEAT

While preparing to raise the curtain on Segment II, the County is in the design and engineering phase of another Segment III project to renourish South County beaches. The $53.7 million plan will combine sand dredged from the ocean bottom with sand trucked in from upstate mines. An estimated 980,000 cubic yards of sand will be distributed across the beaches of John U. Lloyd State Park, Dania, Hollywood, and Hallandale

PORT EVERGLADES CHANNEL ENTRANCE

Also on the menu is the Port Everglades Sand Bypassing Project. Since 85% of the tidal erosion in Florida occurs at coastal inlets like Port Everglades, sand that naturally migrates south along the coast detours seaward at the Port, and never replenishes the sand-starved South County beaches. The project is intended to pass along 50,000 to 80,000 cubic yards of sand annually from the north to the south sides of the Port Entrance, re-establishing the disrupted sand migration, diminishing the need for future renourishments.

As observed by legendary beach Guru Stephen Higgins, �Unless the entire Broward coast is treated and maintained like a single structural entity, this project will fail. The stability of every segment depends on the stability of its adjacent segments.� � simple � but elegant.

NEW SEGMENT II BROWARD BEACH PLAN

BROWARD BEACH ADMINISTRATOR ERIC MYERS

June 1, 2015 - After reviving the dormant Segment II beach project in 2011, former Broward Beach Administrator Eric Myers spent the next 3 years chasing the required State and Federal permits. When he retired after a bitter, yet successful struggle for the State permit, Broward Natural Resource Administrator Nicole Sharp donned Myers� mantle as beach boss. Joined by District 4 Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca, Sharp hunted the remaining regulatory brass ring � a Federal Permit to reclaim vanishing Segment II beaches � until she ran into a bureaucratic brick wall.

BROWARD COMMISSIONER CHIP LAMARCA

Last year, LaMarca asked his District 4 constituents for help circumventing a federal beach renourishment roadblock. NOAA Fisheries (AKA the National Marine Fisheries Service - or NMFS), an agency in Penny Pritzker�s Commerce Department, was intransigently sitting on a key puzzle piece required for a Federal Permit � an �opinion letter� featuring recommendations to minimize collateral damage to the marine environment.

For more than a year, agency bureaucrats ignored County requests for the opinion letter, although every other major State and Federal environmental watchdog agency endorsed the beach project as critically important to salvaging fast-diminishing nesting and foraging habitat for a laundry list of species deemed endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As cited in the Army Corps of Engineers� original Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), Leatherback, Green, Kemp�s Ridley, Hawksbill and Loggerhead Sea Turtles, the Piping Plover and scores of other threatened species rely on the shrinking beach ecosystem for their survival. Ironically, NMFS bureaucrats blew off as �irrelevant� the Corps conclusion that a fortified beach will also save thousands of lives at risk from cyclonic storm surge while shielding more than $4 billion in upland property. As spun by an arrogant NMFS policy wonk in St. Petersburg, �Human survival is not our problem.�

While shrugging off public officials from Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Pompano Beach, the agency also ignored supplications by Statehouse Representative George Moraitis, Florida Senator Jeremy Ring and other members of the Broward Legislative Delegation. Anticipating that our Federal representatives might more effectively access a heavily cloistered federal agency, LaMarca and the Galt Mile Community Association recruited Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio along with Congresswoman Lois Frankel to help pierce the seemingly impenetrable bureaucratic membrane. When the agency finally responded with an enigmatic claim that they lacked the resources to meet the County request (i.e. write an opinion letter), an incredulous Chip LaMarca visited the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional office in St. Petersburg, where he found the Broward request under a pile of unopened documents collecting dust at an empty desk.

Since the agency is openly disdainful of local politicians and only marginally more responsive to members of Congress (unless, of course, they sit on a budget committee charged with pulling agency purse strings), Broward officials realized they were spitting into the wind. Reconsidering their options, County officials turned to another federal agency for help. To further its agenda, NOAA Fisheries needs a functional relationship with the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). Also, nobody can navigate the federal regulatory labyrinth like local Corps personnel, who consider it their back yard. LaMarca contacted the Army Corps of Engineers Palm Beach Gardens Regulatory office, where Supervisory Biologist and office chief Susan Kaynor and Project Manager Garett Lips agreed to help pinwheel NOAA Fisheries � and push the beach project to fruition.

UNDER SECRETARY KATHRYN D. SULLIVAN

ASSISTANT SECRETARY JO-ELLEN DARCY

NOAA Fisheries could have milked their dilatory tactics for years; fortunately, this wasn�t the first dance for ACOE Project Manager Garett Lips. When a NOAA Fisheries bureaucrat continued stonewalling the project after the February 20^th response deadline mandated by federal law, Lips drew down on his intimate familiarity with the Federal playbook. A 1992 Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Commerce and the Department of the Army spells out a procedure for breaking an impasse created when NMFS casually blocks a permit approved by the Corps; specifically, it kicks the problem upstairs to the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere (USOA - former astronaut Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan - the first woman to walk in space) and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works (ASA/CW - currently Jo-Ellen Darcy), a forum reserved for aquatic resources of national importance.

PROJECT MANAGER GARETT LIPS

Lips sent a �3c� letter, forcing the agency bureaucrat to either rescind or elevate the objections by March 9. Since elevating borderline specious objections would expose the agency to crushing public and internal criticism for its willingness to arbitrarily eviscerate one of the world�s major Sea Turtle nesting habitats, scuttle a regional economy, and leave the entire beachfront population unprotected from cataclysmic storm surge, they threw in the towel. Having finally fleshed out the Corps� regulatory dance card with the NOAA Fisheries opinion letter, ACOE District Commander Colonel Alan Dodd issued Permit Number SAJ-1999-05545(SP-GGL) in Jacksonville a few days later.

JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT COMMANDER COL. ALAN M. DODD

Lips� timing was providential. After 3 years as District Commander of the of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, and 32 years in scores of domestic and overseas commands (including combat commends in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan) where he earned countless citations and awards, West Point graduate Colonel Alan M. Dodd is preparing to retire from active service. Had he done so before signing off on the Broward permit, a new Commander might have required the County to revisit specific regulatory issues or re-navigate the entire gauntlet, prospectively adding years of additional delays. Before officials in Fort Lauderdale and the Galt Mile had an opportunity to thank Lips for sewing up the big win, the 45-year old biologist suddenly passed away on April 28.

As a parting shot, NOAA Fisheries salted the permit with a conditional requirement. The permit does not authorize the �taking� of an endangered species, in particular Acropora and other listed corals. Buried in their opinion letter, NOAA Fisheries specifies a set of �reasonable and prudent measures� when navigating the hardbottom environment. If implemented, responsibility for an �incidental taking� would be mitigated, leaving Broward off the hook.

L'HERMITAGE I CONDOMINIUM

When news of the Federal authorization spread through the neighborhood, pool talk fueled speculative misconceptions about the State and Federal permits. At a recent Presidents Council Meeting in L�Hermitage I, a veteran GMCA Advisory Board member � understandably angered by years of frustrating delays � took a potshot at those who worked to secure the Federal Permit, contending that a federal permit issued in 2004 was blown when irresponsible County officials sat on their thumbs - and allowed it to expire on July, 16, 2009. Another official held that the original permit hadn�t expired, obviating the need for a new permit. Like most urban legends, these myths were built on grains of truth. A Federal permit was received 11 years ago, although it did not authorize a Segment II beach fix.

DREDGED SAND PUMPED ONTO HOLLYWOOD BEACH

Issued on July 16, 2004, Federal Permit No. SAJ-1999-5545(IP-SLN) was limited to bulking south county Segment III beaches in Hollywood, Hallandale and Dania Beach. Since Galt Mile officials have been playing �Where�s Waldo� with State and Federal Beach Permits for almost two decades, the mix-up comes as no surprise, especially since a State permit that expired during a prolonged episode of bureaucratic foot-dragging fell prey to a countywide battle over replacement sand.

Initially issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), State Permit No. 0163435-001-JC authorizing Segment II on May 12, 2003 was reissued a year later (June 4, 2004) as Permit No. 0163435-005-JC following an administrative hearing convened to address a project challenge by a longtime local beach renourishment opponent.

ENVIRONMENTALIST ROY ROGERS

2003 - 2004 FLORIDA CABINET

A few months earlier, scientists from the County�s Biological Resources Division addressed the Florida Cabinet at a May 13, 2003 Tallahassee public hearing, along with officials from Broward beachfront municipalities, renowned environmentalist (and former head of the Nature Conservancy, the Audubon Society and Florida Ethics Commission panelist) Roy Rogers and a contingent of Galt Mile residents. When project opponents � many funded by the scuba industry � informed former Governor Jeb Bush�s Cabinet members that Broward�s beachfront homeowners opposed the beach renourishment, the baseless spin was refuted by beachfront residents from the Galt Mile, whose testimony convinced the Cabinet to approve the project.

ELKHORN AND STAGHORN CORALS

To avoid the appearance of environmental impropriety, the Cabinet added a permit provision requiring an 18-month monitoring period following the Segment III renourishment. Data collected about environmental impacts would be used to enhance safety mitigations applied to the Segment II project. When monitors from Nova Southeast University Oceanographic Center and a coalition of outside engineers (Olsen Associates, Inc., Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc. - absorbed by CB&I in 2013, CECOS Environmental Consulting Services, Milian, Swain & Associates, Inc., etc.) joined county scientists in submitting the anticipated report in early 2008, among the scores of coral species listed in their findings were small colonies of endangered Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) coral.

FORMER FDEP SECRETARY MICHAEL SOLE AND FORMER GOVERNOR CHARLIE CRIST

A few years after the 2008 monitoring report was submitted � just before the State permit expired � former Broward Beach boss Steve Higgins sent a letter to former FDEP Secretary Michael Sole on April 3, 2009, requesting that Sole extend State authorization of Segment II for another 5 years � through June 4, 2014. Sole had roots in Broward. When he was recruited by former Governor Charlie Crist to run the FDEP, Sole was working as a Marine Biologist for Broward County � arms akimbo with Steve Higgins and Eric Myers.

After indicating his intention to extend the State permit, and providing Higgins with a Notice of Completeness for his application, Sole informed Higgins that a Notice to Proceed would not be forthcoming until he received a Segment II mitigation plan protecting the endangered species of coral, in compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Observing that the Broward project was �The most heavily regulated Beach reourishment in the history of Florida,� Higgins began fashioning an Acropora addendum that would pass muster with Sole�s FDEP and ESA regulations. When the project�s State permit expired on June 4, 2009, all hell broke loose.

HOLLYWOOD HOTELS COVET SEG II SAND

Despite that testimony from Galt Mile residents and Fort Lauderdale City officials were the deciding factors in winning Cabinet approval for the south county�s Segment III renourishment, when Segment II approval lapsed, Hollywood and Hallandale hoteliers and politicians colluded in launching a stealth campaign to hijack the sand earmarked for Fort Lauderdale�s beaches.

Enraged by the south county attempt to usurp Segment II renourishment resources, incredulous north county municipal officials went ballistic. The Fort Lauderdale City Commission immediately passed City Resolution No. 09-11, �strongly opposing� a sand bypass at Port Everglades that would replenish sand stripped from south county beaches by tidal erosion. A page was posted on the City web site entitled �Help Save Fort Lauderdale Beach,� which provided the email addresses of the County Commissioners and asked that residents �Help to make sure that Fort Lauderdale is not pushed to the back of the line� by demanding that Broward first complete the promised Segment II renourishment of Fort Lauderdale�s beaches. Waves of invective for south county politicians were echoed in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Pompano Beach.

FORMER BROWARD BEACH ADMINISTRATOR STEVE HIGGINS

Higgins is a scientist, not a politician. Caught in a political dogfight between north county City officials who were promised the sand, and south county politicians who coveted the Segment II sand to bulk up their newly fattened Segment III beaches, Higgins was relentlessly pummeled by both sides. Stupefied by this deteriorating political rats� nest, the County�s unique environmental wizard �closed down,� dropping the beach project into a black hole.

HOLLYWOOD MAYOR PETER BOBER

Until Higgins announced that he would retire in 2011, the beach project remained dormant. Although he would continue as a consultant, his primary duties would be assumed by his boss, Deputy Director Eric Myers of Broward�s Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department. With Broward back in the business of fixing beaches, Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober wanted in. Extending an olive branch to Fort Lauderdale, Bober announced �Hollywood is not interested in doing anything that would give us any unfair advantage or cause any detriment to Fort Lauderdale residents or the City�s reputation.�

TRUCKING SAND TO BEACH STAGING AREAS

At a February 7, 2011 Presidents Council meeting in Coral Ridge Towers (Original), Myers announced that the project�s revival hinged on two contingent benchmarks, crafting a new plan that eliminated the most egregious regulatory obstacles and unilateral cooperation by coastal jurisdictions and beachfront homeowners. Myers� redesigned project no longer called for using sand dredged from the ocean floor by vessels dragging pipes and hoses across the hardbottom. By truncating prospective damage to the marine ecosystem, he also quashed the project�s greatest source of environmental blowback.

BROWARD NATURAL RESOURCE ADMINISTRATOR NICOLE SHARP

MINED STOCKPILES OF COMPATIBLE BEACH SAND

Instead, sand from upstate mines will be trucked to beachfront staging areas via a route approved by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) before being spread across each Segment II beach. To authorize this revised Segment II project, FDEP issued Permit Number 0314535-001-JC on January 31, 2014. In contrast with the 5-year lifespan of previous State Permits, the current authorization expires on January 31, 2029. As explained by Broward Natural Resource Administrator Nicole Sharp, the extended authorization will enable the County to expeditiously fill �hot spots� carved by coastal storms, without spending years wandering through another regulatory House of Horrors. Thanks to the late Garett Lips, federal authorities are also on board.

SOME SEGMENT II STAGING AREAS

With the State and Federal permits in hand, the County began drafting a Project Participation Agreement (PPA), which will serve as a Federal reimbursement blueprint once the project is fully farmed out. Truckloads of sand will begin arriving after the staging areas are prepared in November, 2015, following Sea Turtle nesting season. Given the abbreviated construction window annually imposed by the eight-month nesting season (March � October), project duration was initially projected at two to three years.

However, at the February 2, 2015 Presidents Council meeting in Fountainhead Condominium, LaMarca agreed to explore an alternative timetable suggested by association officials. Instead of selecting an initial staging site and sending the construction crew either up or down the coast, attending GMCA officials proposed coordinating a project launch from several beachfront staging areas, with multiple construction teams operating simultaneously. This expedited plan would abandon the multi-year timetable in favor of a single season completion. Nicole Sharp gave assurances that each association will be notified about when its respective beach will be closed in order to receive sand.

At several subsequent GMCA Advisory Board meetings, officials stressed the importance of conveying the construction schedule to Galt Mile residents as soon as possible. Unit owners who expect visiting friends and family after the project begins need to know when beach access will be restricted by construction. As such, county and/or FDOT beach updates will be immediately forwarded to member associations by email blast, posted on the Galt Mile website and detailed in the monthly Galt Mile News. For expanded status reports, unit owners can also check with their association's Advisory Board Representatives. More to come...

BROWARD COMMISSIONER CHIP LAMARCA

June 22, 2014 - A bureaucratic blood blister that threatened the chronically delayed Segment II Broward beach project with an added 18-month freeze has been excised. To help quash one of the more asinine impediments faced by this snake-bit project, District 4 Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca scripted major roles for the entire Broward Congressional delegation, both of Florida�s U.S. Senators, the Galt Mile Community Association and an army of Galt Mile residents. With officials in Pompano, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Fort Lauderdale playing bit parts, the eerie plan placed the beach fix back on track for its post-Halloween kickoff.

DIRECTOR MARK THOMASSON WATER RESOURCE MNGT

At the December 19, 2013 GMCA Advisory Board meeting, County Commissioner Chip LaMarca reported the status of the long awaited Segment II beach renourishment. While navigating myriad regulatory landmines with retiring Broward Beach boss Eric Myers, LaMarca had to circumvent a scam in Tallahassee and penetrate a bureaucratic blockade in Washington DC. In Tallahassee, FDEP Division of Water Resource Management Director Mark Thomasson booby trapped Broward�s Draft Permit with �31 d. In the event additional impact from the project is documented, the Applicant shall be required to mitigate for the impacts, through compliance and enforcement action, with the amount of mitigation determined according to the Department�s Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM).�

BROWARD BEACH ADMINISTRATOR ERIC MYERS

While ostensibly bureaucratic blather, the language was actually a legal funding hook. In effect, it would have required Broward taxpayers to mitigate marine impacts that were outside the scope of the Segment II Beach Renourishment - at the sole discretion of Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) - and in perpetuity. Beating back this bald-faced blackmail, Eric Myers responded �Following issuance of the permit we would apply for a modification to address the quantification of liability which the County believes should have been a part of the original permit. Specifically, we are requesting that Specific Condition 31 d. be struck in its entirety.� Thomasson grudgingly relented, and excised the extortion attempt. Having forged an understanding with Tallahassee regulators, LaMarca and Myers turned their attention to Washington DC.

Last November, LaMarca was part of a contingent of Broward business leaders and politicians - including Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler - who met with Broward�s Congressional delegation in Washington to lobby for passage of H.R. 3080, The Water Resources Reform & Development Act (WRRDA). Five months earlier, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finally released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for �Navigational Improvements to the Port Everglades Harbor,� the inexplicably elusive regulatory prerequisite for hosting Post-Panamax ships.

COMMISSIONER CHIP LAMARCA THANKS BROWARD PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND CIVIC LEADERS FOR LOBBYING WRDA

PORT EVERGLADES

When the project to expand the Panama Canal is completed in the next few years, managing these huge ocean going monsters will provide a huge windfall to the handful of east coast ports configured to accommodate the wider, longer vessels with 50-foot drafts (AKA post-Panamax). The project will ultimately deepen Port Everglades� channel from 42 feet to 50 feet. Widening the channel entrance will allow entering and departing ships to safely pass cargo and cruise ships docked along the Intracoastal Waterway inside the Port. The cost of the expansion project is estimated at $313 million, funded by a combination of federal funds, port user fees and � if fortune smiles � state funds. As with expansion of the Southport Turning Notch and completion of the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, Broward taxpayers won�t have to cough up a dime.

After weathering 17 years of delays from bureaucratic foot-dragging and Congressional gridlock, Port Everglades officials were about to hit the Lottery. The WRRDA will authorize and financially flesh out the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers� civil works program, which constructs critical navigation and water infrastructure projects across the nation. Specifically, the WRRDA will provide long-awaited access to roughly $7 billion squirreled away in a legislative lock box � the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.

BROWARD COMMS. SUE GUNZBURGER, TIM RYAN, BARBARA SHARIEF, CONGRESSWOMEN FREDERICA WILSON, LOIS FRANKEL COMM. CHIP LAMARCA. (In back:) PORT EVERGLADES CEO STEVE CERNAK, GREATER FT LAUD ALLIANCE CEO BOB SWINDELL

PORT DIRECTOR STEVE CERNAK

Funding the Corps� newly approved competitive improvements to the Port will insure its future as a regional economic powerhouse. After watching the Water Bill succumb to partisan bickering for 7 consecutive years, contingents from jurisdictions with stalled water infrastructure projects across the country, including our ad hoc Broward group, pushed the bill over the hump. As the Conference Committee began back-loading the bill with pork, Port Everglades Director Steven Cernak flipped the Port�s Master Plan into high gear. As the 3 major projects near completion, the Port's $26 billion in annual economic activity will serve as a baseline for future growth, as incremental taxes from thousands of new jobs fill County coffers. While celebrating their hard-won victory, LaMarca was oblivious to how soon he would need to rely on the bonds he forged during the struggle.

In January, LaMarca faced a new regulatory stumbling block. Despite having diligently submitted mountains of mandated documentation while timely responding to redundant agency inquiries, Eric Myers informed LaMarca that the Segment II Beach project hit a wall. Among the oceans of regulatory minutia required to complete the Federal permit is a boilerplate biological opinion by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Fisheries (NOAA Fisheries). With green lights across the board from every other Federal Agency with standing, Myers� repeated attempts to call, email and officially correspond with NOAA Fisheries - a line office in the Department of Commerce - were roundly ignored. Shortly thereafter, Myers and LaMarca learned that the documentation sent months earlier to NOAA Fisheries (AKA - National Marine Fisheries Service) was collecting dust on a bureaucrat�s desk. Finally, a Commerce Department spin-monkey stunned the two Broward officials with a fairy tale about a shortage of Federal resources!!!

Soliciting input from incredulous project stakeholders in Pompano, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Fort Lauderdale (including the Galt Mile Community Association), LaMarca conceived a plan to penetrate the cloistered agency. Since the Federal obstacle was unresponsive to County political efforts, LaMarca reached out to Broward members of Congress, whose standing in the Federal food chain could rouse snoozing Commerce Department bureaucrats, expedite the long-delayed biological opinion and kick-start the Beach Project.

However, given the agency�s intransigent resistance to altering snail-paced protocols, LaMarca questioned whether a request from a hometown politician would adequately motivate our federal lawmakers to close the deal. It would be far more effective to recruit Congressional assistance the old fashioned way. If the same request for help came from thousands of voters, fixing Broward�s disappearing beach would quickly become a political priority for Broward's Congressional delegation. To accomplish this, all he needed was a community filled with hotheads who predictably react poorly to unreasonable bureaucrats who step on their necks.

GMCA PRESIDENT PIO IERACI

CONGRESSWOMAN LOIS FRANKEL

On January 28, 2014, an enraged LaMarca sent an email to GMCA President Pio Ieraci that detailed the problem and suggested his �resolution�. In February, notices were sent to Galt Mile member associations for distribution to unit owners. The notices described the dilemma, listed the contact data for our Congressional officeholders and requested help with conveying the critical need to shake loose the Federal malaise that was holding the project hostage. The information was also posted on the Galt Mile website and in LaMarca�s March 2014 constituent newsletter.

SENATOR BILL NELSON

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO

Within weeks, hundreds of letters, phone calls, faxes and emails flooded the local and Washington D.C. offices of Congresswoman Lois Frankel (who represents Galt Mile residents on �The Hill�), Senator Bill Nelson and Senator Marco Rubio. The shared message in these correspondences was a simple request, �Please urge the Secretary of Commerce to ensure that the biological opinion of the Segment II Beach Project is completed as soon as possible.� By mid-February, Congresswoman Frankel and Senators Nelson and Rubio had all expressed an intention to help circumvent the Federal roadblock and salvage Broward�s shrinking beaches.

COMMISSION AIDE KATE WESNER

At the February 20, 2014 Advisory Board meeting, LaMarca�s Commission Aide Kate Wesner explained the importance of maintaining the political pressure. Carefully burrowing into agency infrastructure, Wesner learned which projects preceded the Broward Beach plan for review and discovered the name of the infamous Commerce Department staffer (heretofore referred to as �The Bottleneck�). Absent intervention by our Federal Lawmakers, agency delays could persist for up to 18 months. On April 17, 2014, after revealing the staffer�s name to the Advisory Board, a disgusted LaMarca expressed his intention to pass it to the Sun-Sentinel if the delay continued. LaMarca also confirmed that preparations for the Segment II procurement process were underway (bids for trucking sand to staging areas, etc.).

COMMERCE SECRETARY PENNY SUE PRITZKER

By mid-May, more than 4,000 messages had been sent from email links on the Galt Mile website to Senators Nelson and Rubio, U.S. House members Lois Frankel, Alcee Hastings, Ted Deutch, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Frederica Wilson and Mario Diaz-Balart. Another 437 were sent to Secretary of Commerce Penny Sue Pritzker (of the Hyatt Hotel �Pritzkers�). These requests were incremental to those prompted by the individual building notices and LaMarca�s March newsletter.

The plan worked. Serial probes by two U.S. Senators and half dozen angry U.S. Representatives eroded the arrogance of this mid-level bureaucrat. As �The Bottleneck� grew increasingly uncomfortable, months were �coincidentally� shaved from the projected date for stamping out the opinion letter. On May 15, Kate Wesner informed the Advisory Board that since the Segment II Project was suddenly �next in line for review by NOAA Fisheries,� the Biological Opinion would soon be addressed.

PLAYA DEL SOL CONDOMINIUM

At the December 2, 2013 Presidents Council meeting at Playa del Sol, after declaring that Broward�s economic survival depends on the health of its beaches, LaMarca said �I make this pledge, I will do whatever is necessary to get sand on our beach.� After decades of similar promises by public officials, attendee consensus was �We�ll see.� Events since then bought LaMarca a boatload of credibility, although many veteran Galt Mile officials understandably plan to reserve judgment until their toes are covered in new sand. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Kate Wesner, whose carrot and stick helped penetrate agency lethargy. At the end of the day, it was the sleepy retirees who live between Commercial and Oakland Park Boulevards who made the difference� as usual. On June 10, 2014, LaMarca sent the following message to the Galt Mile Community Association:

TRUCKING SAND TO BEACH STAGING AREAS

While preparations for the Segment II Beach Renourishment are already underway, the first of 50,000 truckloads of sand will reach project staging sites in November, after the turtle nesting season. Not surprisingly, the same radical local environmental group that has bean-bagged the project for decades launched a few curious pot shots prior to the June 13, 2014 project deadline for recording public comments.

NEW BEACH CONSTRUCTION PLAN

Since the original county project was first federally authorized by the 89^th Congress in 1965 (Section 301 of Public Law 89-298, October 27, 1965), it has been environmentally vetted almost annually for 49 years. Despite being the most thoroughly scrutinized and mitigated beach project in Florida history, the complainant condemned the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for prematurely issuing a permit. In contrast with his claim that the project would bury much of the 5000-acre reef tract with sand, an impact assessment drafted by the Army Corps of Engineers � and vetted by Federal, State and County Environmental agencies � affixes the loss at 4.9 acres - .less than one tenth of 1%. Although miniscule, even this marginal damage will be mitigated by a newly installed concrete substrate promoting algae regrowth.

BROWARD NATURAL RESOURCE ADMINISTRATOR NICOLE SHARP

MINED STOCKPILES OF COMPATIBLE BEACH SAND

Defending the County�s environmental diligence, Broward Natural Resource Administrator Nicole Sharp (who filled the position vacated by recently retired Eric Myers) remarked �We worked with our engineers and we put forward a very environmentally sensitive project.� Heeding input from environmental agencies, coastal engineers and reputable advocacy groups, project planners decided to avoid the adverse nearshore hardbottom impacts at risk when large maritime vessels snake pipelines shoreward around coral reefs to pump out light grey carbonate sand dredged from offshore borrow sites. Instead, they will harvest 750,000 cubic yards of significantly more compatible light yellow silica sand from upland mines roughly 125 miles north and northwest of the County along the site of Florida�s shoreline � about 5 million years ago. After verification that the sand meets the size, shape and color parameters defined by county scientists, it will be trucked to oceanfront staging areas and carefully spread across the beach. To avoid disturbing our shared coastal habitat during Sea Turtle nesting season, the project is expected to span several years.

A top engineer from renowned Boca Raton-based marine consultants Coastal Planning and Engineering (a subsidiary of construction and consulting Juggernaut CB&I), Sharp perceives an added benefit to using the mined sand. Due primarily to its typically larger average grain size and smaller fines fraction, Sharp explained that the sand is more stable and produces less post placement turbidity. In other words, the sand will stack more like building blocks than volleyballs due to the granules� size and shape.

PLEASE NOTE We suggest that GMCA member association Carib�, which is also eligible for the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea dune restoration project, investigate participation. The dunes will help stabilize the beach and stave off tidal erosion � prolonging the benefit of the impending Beach Renourishment. Think about it!!!

GMCA PRESIDENT PIO IERACI

BROWARD BEACH BOSS ERIC MYERS

By the end of January, one obstacle remained. The Broward Beach project demands regulatory-mandated approvals from myriad Federal, State and local agencies. As such, during the past year, Myers has diligently submitted the required documentation while timely responding to seemingly endless agency inquiries. In turn, each agency approved the project... except one. Despite having received all the required documentation from Myers, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) remained silent. Phone calls, emails and official correspondences went unanswered. It was soon learned that the documentation Myers sent to National Marine Fisheries Service - a NOAA line office agency in the Department of Commerce) was sitting on a bureaucrat's desk - collecting dust.

Following a discussion with Galt Mile officials, on January 28, 2014, Commissioner LaMarca sent Galt Mile Community Association (GMCA) President Pio Ieraci the following explanation - along with his assent to a plan for circumventing the Federal malaise that's currently holding the project hostage:

After thanking Commissioner LaMarca for clearly identifying a crushingly assinine and unacceptable bureaucratic obstacle to the Segment II Beach Renourishment, GMCA President Pio Ieraci forwarded the message to every member association and their representatives on the Advisory Board, strongly recommending its circulation to all unit owners.

Attached to LaMarca's email was the contact information for Broward's Congressional representatives. Below each head shot were addresses, telephone numbers, Fax numbers - both locally and in Washington DC - and their Congressional websites. Although I added the Contact Pages on their respective websites, the Congressmen and Congresswomen generally only accept messages from their constituents (FYI - LOIS FRANKEL is the Congresswoman representing Galt Mile residents). As such most of you will only be able to use the email pages to contact Congresswoman Lois Frankel and Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio. However, you can still write, call or Fax the others - as we need them all on board. Please - write a letter - send a Fax - don't hesitate to pick up the phone and call - local numbers are listed below. Unless we motivate our Broward representatives in Washington to kick some tires in the Commerce Department, we can kiss our beach goodbye!!!

I took the liberty of adding Secretary of Commerce Penny Sue Pritzker (of the Hyatt Hotel "Pritzkers") to the list. Unlike our understandably paranoid friends in Congress, I was able to find her email address (see below). If you decide to contact her, don't forget to appropriately adapt the message. Feel free to write anything you please - as long as you include LaMarca's one-line exhortation to our Broward Members of Congress - who must reach out to the Secretary of Commerce. Tell them:

The City Decides to Act

CITY MANAGER LEE FELDMAN

August 19, 2013 - On October 30, 2012, City Manager Lee Feldman convened a round table meeting to examine the City�s Sea Turtle policies. Joining Feldman in City Hall - around a score of utility tables - were officials from the Galt Mile Community Association, the Central Beach Alliance and other beachfront neighborhoods, District 1 City Commissioner Bruce Roberts, Assistant City Manager Susanne Torriente (the City Manager�s liaison to Sustainable Development - parent agency to the building and code enforcement departments), Building Department chief Terry Burgess, Director Greg Brewton of Sustainable Development, Code Enforcement Manager Skip Margerum, Assistant City Attorney Carrie Sarver, Director Al Carbon from Public Works as well as a half dozen departmental and divisional support staffers. Problems stemming from the City�s 2003 Beach Lighting Ordinance and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) nest marking policies had soured neighborhoods, stigmatized tourism and devolved the City�s beaches into demilitarized zones.

2012 - KING SIZE NEST SITE ON FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH

For decades, thousands of visitors and resident beachgoers enjoyed sharing the beach with nest sites enveloped in 10-foot square protective zones. In 2012, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) made an insipid decision to expand each site by a factor of ten, exploding 100 square-foot nest sites to 1000 square feet. Coupled with an unanticipated 50% increase in nesting activity throughout the 9-month season, residents and vacationers in coastal communities across Florida complained bitterly about being functionally ousted from their beaches. After meeting with Galt Mile officials, former manager Lou Fisher of Broward County�s Sea Turtle program contacted FWC and elicited a revised ruling for future nest sites. Thanks to Fisher, nest sites were returned to an average 5-foot radius, allowing the beach to once again become a shared resource.

A1A AT NIGHT - FORT LAUDERDALE GHOST TOWN

While pleased about Fisher�s successful initiative, Fish and Wildlife directives fall outside the City�s purview. Officials at the October meeting were primarily focused on mitigating unintended consequences of the City�s poorly drafted 2003 Beach Lighting Ordinance. In addition to wreaking havoc on the City�s tourism industry, a policy that forced the entire beach area into darkness for 75% of the year was fatally crippling the beach neighborhood�s viability as an economic engine, imperiling drivers and pedestrians along A1A and opening serious security and safety breaches in beachfront residential communities.

MAYOR JACK SEILER

In beachfront hotels, management personnel reported complaints by scores of visiting tourists that �fear of crossing the street� would preclude their return. Equally frightened local residents don�t have the option of not returning. As observed by Mayor Jack Seiler, �The problem is there's a safety issue down there. It�s gotten too dark. As much as I think every one of us has been very involved in trying to protect the sea turtles, you can't do that at the expense of human life. You�ve got traffic, pedestrian issues, cycling issues.� Since consequences of the ordinance that were marginalized when passed in 2003 have since mushroomed into significant threats, officials would have to reshape the ordinance to promote Sea Turtle survival without crippling the City or endangering its residents.

As the meeting progressed, it became clear that the public safety pitfalls were exacerbated by the City�s enigmatic enforcement policies. Representatives from the city�s beach neighborhoods complained about the cost of satisfying inconsistent and ever-changing enforcement protocols, regulatory conflicts between the beach lighting ordinance and building code-mandated lighting requirements for resident safety and security (on parking decks, public access areas, fire exits, etc.), enigmatic violations for reflected light (or cloudlight) and confusion over security lighting, whether insurer-required or in response to the increasing number of assaults on association residents and property launched from the beach.

Although the current ordinance was passed in 2003, enforcement was postponed until after the City recovered from the serial hurricanes of 2004 and 2005. In March of 2007, the first violation notices awoke perplexed neighborhoods to its existence. Following a late 2010 upheaval in the building department, one of the casualties of a turnover in the department�s administration was an agreement hammered out in 2007 between the Galt Mile neighborhood and the City. A balanced set of code enforcement protocols for beach lighting enabled the Galt Mile to achieve more than 90% compliance within the first two years of the agreement. Associations worked closely with Code officials to create a series of specific objectives en route to full compliance with the lighting ordinance.

After 2010, enforcement officials began waffling about infractions. The open two-way communication that facilitated compliance lapsed overnight. Code officers would issue violations for lighting plans approved as compliant one year earlier. Instead of working with associations to resolve possible violations, they made general suggestions, albeit with a caveat that following their suggestions would not assure compliance.

Only after an association expended resources to implement the officer�s suggestion, student volunteers from NOVA University would assess corrected violations during evening patrols of the shoreline. NOVA students recruited by the Broward County Sea Turtle program - a licensee of Florida Fish and Wildlife - would note perceived lighting violations from an ATV traveling across the beach. Based on the few minutes they flew by each building at night, they would submit complaints to the City�s Code Enforcement Department. Included in their complaints were lights previously deemed compliant by a Code Officer, such as lamps fitted with motion detectors that toggle on and off automatically when a resident needs to safely navigate a walkway or a trespasser invades association property from the darkened beach.

To mitigate the perception that the City�s Code Enforcement Administration ceded their enforcement responsibilities to NOVA students, they provided a loophole. Any association that was actively working with a code enforcement officer would temporarily be spared a violation notice. As associations grew leery of funding code officer-recommended lighting solutions that were subsequently and systematically rejected, �working with a code officer� became spin for funneling scarce association resources into a black hole.

When association officials investigated this counterproductive �Catch-22� scenario, two frustrated code officers admitted that they lacked the authority to guide property owners seeking to comply with the City�s ordinance. Agreements they hashed out with homeowners or associations that were approved by supervisors were later abrogated by Code managers leery of political missteps. Instead, officers were told to suggest that the property owner contact Fish and Wildlife � a state agency - about correcting a City violation.

Given its inherent ambiguities, depending on how an Enforcement Officer elects to interpret the current ordinance, virtually anything visible from the beach is arguably evidence of a violation. Meant to deter illumination of the beach, the ordinance prohibits either direct or reflected artificial light from reaching the beach. Since visibility requires light that emanates from or bounces off an object to register an impression on an observer�s eye (retina), anything visible to an observer on the beach is technically evidence that light is reaching the beach. When this unintended standard is applied, a property can only achieve compliance when an observer on the beach looks westward toward the City and sees a pitch black horizon. By creatively misinterpreting the ordinance, a Code officer with an �agenda� can penalize property owners for any artificial light, whether or not it illuminates the beach.

VICE MAYOR BRUCE ROBERTS

While discussing enforcement dilemmas in beachfront neighborhoods at the October 30^th meeting, Vice Mayor Bruce Roberts asked how these problems might be specifically resolved in the Galt Mile neighborhood. When he suggested a meeting with GMCA and Code Enforcement officials, GMCA President Pio Ieraci and Code Manager Skip Margerum agreed.

GMCA OFFICIALS PIO IERACI & ERIC BERKOWITZ

On November 27, Ieraci and GMCA Vice President Eric Berkowitz met with Margerum and his two senior Code officers assigned to beach lighting enforcement. At the outset, both sides agreed to revive an understanding critical to associations. If a violation involves a major fixture, such as a security or parking deck lamp, the officer would recommend an inexpensive shield to temporarily block light from reaching the beach. To achieve permanent compliance without unnecessarily burdening association budgets or creating a gauntlet of dangerous tripping hazards, when the fixture approached the end of its useful life and was budgeted for replacement, the association would incorporate a turtle-safe substitute into its new lighting plan.

CODE BOSS SKIP MARGERUM

Having agreed to reopen unfettered communication, the Department and the neighborhood association would otherwise work together to identify and cure violations. The discussion then turned to why the Code Department issues violations for lighting plans recommended by their own officers. Apologizing for any confusion, Margerum said that even if an association corrects the problem; due to how the ordinance is worded, it may technically remain in violation. Conceding that many of its provisions are unclear and open to interpretation, Margerum declared that he must enforce the ordinance as he understands it. He said that his officers would work with any association to find an acceptable and reasonable solution, adding that associations could always request guidance from Fish and Wildlife. In closing, Margerum announced that unless the City changes the law, we would just have to work together to make the best of it.

Convinced that the law should protect both people and turtles, Feldman closely scrutinized the Fort Lauderdale ordinance. In 1993, the state of Florida developed a model lighting ordinance (62B-55, F.A.C.) to guide local governments in creating turtle-safe lighting laws. Broward County adopted Chapter 39, Article IX, Sec 39-107 in 1989. Ten years later, Pompano Beach followed their lead (Title XV, Chapter 155, Section 155.139), Deerfield Beach in 2000 (Chapter 34, Article V, Sec 34-96), Hallandale Beach in 2001 (Ch. 6, Art. I, Sec 6-10), Lauderdale-by-the-Sea in 2002 - Chapter 30 Article V Division 2 Subdivision L Sec. 30-313 (o), Fort Lauderdale in 2003 (Chapter 6, Article III, Div. 2, Sec. 6-51), Hillsboro Beach in 2007 (Ord 232), and Hollywood in 2011 (Title IX, Chapter 108).

The State template was based on research by FWS scientists. State environmentalists realized that every beachfront jurisdiction experiences a unique blend of economic, social, structural, environmental and political problems. Commercial beachfront neighborhoods face different structural lighting challenges than communities where high-rise buildings shield the beach from street lights. Cities also had to avoid inadvertently undermining the municipal economies that fuel their survival. Most importantly, municipalities had to guard against implementing provisions that placed city residents and/or visitors at risk.

After examining the original state template, Feldman reviewed the Broward County Ordinance, variations enacted by other Broward municipalities and the local beach lighting laws of coastal communities throughout Florida. Most jurisdictions treated the State Template like a supermarket, selecting those provisions that best suited their needs. Some deployed all or most of the provisions while others chose one or two. Certain cities and counties dumped the State model and created their own homegrown regulations while others � like Miami-Dade � refused to pass a lighting law. Since most of Florida�s coastal cities and towns depend on their beach economy to survive, many performed an economic impact study to minimize unintended consequences.

FWC APPROVED LAMP

Fort Lauderdale was not among them. To prove their environmental commitment, 2003 City Commissioners aggressively expanded on the State model, randomly piling on additional regulations thought to enhance its effectiveness or enlist homeowner support. Unfortunately, the ill-defined hand waving additions created enforcement dogma. Commissioners mistakenly believed that Code Enforcement would compensate for safety and security pitfalls, inadvertently forcing the Department to walk a tightrope between conflicting enforcement objectives. The sycophantic mission statement was a poor substitute for clear enforcement protocols.

The 2003 City Commission never anticipated the adverse impacts currently facing the City. In 2007, when FWC decided to stop relocating nests from well-lit �donor zones� to darkened recipient beaches, the City Commission unexpectedly came face to face with the untenable terms in an ordinance they foisted on residents. For example, canvas bags were temporarily fitted to city-owned acorn-style fixtures along the east side of A1A to shield the beach. Cobra-style lights owned by FDOT and FPL on the west side of the road were retrofitted with shielded fixtures. The City retained consultant Chen Moore & Associates to devise a compliant permanent fixture that was subsequently approved by FWC on October 15, 2008.

FORMER BROWARD TRAFFIC ENGINEER JIHAD EL EID GOT $150,000, A NEW CAR AND A JOB FOR HIS NEPHEW

In 2011, the City gave Southeast Underground Utilities Corp. � a Davie company � $1.7 million to replace 110 acorn-style lamps along 2 miles of A1A with the FWC-approved recessed fixtures (The company was simultaneously being sued by Broward County for for defective work after padding a $4.4 million low-bid contract into a $21.3 million windfall. On February 13, 2013, owner and President Anthoneel Allen pled guilty to Federal charges for bribery, highway fraud, mail fraud, extortion under color of official right, tax fraud, and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise fraud � for greasing former Broward Traffic Engineer Jihad El Eid and gaming the system to land dozens of State, County and local municipal contracts). Although FWC approved the interim shields for 150 FDOT and FPL owned lamps on the west side of A1A, they were extinguished throughout the nine-month 2012 nesting season, transforming the world-renowned Ocean Highway into a potential death trap.

TURTLE-SAFE LAMPS INSTALLED ALONG A1A

ANTHONEEL ALLEN

To protect residents and visitors, insure that drivers and pedestrians don�t wind up in the morgue, salvage threatened beachfront neighborhood economies and provide the Code Department with a less ambiguous set of enforcement guidelines, the City Commission would have to clean up the beach lighting ordinance. Having investigated how other coastal communities tempered the State model, Feldman decided to trim most of the whimsical text added by predecessors in City Hall. He also elicited input from Broward Sea Turtle Program Manager Lou Fisher and FWC Beach Lighting expert Karen Schanzle. To secure sea turtle survival without gutting public safety, the revised City Beach Lighting ordinance would adapt standards contained in the State Model to the City�s current needs.

Trawling for public opinion on the City Website, Feldman posted a copy of the current ordinance, the State model and a redlined version that distinguishes the proposed changes. To collect additional feedback, the City scheduled town hall style meetings on June 10^th at the Beach Community Center and on June 26^th at the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Although organized to solicit public input about the proposed ordinance revision, those with radical views about sea turtle policies drooled over a perceived opportunity to vent. Residents and public officials who arrived at the Beach Community Center before the 6:30 PM kickoff expected an ideological prizefight pitting the life safety needs of city residents against the survival of a species. Attendees registered to speak upon entering the auditorium. Since a division that split the audience wasn�t where expected, conflict junkies were disappointed.

In Round One, members of sea turtle support groups lashed out at the City for embracing changes to the ordinance. One accused public officials of breaking Federal and State laws. Not to be �theatrically trumped� by her companion, another announced that they were �initiating environmental genocide.� An angry Coral Ridge resident retorted that insufficient lighting along A1A �is an invitation to disaster� for both drivers and neighborhood residents. A resident from the Birch Park Finger Streets exclaimed �I�m afraid to walk one block from my house to the beach at night, and so are all of my neighbors.�

Blurring the agenda, an employee at the FAU astronomical observatory proceeded to make an evolutionary case against all artificial lighting. Insisting that we are a diurnal species ill-adapted to productive post-sundown behavior, he concluded that man-made lighting is anathema to human health (actually, the pineal gland produces cancer-fighting melatonin in the absence of blue wavelength light (500 nm) - whether from the sun or a light bulb). It was unclear how he planned to detoxify civilization from its dependence on electric lights.

LAUDERDALE BEACH ATTORNEY STEVE LANGE

While hardliners on either side dramatically embellished their two minutes with visions of holocaust, most speakers favored a reasonable solution. A beachfront merchant complained that after installing turtle friendly lighting recommended by a Code Officer, he received another warning. �I want to do the right thing, but turning neighborhoods into ghost towns isn�t the answer.� A Bermuda Riviera resident said �I have been an environmental activist all my life, and I agree that we need to turn down the beach lighting, but we must also protect people.� Lauderdale Beach Attorney Steve Lange commented �We want to balance sea turtle life with human life, but not at the expense of human life.� Another woman who said she regularly checks on nest sites agreed that both people and nesting beaches must be protected. �It will never be perfect, but with planning and education we can have both.�

GMCA PRESIDENT PIO IERACI

GMCA President Pio Ieraci told the audience �Every beach resident understands the need to preserve our endangered Sea Turtles.� Ieraci said that when kids vandalize turtle nests, they aren�t chased off by members of turtle support groups or the police, but by people living on the beach. Citing their contribution to the huge explosion in nest sites last year, Ieraci remarked �Although many of our residents bought their homes twenty or thirty years ago and live on fixed incomes, they�ve already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for new lighting plans to protect sea turtles.� Ieraci insisted �Like every other city resident and visiting tourist, they deserve to be safe and secure. There must be a balance.�

RETIRED BROWARD SEA TURTLE PROGRAM ARCHITECT LOU FISHER

By adapting or replacing selected lamps with turtle-safe fixtures, the revised beach lighting ordinance will allow the City to reasonably illuminate coastal roads and neighborhoods. During the meeting, City Commissioner Dean Trantalis and Sea Turtle Aficionado Lou Fisher discussed how to best illuminate A1A while District 1 Commissioner Bruce Roberts explained the proposed ordinance revisions to constituents.

COMMS. BRUCE ROBERTS & DEAN TRANTALIS

Commissioner Roberts assured residents that lamps are compliant under the new ordinance as long as the �point source of light� (bulb) and reflecting surfaces of a fixture are not visible from the beach. Unfortunately, other provisions in the ordinance appear to contradict this attempted clarification. In fact, unless they are addressed before the new law is finalized; every lamp in beach neighborhoods could be targeted for violation, whether or not it illuminates the beach.

While a step in the right direction, some of the new public safety standards apply exclusively to City properties; and not those of its citizens. As the City continues to collect input over the next month or two, homeowners in beachfront neighborhoods will have an opportunity to insure that reasonable enforcement protocols apply to their homes as well.

For instance, the compliance glide path for an association�s major lighting fixtures � although agreed to by Code Enforcement � should be spelled out in the ordinance. The ordinance should also provide for security lighting � whether affixed to motion detectors and/or integrated into a home�s video surveillance protection. Additionally, some of the proposed provisions should be adequately clarified and/or better defined. For instance, a provision mandating costly upgrades to nearly a half million windows throughout the city (some more than a quarter mile from the beach) needs to be �better tailored� to its intended purpose. More to Come...

Click To Top of Page

CITY COMMISSIONER BRUCE ROBERTS

August 29, 2012 - At the May 17, 2012 GMCA Advisory Board meeting, among the community issues that City Commissioner Bruce Roberts pledged to address over the summer was an inconsistent and imbalanced enforcement policy for beachfront turtle-safe lighting. For 140 million years, nesting female sea turtles have been laying their eggs on our beaches. Their hatchling turtles were guided to the ocean by an instinct to travel away from the dark silhouettes of dune vegetation and toward the moonlight-illuminated open ocean.

Click To Top of Page

NEW BEACH CONSTRUCTION PLAN

April 21, 2012 - It�s no revelation that our beach has been rapidly dwindling from the effects of tidal erosion. Since Broward County�s beaches are uniformly under attack, the Broward County Shore Protection Project was authorized in 1965 for county-wide federal participation in beach erosion control (Section 301 of Public Law 89-298, October 27, 1965). Not a bad deal for the projected cost of $1,093,000 in 1965. The Project divided the County�s deteriorating shoreline into three zones. The North Zone (Segment I) is about three miles of coast from the Palm Beach County line to the Hillsboro Inlet. The Middle Zone (Segment II) includes the roughly 10 miles of beach running from the Hillsboro Inlet to just north of Port Everglades. The South Zone (Segment III) ranges from John U. Lloyd Beach State Recreation area for 8.1 miles through Dania, Hollywood Beach, and Hallandale Beach to the Dade County Line.

The original plan engaged the Army Corps of Engineers to supervise the pumping of sand dredged from five �borrow� sites north of Pompano Beach in Segment I and transported by ship to the coastal zones awaiting renourishment. This comprehensive effort would add in excess of 2.5 million cubic yards of sand to our shrinking beaches and widen them by 50 feet to 100 feet depending on the degree of need. The county anticipated recovering almost half of its outlay from the Federal Government, whose primary objective is the protection of $4 billion in upland property from storm damage. Alternatively, we relish that visitors spend $9 billion annually to roll in the retreating sand.

Renourishment of the South Zone (Segment III) was completed in March 2006 using 1,700,000 cubic yards of sand from the offshore borrow sites. Since 21.3 miles of Broward County�s 24 miles of beaches were originally declared �critically eroded� by the Coastal Engineering Section of the FDEP, 13.5 miles have either been restored and/or are currently under maintenance.

Sand Plan Sinks

AT RISK ELKHORN AND STAGHORN CORALS

Following completion of the Segment III renourishment, monitors from Nova Southeast University Oceanographic Center and a coalition of outside engineers joined county scientists to examine the environmental impact of the south county beach fix and use the data to enhance environmental mitigations for the next stage (Segment II) of the County�s coastal rescue plan. After an 18-month monitoring period (as mandated by the Florida Cabinet), their report documented finding two new species of coral federally designated as �threatened� in 2006.

While noting some deterioration of the nearshore hardbottom environment during the Segment III renourishment, the report laments an inability to determine whether its cause was the project or Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Ophelia, Rita, Wilma and two nor�easters, which pummeled the site in 2005 and any of which may have been responsible for the damage in its entirety.

STEPHEN HIGGINS BEACH WIZZARD

When FDEP notified the Broward Biological Resources Division that these new corals should be added to the list of protected marine organisms prior to the upcoming Segment II project, communications inexplicably broke down. When asked by GMCA officials about the Segment II project, County beach officials were largely non-responsive throughout 2008 and 2009, focusing instead on additional erosion control devices, a nondescript hunt for sand and other puerile distractions.

FORMER FDEP SECRETARY MICHAEL W. SOLE

Enigmatically, former beach boss and project Guru Stephen Higgins also never responded when FDEP requested a mitigation plan for the endangered coral and sat idly by as the project�s State permit expired on June 4, 2009 and the Federal permit expired a few weeks later on July 16, 2009. Although former FDEP Secretary Michael Sole, who worked with Stephen Higgins in Broward when he was tagged by Charlie Crist to run FDEP, collegially extended the lapsed Segment II State permit for an additional five years, the County would have to renegotiate the regulatory minefield prerequisite to a new federal permit before pulling the stalled renourishment project out of limbo.

HOLLYWOOD HOTELS COVET SAND

Shortly after Higgins fell asleep at the wheel, a municipal conflict threatened the project. Despite the fact that the Galt Mile Community Association played a critical role in actualizing the south county�s Segment III renourishment by winning Cabinet approval in 2003, Hollywood and Hallandale hoteliers and politicians later colluded in a stealth campaign to hijack the sand earmarked for Fort Lauderdale�s beaches while the Segment II approval languished.

Enraged by the south county attempt to usurp Segment II renourishment resources and leery of County�s incredibly irresponsible gaffe, when Broward County asked the City of Fort Lauderdale for permission to perform a sand bypass at Port Everglades on January 6, 2009, a frustrated City Commission immediately passed City Resolution No. 09-11, �strongly opposing� the project and insisting that Broward first complete the promised Segment II renourishment of Fort Lauderdale�s beaches

To underscore their anger, City officials posted a page on their web site entitled �Help Save Fort Lauderdale Beach,� which provides the email addresses of the County Commissioners and states �The Fort Lauderdale City Commissioners need your help to make sure that Fort Lauderdale is not pushed to the back of the line. Let Broward County know that you oppose the proposed Port Everglades Sand Bypass Project and that you want them to implement the Segment II Beach Renourishment Project as promised.�

Eric Myers Revives Renourishment

BROWARD BEACH ADMINISTRATOR ERIC MYERS

The Project lacked a palpable pulse when Deputy Director Eric Myers of Broward�s Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department stepped up in 2011 and rescued the plan from oblivion. Working with County Commissioner Chip LaMarca, the FDEP, the Galt Mile Community Association and participating north and south county beachfront municipalities, Myers elicited an agreement to cooperate from every party with standing.

MAYOR JACK SEILER

Myers� argument was simple. The project�s overall engineering success depends upon the segments being accomplished in concert. Addressing Segments II or III alone is akin to fixing three of four broken legs on a chair. The Broward County Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers agreed that the project�s ultimate success is contingent on the problem being addressed unilaterally. Each segment contributes to the overall stability of the shoreline. Unless Segment II was completed, the entire enterprise would fail.

FIX BEACH... and WAVE WALL...and

In a February 3, 2012 letter to Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, Myers explains how a new upland source of sand could enable a Segment II renourishment in 2013. On March 6^th, he presented project details to the City Commission. A long time coming, his presentation was music to the Commission, despite Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom�s eccentric notion that a higher roadside wave wall would better protect the marine environment (Myers politely explained was it was atypical for a renourishment project). Mayor Jack Seiler answered with a March 13^th letter to Broward Mayor John Rodstrom supporting Myers� plan to renourish Segment II with upland sand. On April 2, 2012, Myers outlined the plan to association officials attending a Galt Mile Community Association Presidents Council meeting at the Galleon.

BROWARD COMMISSIONER CHIP LAMARCA

Two months earlier, angry Galt Mile officials suddenly blasted Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca when he began delivering an update about beach renourishment. Given the shrinking beach�s critical importance to the neighborhood�s economy and its residents� quality of life, Galt Milers and their associations have been passionately vested in its rescue for more than a decade. Annually since before the Millennium, Galt Mile residents had been repeatedly assured by Broward officials that their severely eroded beach would be renourished �next year�. Enthusiasm was slowly replaced by a numbing cynicism as frustrated residents increasingly reacted to empty county promises like rats on a shock plate. A protective veneer of hopeless disbelief veiled an explosive anger. While attempting to impart some good news about the project�s revival, LaMarca inadvertently pulled off an emotional scab and loosed a decade of disappointment. Ironically, LaMarca had been working with Myers to salvage the frozen project. Immediately after the outburst, LaMarca and GMCA officials agreed that Myers should personally bring the neighborhood up to speed.

While running through the revised project�s planning, design, and implementation for association officials, Myers addressed its scope, sand source, cost and the Segment II timetable. The following is a blended summary of the two presentations made to the neighborhood association and the City Commission.

New Sand Source for Segment II

NEW SEGMENT II BEACH PLAN

Myers explained that he is submitting a Joint Coastal Permit (JCP) application for the placement of 750,000 cubic yards of sand mined from an upland sand source along two separate portions of the Segment II shoreline. The plan to rehabilitate 5.2 miles of beach is based upon a shoreline condition and change analyses, sand source investigations, environmental considerations and expected regulatory hurdles. The northern section runs from SE 4^th Street in Pompano Beach to the Ocean Colony Condominium in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. The southern section extends from Commercial Boulevard to Terramar Street in Fort Lauderdale (and includes the Galt Mile). Marketing itself as the �Dive Capitol of Florida,� Lauderdale-by-the-Sea has been conflicted about participating in a project that interferes with the Scuba industry�s agenda. He pegs the combined cost of construction and nearshore hardbottom mitigation at roughly $33 million. Indirect costs for planning, design, permitting, construction management and environmental monitoring are estimated at $12.5 million for a total project cost of $45.5 million.

In addition to a beach berm � the above water material that comprises the active shoreline (i.e. sand, shingles, shells, jetsam, flotsam) - the project will include construction of a back beach dune to fortify areas where shorefront development is most vulnerable to erosion (wind and coastal storm effects), such as the Galt Ocean Mile, the beachfront single family home community in Lauderdale Beach, and the area seaward of the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park finger streets. The initially wide sand berm constructed on the heavily eroded upper portion of the beach profile will gradually �equilibrate� and flatten to a shape more consistent with the natural beach.

GALT WATERLINE CLOSE TO NEARSHORE HARDBOTTOM

As the berm face flattens and sand travels down the slope, it could reach and perhaps directly cover and degrade nearshore hardbottom areas immediately adjacent to the beach system. Along the Segment II shoreline, these highly sensitive ecosystems are intermittently located relatively close to the waterline. For example, the hardbottom behind the Plaza East Condominium beach is just 300 feet from the waterline. To minimize damage to this protected ecosystem, regulations will require construction of a significantly narrower beach than at Broward coastal sites where the hardbottom is farther offshore.

The bellwether change in Myers� plan is the sand source. Every scrap of relevant project documentation, from the Army Corps of Engineers Final Environmental Impact Statement to the original plan that was permitted by the State, targeted Segment I (the waters off Deerfield Beach) as a sand �borrow site� adequate for both Segment III and Segment II renourishments. In May of 2007, former Broward Beach Administrator Stephen Higgins reported �Since borrow area No. 1, which has enough material with which to construct Segment II, now has a higher percentage of rock in it after removing sand for Segment III, we will have to explore an alternative sand source.� To swallow this whopper, one must believe that a team of county and private sector world-class marine engineers was intellectually ambushed by the third grade hypothesis that if one removes a certain material; the percentage of other materials will increase. Higgins� statement didn�t explain what happened. In fact, Deerfield Beach informed the County that it wanted to conserve the offshore sand for its own use and told Higgins to take a hike.

WIDESPREAD SEARCH FOR SAND

This unanticipated stumbling block subsequently drove an intensive search for sand. County engineers and project planners explored other local offshore deposits, remote sources of domestic sand (e.g. offshore central Florida at Canaveral Shoals in Brevard County and in the Gulf of Mexico at Tom�s Hill off Lee County), non-domestic sand sources like Bahamian aragonite and recycled glass cullet (finely-ground scrap glass). To his credit, Myers turned this project lemon into lemonade.

DARK GRAY DREDGED SAND TURNS LIGHT GRAY

Sand located offshore in Broward County generally consists of between 50% and 80% calcium carbonate material, is slightly finer than the native beach sediments, and have between 1% and 3% fines, by weight. The sand is generally dark gray in color when first placed of the beach, but lightens to a medium gray within a few days. Using sand extracted from an offshore borrow area requires a dredge operating between offshore reefs; the deployment of pipelines that extend from an offshore offloading area and navigate through coral reefs to the target beach; and staged hydraulic pumps to distribute the sand over the beach. Large maritime vessels that dredge sand and lay pipeline can wreak havoc on the marine environment while steaming across a coral reef; exponentially inflaming the renourishment�s expensive and dilatory regulatory nightmares.

SAND PROCESSED AT ORTONA MINE

Instead of running this painful regulatory gauntlet to cover a Segment II beach with gray sand, Myers decided to buy compatible sand harvested from upland commercial mines north and northwest of the county and truck it 125 miles to Fort Lauderdale. To buttress their newly renourished beach, Hollywood recently trucked in 87,000 tons of sand from the Ortona Sand Mine in La Belle, Florida (Glades County). Owned by E.R. Jahna Industries, Inc., a dredge sucks sand from the bottom of an artificial lake, filters out pebbles, extracts water, removes silt or clay and sorts the sand by grain size.

Galt Mile Beach: Segment II Plan Protocols

YELLOW SAND DREDGED FROM ORTONA'S MAN-MADE LAKE

Sand products from these upland sand mines are almost exclusively silica sand, typically have larger average grain sizes and a smaller fines fraction than material found in the offshore borrow areas, and are generally light yellow in color. Due primarily to their imperceptibly larger grain size, these sources are more stable and produce less post placement turbidity in the nearshore environment. Originally deposited 5 million years ago when the shoreline ran up the spine of the state, they also more closely match the color of our native beach sediments than sand dredged from offshore borrow sites.

TRUCKING SAND TO BEACH STAGING AREAS

Since the construction methodology for renourishing a beach using mined sand is significantly different from using sand dredged offshore, certain new challenges must be addressed. The sand must be delivered to the beach by truck, stockpiled, transferred to off-road equipment, and placed mechanically on the beach. Traffic on regional thoroughfares and local streets along the route will be temporarily affected by the hauling and placement of material during the construction process. The project will also require several accessible and sufficiently sized dedicated staging areas for the delivery, handling, transfer and temporary stockpiling of sand material.

For the Segment II project, Myers surmised �One access point will be required for the Pompano Beach/LBTS portion and three or four sites for the Fort Lauderdale renourishment.� Myers told the Presidents Council that it would be optimal if access points were located north and south of Galt Ocean Mile - possibly Palm Avenue in LBTS and near Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, respectively. Another access point located in the vicinity of NE 18^th Street and A1A in Fort Lauderdale could service the southernmost beach fill.

SAND OFFLOADED TO BEACH

While moving the sand overland instead of stomping through delicate hardbottom should eliminate many environmental pitfalls, the Segment II project will still elicit high levels of regulatory and public scrutiny. Federal permit applications will have to address 1) the project�s purpose, 2) the amount of sand fill required, 3) the sand placement areas and 4) the type of sand that will be placed. Compared to the problems threatened by offshore dredging, pipeline damage to the reef and high turbidity levels from stirred sand at the borrow sites and the beach, muting the environmental impacts of spreading the upland sand should be a cakewalk. Instead, project planners will have to allay regulatory concerns about the variability of materials at the source, and enforce Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) protocols throughout the construction period. Myers assured attendees �Using the upland sand sources for the Segment II project will be viewed more favorably by the regulatory agencies and public environmental protection interests than sand dredged from offshore.�

There are two downsides to this revised renourishment plan, cost and scheduling. Delivering mined sand to the beach is estimated to cost 20% more than sand dredged offshore. Although the price of the upland sand is $15.2 million more than sand harvested offshore, the combined cost of equipment, mitigation and Environmental Monitoring is $7.9 million less. Since the costs of planning/engineering/permitting/etc. and contingency funds remain the same, the overall project price will jump from $38.3 million to $45.6 million, a $7.3 million increase.

Myers said that construction should commence in the fall of 2013. Regulatory land mines and/or possible Administrative Challenges to project permits could delay the schedule. Given the time required to load, transport, unload, stockpile and mechanically disburse sand pulled from the mine, using the upland sand source may require up to three seasons to place 750,000 cubic yards along the Segment II shoreline. Since renourishment activities are precluded during turtle nesting season, sand placement may only occur during the winter seasons of 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and (if necessary) 2015-2016. In comparison, if offshore sand were used, the 750,000 cubic yards of sand could be placed within 2 to 4 months, enabling completion of the entire project during the 2013-2014 winter season.

When asked how the project would roll out, given the Galt Mile Community�s longstanding investment in the project�s survival, Myers exclaimed that he favors renourishing the Galt Mile beach at the project�s outset. When asked where the beach fix will start, Myers indicated that it would begin below Anglin�s Pier on Commercial Boulevard and work its way south to Terramar Street in Fort Lauderdale before returning north to address the Pompano Beach/LBTS section of beach. According to Commissioner LaMarca, project funding is intact and available.

Since the benefits of Myers� plan far outweigh the drawbacks, GMCA officials consider it a no-brainer. While Myers has managed to get the involved jurisdictions pulling in the same direction and chill much of the animosity that flared when Broward dropped the ball, he also understands that many Galt Mile residents who�ve been repeatedly burned in the past won�t buy into this plan until they see trucks filled with sand in the staging area. After all, this isn�t the first time we�ve been told that the beach will be renourished �next year�.

Click To Top of Page

---

GMCA PRESIDENTS COUNCIL CHAIR PIO IERACI APPLAUDS PROJECT KICKOFF - Broward Comms SUE GUNZBERGER & KRISTIN JACOBS & former Hollywood Mayor MARA GIULIANTI

FORMER HOLLYWOOD MAYOR MARA GIULIANTI BROWARD COMMISSIONER KRISTIN JACOBS BROWARD COMMISSIONER SUE GUNZBERGER HALLANDALE BEACH MAYOR JOY COOPER AND DANIA BEACH VICE MAYOR PAT FLURY

August 9, 2011 - Six years after the Army Corps of Engineers finalized its environmental impact statement for Broward�s beach renourishment, the Mayors of Hollywood, Hallandale and Dania Beach threw a celebratory event marking commencement of the long delayed South Broward part of the Broward Shore Preservation project (Segment III) on May 6, 2005.

Following completion of the Segment III renourishment in March of 2006, monitors from Nova Southeast University Oceanographic Center and a coalition of outside engineers joined county scientists to begin examining the environmental effects of repairing the County�s shoreline from the Dade County line to John U. Lloyd State Park Beach. After an 18-month monitoring period, their report documented two species of coral Federally designated as �threatened� in 2006.

PORT EVERGLADES SAND BYPASS PLAN

A May 2007 project summary that reviewed the environmental and fiscal fallout of Segment III (south Broward beaches) and the outlook for Segment II (north Broward beaches) also touched on the Port Everglades Inlet Sand Bypassing Project � a separate but related adjunct to the County�s overall shore preservation strategy.

STEPHEN HIGGINS BEACH WIZZARD

Broward�s former Beach Administrator Stephen Higgins reported, �The County is investigating the feasibility of moving between 50,000 and 90,000 cubic yards of excess sand from the upland beach north of Port Everglades to a hot-spot location along south Hollywood and north Hallandale Beach.� Performing smaller, more frequent sand placements at erosion hot-spots would only require what he called �sands of opportunity,� relieving pressure on thinning dredge sites. Higgins also anticipated using erosion control structures to slow erosion along other coastal hot-spots. He said, �The County is currently monitoring the equilibration of the beach fill to ascertain any impacts that might occur to the nearshore hardbottoms from migrating sand.�

T-GROINS EXPOSED SOUTH OF PORT INLET

The sand bypass had a larger purpose. In contrast with past beach projects that were largely neglected once completed, the County planned a maintenance component to ensure the extended health of the rehabilitated beaches, thereby postponing the need for (and expense of) future renourishments. Although sand naturally migrates south along the coast, intermittent special attention to certain �erosion hot spots� that evacuate at an accelerated rate could slow the need for future full scale renourishments.

PORT EVERGLADES INLET SAND COVERS GROINS

By interrupting the alongshore movement of sand, stabilized inlets such as the Hillsboro Inlet and the Port Everglades entrance channel are responsible for 85% of beach erosion in Florida. Sand bypassing is a process by which sand is artificially captured on the updrift side of the inlet and transferred to downdrift beaches. The Port Everglades Sand Bypass Project will modify the Port Everglades inlet by constructing a 7.1-acre sand trap on the north side of the Port entrance channel to a depth of � 49 feet (below mean sea level), a depth comparable to that of the existing Port channel.

The purpose of the project is to reduce sand accumulation in the federal navigational channel and provide an opportunity to transport the sand to the beach south of the Port Everglades inlet by dredging the sand trap at 2 to 4 year intervals. After being transferred to the John U. Lloyd State Park beach, the sand would continue migrating down the coast.

FORMER COMMISSIONER CHRISTINE TEEL

In November of 2008, former District 1 Commissioner Christine Teel forwarded an email to GMCA officials about an agenda item from the November 13, 2008 Broward County Commission meeting. Entitled �Beach Erosion,� it divulged 1) how a sand shortage could delay the Fort Lauderdale (Segment II) renourishment, 2) the need to �reevaluate the Segment II project in the context of current economic and environmental conditions� and 3) a study update about �erosion control structures to be employed along the County�s shoreline to reduce the rates of erosion and help sustain our beach nourishment projects.�

One month earlier, Higgins attended an unpublicized meeting in Hollywood. Complaining that their recently renourished beaches had lost a few feet of sand, powerful South Broward business leaders and politicians pressed Higgins to leapfrog the project schedule and give their marginal erosion deficit priority over the Segment II renourishment. When Galt Mile residents learned that their sand was covertly coveted by Hollywood officials, they went ballistic.

MARA GIULIANTI, ELEANOR SOBEL AND SUE GUNZBURGER

In 2002, the south county Segment III part of the project was facing fierce opposition from pseudo-environmental groups hastily recruited by the Scuba Industry (which stood to lose $millions during the project�s planned temporary reef closures). Former Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti, District 6 Broward Commissioner Sue Gunzburger and Hollywood legislator Eleanor Sobel (former Statehouse Representative now in the Florida Senate) pleaded with Barrier Island beach communities to help them convince Tallahassee of the project�s necessity.

HOLLYWOOD BEACH COMMUNITY CENTER

The only substantial response came from the Galt Mile Community Association. On April 30, 2002, more than 150 residents of the Galt Ocean Mile (2 busloads) descended on a public hearing at the Hollywood Beach Community Center in support of the Army Corps of Engineers plan to renourish the County�s shrinking beaches. On May 13, 2003 (one year later), a contingent of eight Galt Mile residents flew to Tallahassee and testified at a Florida Cabinet hearing convened to ascertain whether the project should include Fort Lauderdale�s eroded beaches and if beach community homeowners supported the County plan. Their overwhelmingly favorable testimony elicited the Cabinet�s unanimous approval.

Indebted to their Galt Mile neighbors for the impending rescue of their eroded beaches, grateful South County officials promised to return the favor by pledging their support for Segment II (in Fort Lauderdale). In a bald-faced act of betrayal, these same politicians later launched a stealth campaign to hijack the sand earmarked for Fort Lauderdale�s beaches.

Anger over the attempt to usurp Segment II renourishment resources was exacerbated by its perpetration by the community�s supposed �allies�. Empathetic with Galt Mile civic leaders, on January 6, 2009, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission passed Resolution 9-11, Section 2 of which �requests that construction of the Segment II beach renourishment project be completed prior to any permit being issued for the construction of the Port Everglades Entrance Sand Bypass Project.�

FORMER FDEP SECRETARY MICHAEL W. SOLE

Things soon got worse. When Higgins failed to respond to inquiries about Segment II delays in 2008 and 2009, GMCA officials contacted then Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Secretary Michael Sole, who confirmed that Higgins� Broward Biological Resources Division hadn�t responded to State Departmental inquiries for more than a year. While the two agencies were locked in this eerie limbo, the Federal and State permits authorizing the project expired.

Prior to proceeding with Segment II, Broward beach officials would first have to repeat the environmental testing required for a new federal permit. Since Michael Sole � by training an accredited Marine Biologist � worked with Higgins in Broward County prior to his FDEP appointment, he was familiar with the project�s scientific and engineering parameters. While a painful repetition of the federal permit process was unavoidable, Secretary Sole granted Higgins a 5-year State permit extension through June 4, 2014, saving County beach officials months of bureaucratic tedium. The extension proved to be a parting gift. A year later, Sole stepped down as FDEP chief while overseeing the State�s response to the Deepwater Horizon fiasco and accepted an offer from Florida Power & Light to serve as Vice President of their Governmental Affairs Department. Welcome to Florida!

BROWARD Administrator BERTHA HENRY

When public officials in Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Pompano Beach and other Segment II project stakeholders learned that the County fell asleep at the wheel, they went looking for scalps. Hoping to quell the exploding rancor, Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry sent a beach renourishment update to former Fort Lauderdale City Manager George Gretsas on May 27, 2010. She concluded her summary of beach project issues with the comment �Broward County-conducted beach construction in Segment II is targeted for November of 2011, pending completion of the engineering/design and permitting processes in a timely fashion.� Shortly afterwards, Beach Administrator Higgins announced that he would retire in 2011. Although he would continue as a consultant, his primary duties would be assumed by his boss, Deputy Director Eric Myers of Broward�s Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department.

ERIC MYERS

Apologizing for his predecessor�s enigmatic behavior, Myers twice told GMCA officials attending the February and May Presidents Council meetings �I understand that you have repeatedly been told that the project is scheduled for late 2011. I don�t believe that�s possible. Since we must first complete the Federal permit process and collect the State and Federal funds allocated to the project, a far more realistic target date is late 2013.�

Myers has also worked to diffuse local animosities and refocus the feuding parties� objectives to rehabilitating the County�s beaches. Since 2008, City officials have repeatedly stonewalled County requests to implement the bypass project. With time, the angry reaction by Galt Mile officials to south county duplicity took a back seat to our shared objective - restoring the beach.

Rather than repeatedly relocate mountains of sand whenever tidal erosion shrinks the beach, planners engineered the project around sustainability. Designed to mesh with the natural southerly migration of sand along the shore, each of the interdependent plan segments lends stability to the overall shoreline. The soundness of each segment depends on the integrity of adjacent segments with special attention to �erosion hot spots�. In short, since Hollywood sand migrates from Fort Lauderdale, delaying Segment II also threatens Hollywood�s beaches.

CITY COMMISSIONER BRUCE ROBERTS

When Myers pitched the bypass at the May 17, 2011 Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting, Commissioners salted some additional factors into the County formula. Commissioner Bruce Roberts told Myers that Galt Mile residents � whose staunch project advocacy was grounded in the belief that a healthy beach was critical to the area�s economy � have been waiting since 1998 for the County to make good on promises to renourish the Segment II beaches. Roberts insisted that its economic impact on both tourism and area businesses be incorporated into project protocols for cost effectiveness. Recalling that the last load of sand was deposited on the Diplomat Hotel beach, Commissioner Romney Rogers concluded that Fort Lauderdale should receive the next available infusion of sand.

FSBPA PRESIDENT DEBBIE FLACK

According to President Debbie Flack of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association, Commissioner Bruce Roberts is on the money. Flack confirms that every dollar spent on beach restoration yields an $8 return in tourism income. Roberts� recommendation recognizes that beach-driven tourism is one of the healthiest sectors of the State�s unstable economy.

And then came Charlotte. Instead of locating a sand catchment devise north of the inlet, Commissioner Rodstrom suggested using the Port�s entrance channel as a sand trap - which could be dredged when shipping began piling up in the increasingly impacted channel. Senior Engineer and Vice President Christopher Creed of Olsen Associates, Inc., a specialty engineering firm retained by Broward County, diplomatically exclaimed �I am not aware of any federal navigation channels that are used in that way.�

HOLLYWOOD MAYOR PETER BOBER

After almost four years of infighting, it appears that north and south county beach municipalities finally realize that the alternatives to working together are unacceptable. Since the initial rift in 2008, Hollywood Mayor Peter J.M. Bober offered two reasons why Hollywood won�t benefit from placing their interests above those of Fort Lauderdale. While admitting that there are places in Hollywood where the ocean abuts the seawall, sand conserved from the bypass wouldn�t reach them for years. Stressing the importance of maintaining municipal collegiality, he added �Hollywood is not interested in doing anything that would give us any unfair advantage or cause any detriment to Fort Lauderdale residents or the City�s reputation.� The politically correct rhetoric aside, Bober knows that if the project is frozen by another conflict, everyone loses.

If the parties fail to reunite behind assurances from Eric Myers, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano beaches will remain skeletal and beaches in Hollywood and Hallandale will quickly surrender their newly infused sand to tidal erosion. Accessing ever-tightening Federal funds and circumventing a Tallahassee Administration that wiped renourishment funds from the State budget will require the combined political muscle of every stakeholder. In addition to rehabilitating Broward�s muddied credibility and coalescing coastal municipalities behind the project, Myers is actively lobbying support from every beachfront neighborhood.

SAINT SEBASTIAN CHURCH

His next informational meeting about the sand bypass is scheduled for 7 PM on August 17^th in the St. Sebastian Parish Hall at 2000 SE 25^th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. While Myers details the project�s overview, construction methods and environmental protections, attendees will likely be focused on the oversized storyboards behind the speaker. They dramatically contrast the healthy beach north of the inlet with the limp ribbon of sand to the south. The stated purpose of the meeting is �to review the current status of the project and ongoing efforts of determining the best way to construct the sand trap and jetty improvements.�

When Mayor Seiler opened the May 17^th Commission meeting to public comment, Point of Americas resident Ina Lee (associate publisher of the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood edition of Travelhost magazine) rattled off a spate of disparate reasons for the Commission to refute Myers� advocacy of the sand bypass, culminating with an exhortation against �interfering with mother nature,� a strange admonition from someone who openly supports Broward�s beach renourishment. Not surprisingly, the Point of Americas Condominium sits directly on the �healthy beach north of the inlet.� Welcome to the world of NIMBY (not in my back yard).

2003 FLORIDA CABINET - AG CHARLIE CRIST SEC. OF AGRICULTURE CHARLES BRONSON GOV JEB BUSH, CFO TOM GALLAGHER

THE HOLLYWOOD BEACH COMMUNITY CENTER

March 6, 2011 - On April 30, 2002, two busloads of Galt Mile residents attended a public hearing at the Hollywood Beach Community Center in support of the Army Corps of Engineers plan to renourish our shrinking beaches. On May 13, 2003, a contingent of eight Galt Mile residents flew to Tallahassee to refute allegations by vested interests in the Real Estate and Scuba lobbies that coastal residents �don�t want their beaches renourished.� Upon hearing our neighbors� testimony, the Florida Cabinet decided to include beaches from Fort Lauderdale to Pompano in the Broward County Shore Protection Project. To enhance environmental protections for the upcoming Segment II (Fort Lauderdale) stage of the County�s coastal rescue plan, the Florida Cabinet mandated an 18-month monitoring period following the renourishment of South Broward�s Segment III beaches.

HOPPER DREDGE LIBERTY ISLAND AT JOHN U. LLOYD BEACH STATE PARK

When the hopper dredge �Liberty Island� pumped a last load of sand onto the beach at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park on February 8, 2006, it marked an end to the South County portion (Segment III) of the project and triggered the 18-month monitoring countdown. In late August of 2007, a report compiled by academicians from the Nova Oceanographic Center, a joint venture of coastal engineering consulting firms (Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc., Olsen Asssociates, Inc., etc.) and Broward staff scientists arrived at the Tallahassee headquarters of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

THREATENED ELKHORN AND STAGHORN CORALS

Noticing that the report documented two species of coral Federally designated as �threatened� in 2006, FDEP advised their Broward counterpart to add these new corals to the list of protected marine organisms prior to the upcoming Segment II project. Since Broward Beach Administrator Stephen Higgins built an impeccable reputation compiling scientifically bulletproof responses to similar modification requests, FDEP officials were understandably perplexed when Higgins seemingly fell off the map.

STEPHEN HIGGINS BEACH WIZZARD

For decades, Higgins spearheaded the County�s world class beach maintenance policy. He won staunch support for the renourishment program by addressing scientific concerns expressed by a formidable gauntlet of Federal, State and NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations) environmental watchdogs. His authoritative environmental treatises satisfied the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in the Federal government. On the State level, his comprehensive reports made the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) into allies. Higgins� landmark environmental impact statements earned the respect of the Florida Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, Florida Communities Trust and prominent environmentalists like Roy Rogers.

FORMER FDEP SECRETARY MICHAEL W. SOLE

Suddenly, when asked by GMCA officials about the Segment II project, County beach officials responded with a series of irrelevant diversions throughout 2008 and 2009, focusing instead on additional erosion control devices and a nondescript search for sand. Concerned about the lack of progress, the Galt Mile Community Association contacted Michael Sole, who served as FDEP Secretary under former Governor Charlie Crist. Sole informed GMCA President Pio Ieraci that Broward Beach officials hadn�t responded to Departmental inquiries for more than a year. While the two agencies were locked in this dilatory two-step, the Federal and State permits authorizing the project expired.

Prior to proceeding with Segment II, Broward beach officials would first have to repeat the environmental testing required for a new federal permit. Since Michael Sole, a Marine Biologist, worked with Higgins in Broward County before his appointment to FDEP, he was familiar with the project�s scientific and engineering parameters. While a painful repetition of the federal permit process was unavoidable, Sole granted Higgins a 5-year State permit extension through June 4, 2014, saving the Broward Beach Administrator months of bureaucratic tedium. The extension proved to be a parting gift. A year later, Sole stepped down as FDEP Secretary while overseeing the State�s response to the Deepwater Horizon fiasco and accepted an offer from Florida Power & Light to serve as Vice President of their Governmental Affairs Department.

BROWARD Administrator BERTHA HENRY

When public officials in Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Deerfield Beach, Pompano and other project stakeholders learned about the County�s monumental misstep, they went ballistic. Hoping to quell the exploding enmity, Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry sent a beach renourishment update to former Fort Lauderdale City Manager George Gretsas on May 27, 2010. She concluded her summary of beach project issues with the comment �Broward County-conducted beach construction in Segment II is targeted for November of 2011, pending completion of the engineering/design and permitting processes in a timely fashion.� Shortly afterwards, Beach Administrator Higgins announced that he would retire in 2011. Although he would continue as a consultant, his primary duties would be assumed by Deputy Director Eric Myers of Broward�s Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department. Myers was Higgins� boss.

CONGRESSMAN ALLEN WEST AND STATE SENATOR ELLYN BOGDANOFF

On February 3, 2011, Myers attended the Town Hall meeting convened to introduce newly elected Congressman Allen West and Florida State Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff. Since the beach renourishment project is a joint federal, state and county effort, he was soliciting Allen West�s assistance in securing promised federal reimbursement for funds advanced by the County. After offering an unqualified apology for Broward�s gaffe, Myers asked attending GMCA officials what he could do to help �make things right.� Myers would have to accept responsibility for his agency�s breakdown prior to resurrecting its ruptured reputation. He was invited to attend the February 7^th Presidents Council meeting at Coral Ridge Towers, where he would have an opportunity to confront flustered constituents.

ERIC MYERS AND STEVE HIGGINS

At the meeting, Myers shared the floor with City Commissioner Bruce Roberts and County Commissioner Chip LaMarca. Admitting to the County�s exasperating lapse, he told association officials that he would hereon in provide regular updates about the renourishment project. He also promised to avoid sugar coating reports with political spin. Exclaiming that he wants to build a relationship based on mutual trust, Myers said that he will need community support to achieve our common objectives.

When irate attendees roasted Myers for his predecessor�s dereliction, he conceded their right to be angry. Myers then lowered the boom, stating �I understand that you have repeatedly been told that the project is scheduled for late 2011. I don�t believe that�s possible. Since we must first complete the Federal permit process and collect the State and Federal funds allocated to the project, a far more realistic target date is late 2013.� Roughly 80 attending association officials groaned in unison.

For the past decade, increasingly frustrated Galt Mile residents have been anxiously awaiting promised repairs to what the Florida Department of Environmental Protection characterized as �Broward�s severely eroded beaches.� Given the County�s cosmic blunder, beach officials must now also address its residents� severely eroded nerves. After offering an olive branch to the Galt Mile community, Myers said that he assigned himself that task.

ERIC MYERS

True to his word, Myers returned to address the May 2^nd Presidents Council meeting at Ocean Manor. He reported some success with collecting funds reimbursed to Broward for the completed south county segment of the renourishment project. He estimated that the federal permitting hurdles for Segment II (Fort Lauderdale � Galt Mile) would consume the next 18 to 20 months, after which the county can begin accepting contractor bids. He further refined the projected start date to October 2013.

Myers explained that the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency whose Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), General Reevaluation Report (GRR) and Record of Decision (ROD) are prerequisites to the Federal permit, will be performing tests along the entire Segment II oceanfront, including the Galt Mile beach. Since beach ownership is shared by the associations lining the shore, the agency�s engineers must request access before they can proceed with fulfilling the terms of the permit. Reminding attendees that he promised to expedite the project whenever possible, Myers said, �If each beachfront association would sign an easement providing beach access to the Corps of Engineers, it would speed things up. I will send a copy of the easement to Pio (Ieraci) and Eric (Berkowitz), who can then distribute the document.�

Following Myers� update, the two GMCA officials asked member associations to have their respective attorneys review and approve the easement prior to signing off. The legal review will insure that the easement is strictly limited to construction-related renourishment efforts, precluding any unintended concession of general access rights. Yes, boys and girls, we do own our beaches (subject to public riparian rights � of course).

In April, 2007, the City of Fort Lauderdale sent violation notices to every beachfront Galt Mile association. The blank notice area was footnoted with �6-51 Artificial Lighting Violation.�. The footnote referred to a little known city ordinance governing turtle-safe lighting requirements for beachfront communities. 14 days were allotted to cure the mysterious infraction. In a nutshell, it required associations to turn off lights illuminating the east side of each building during the eight-month turtle nesting season.

Within 48 hours, confused and irate managers and association officials from fourteen Galt Mile Community Association (GMCA) members contacted the neighborhood association with questions about the surprise violation notice. The obscure 2003 ordinance was shelved when the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons made enforcement impossible. The notice was a ham-handed attempt to revive the dormant regulation. The ordinance opens with �It is the policy of the City of Fort Lauderdale that no artificial light shall illuminate any area of the incorporated beaches of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.� Any light source visible from the beach triggered a violation.

Darkening the rear of every building within two weeks would produce intolerable insurance and security repercussions. Legal liability for trip and fall incidents on darkened association property would be unquestionably dumped onto the City. The wholesale subrogation of medical claims for injuries, especially from elderly victims, would become a line item in the municipal budget. It also threatened beachfront homeowners with serious security consequences. When the neighborhood association informed the compliance officer that the member associations would see him in court, he requested a meeting.

TURTLE HATCHLING DEATH TRAP

A few days later, GMCA officials met with Al Lovingshimer, the City of Fort Lauderdale Code Inspector who signed the notices. Addressing the heavy-handed manner in which associations were notified, Lovingshimer said �I regret any confusion caused by the threatening tone of the notices, we simply wanted to improve the survival rates for turtle hatchlings and their nesting mothers. It is unfortunate that half the boilerplate notice was devoted to non-compliance penalties. That was not the message we wanted to get across.� He was charged with enforcing an ordinance that few residents were familiar with and fewer understood. Lovingshimer said that he simply wanted to explain the ordinance to Galt Mile residents. After admitting, �I don�t know where to start,� he asked for help.

TURTLE HATCHLINGS LEAVING NEST

For millions of years, nesting female sea turtles have been laying their eggs on our beaches. Their hatchling turtles were guided to the ocean by an instinct to travel away from the dark silhouettes of dune vegetation and toward the moonlight-illuminated open ocean. In many highly populated coastal areas, artificial lights near the beach are brighter than the moonlit ocean, reversing the turtles� biological compass. Nesting females seeking the darkened shore instead head out to sea where they cannot lay their eggs. If they find the shore and successfully deposit their eggs, the disoriented hatchlings travel inland, toward the artificial lights, where they often die from dehydration or predation by fire ants and ghost crabs. They also become �road kill� on local thoroughfares.

Sea turtles are either endangered or threatened (the loggerhead is the only species that has sufficient population to be classified as threatened in Florida). They are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 and Florida�s Marine Turtle Protection Act (379.2431, Florida Statutes). Florida Law (F.A.C. Rule 68E-1) also restricts molestation or harassment of marine turtles, nests or eggs as well as the marine turtle habitat. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) together review permits for coastal construction under Chapter 62B, F.A.C. (Florida Administrative Code) that affects Marine Turtles. The state of Florida developed a model lighting ordinance (62B-55, F.A.C.) to guide local governments in creating turtle-safe lighting ordinances.

Broward County adopted Chapter 39, Article IX, Sec 39-107 in 1989. Ten years later, Pompano Beach followed their lead (Ords 99-18, 2000-64), Deerfield Beach in 2000 (Chapter 34, Article V, Sec 34-96), Hallandale Beach in 2001 (Ch. 6, Art. I), Lauderdale-by-the-Sea in 2002 and Fort Lauderdale in 2003 (Chapter 6, Article III, Div. 2, Sec. 6-51). Every jurisdiction that passed a local variation of the State template assigned a liaison to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Fort Lauderdale�s official contact in 2007 was Al Lovingshimer.

Lovingshimer complained that the City was being pressured by Tallahassee to achieve results at the expense of public safety. As the City�s liaison officer with Florida Fish & Wildlife�s (FWC) Sea Turtle program, he was summoned to Tallahassee for workshops organized to prepare local �representatives� for their duties. While most of the FWC personnel openly advocated diplomacy, restraint, education and good sense when enforcing a turtle-safe lighting ordinance, several oversight program officials attempted to enlist code officers to an agenda that deliberately fueled controversy with coastal residents. Postulating that the State�s coastal environment could only be salvaged by purging beachfront residents, these bureaucrats were considerably more interested in fomenting a protracted environmental litigation than saving hatchlings.

WINDOWS SHUTTERED FOR 8-MONTH NESTING SEASON???

FWC BIOLOGICAL ADMINISTRATOR DR. ROBBIN TRINDELL

When Lovingshimer asked why he should follow their advice and risk a reprimand or suspension, they told him that this was a war, requiring �whatever it takes� to win. Lovingshimer described an incident wherein he was approached by two FWC officials who asked if he would be willing to order the shuttering of all windows overlooking the beach for the turtle nesting season (a mitigation strategy described in the ordinance). Another asked if he could disable (vandalize) lamps on private property (not part of the ordinance). He characterized them as a small but vocal clique of �dangerous CIA wannabes� who promote a radical agenda from within the State�s environmental bureaucracy. Emphasizing that they do not reflect official FWC policy, Lovingshimer commented, �It�s too bad, Dr. Trindell (FWC Marine Turtle Program Biological Administrator Dr. Robbin Trindell) has done so much to rescue these species from extinction while these loose cannons are undermining her efforts.� He assured GMCA officials that their efforts to recruit local compliance personnel failed, stating, �Professional code compliance officers are dedicated to resident safety, not declaring war on the residents they are supposed to protect.�

CITY DARKENS A!A

GMCA officials were initially concerned that Lovingshimer�s anecdote was laced with paranoid overtones. However, when the City later turned off street lights along A1A before installing turtle-safe replacement lighting � virtually blackening the entire downtown beach area for months � it became evident that Lovingshimer was not only lucid, but dead on target.

SEAS A LADY - NO IDENTIFICATION OR ENGINES

The City got another dose of the State�s environmental schizophrenia when huge sections of the abandoned 50-foot fishing vessel �Seas a Lady� washed up on the Galt Mile beach on September 28, 2008. Despite complaints by hundreds of residents, former City Commissioner Christine Teel and Broward officials, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection refused to authorize cleanup of the admittedly hazardous wreck site, citing the proximity of a turtle nests � some hundreds of feet away. When the City Manager contacted FDEP weeks later, the agency still hadn�t scheduled an inspection of a nest they knew to be non-viable. When a health alert was released by municipal and county health authorities, Commissioner Teel and former City Manager George Gretsas finagled a jurisdictional loophole and managed the cleanup. Fearing a threatened class action lawsuit by residents, the State backed off.

HUGE HAZARDOUS HULL SECTION

Ironically, the coastal Armageddon planned by Lovingshimer�s �CIA wannabes� has seen a modicum of local traction. Repeatedly chaffed by the State�s callous treatment of Galt Mile residents, some of our irate neighbors began crusading against environmental issues they historically supported. Local blogs became filled with anti- and pro-Sea Turtle rantings. Emails sent to newspapers and the GMCA by otherwise environmentally conscientious people suddenly expressed a level of hate for turtles that is usually reserved for mass murderers. At the height of last year�s nesting season, when scores of residents sent admiring pictures of nest sites and hatchlings to the neighborhood association, less affable correspondences suggested opening seasonal �turtle bars� specializing in fried hatchlings or fresh soup.

Responding to GMCA safety concerns for suddenly darkening the beach side of every association, Lovingshimer stressed the importance of finding a viable balance between residents� safety and survival prospects for the endangered species. He said that using motion detectors, screens, shields, downlights and fixtures incorporating light-management techniques could expedite compliance while minimizing many of the adverse safety impacts. Lovingshimer remarked �Since the ordinance was first passed, research has provided inexpensive new lighting options to address the problems for both people and turtles.� Lovingshimer confided that he would consider his efforts successful if he could deliver a 50% improvement within two to three years.

Months earlier, academicians from Nova Southeast University patrolled the entire Fort Lauderdale coast to evaluate light sources illuminating the beach. As they passed each building, a camera operator videotaped the structure�s ocean-facing east side while a colleague scripted relevant observations. They documented the placement and intensity of every light visible from the beach. Their report formed the basis for the violation notices later received by Galt Mile associations.

HOW COLOR (WAVELENGTH) OF LIGHT IMPACTS TURTLE BEHAVIOR

Using data recorded by the Nova team, Lovingshimer and GMCA officials opened a good faith negotiation. Lighting violations were first graded by their degree of impact on Sea Turtle behavior. The factors included color, brightness, proximity to the beach, and broadcast characteristics. The brightest lights that were closest to the beach were assigned an �A� rating while ambient or indirect light sources (much dimmer reflected light) were assigned �D� ratings. With the help of a lighting contractor, infractions were cross-classified by mitigation cost.

There are minor variations in how the 5 local species (Loggerhead, Green, Leatherback, Kemp�s Ridley, Hawksbill) of Sea Turtles react to color, although they are all sensitive to colors with short wavelengths. Ranging into the ultraviolet, their color perception is strongest for short wavelength spectral violets, purples, blues and greens. The relatively high sensitivity of turtles to short wavelengths is not surprising considering that they live in a medium � the ocean � which selectively filters out long wavelength colors (to see brightly colored red, yellow or orange marine life, you�d better sign up for a shallow dive).

As such, replacing standard white light sources (which include the entire visible spectrum) with monochromatic yellow, orange or red lights is one acceptable compliance option. The average commercially available �yellow bulb� is actually a full spectrum white light source encased in a glass bulb with a yellow coating. This is functionally identical to an ordinary white light source. To achieve compliance, the light source within the bulb must emit monochromatic (single wavelength) yellow light. While the two bulbs appear the same to us, not so for turtles!

After reviewing the crunched data, GMCA officials determined that a vast majority of the violations could be easily resolved by in-house maintenance staffers inserting aluminum/composite shields or screens into or next to existing fixtures. When properly applied, these devices blocked light that would otherwise illuminate the beach without darkening deck surfaces. In fact, installing shields fitted with reflective coatings actually increased deck illumination. Unfortunately, roughly 10% of the violations could only be addressed by completely replacing heavy duty deck lamps costing $thousands. This was a problem.

Associations were still reeling from the huge fiscal battering suffered from storm damage repairs, skyrocketing windstorm insurance rates and installation costs of impact rated hurricane windows and/or shutters. The recession was already taking a toll on property values and assessment obligations were inflated by non-contributing units frozen in foreclosure. Elderly residents on fixed incomes were often forced to decide between filling a prescription and eating dinner. Any lighting adaptation plan would have to be accomplished on a shoestring. Given that most deck lamps last about ten years, when an offending lamp reached the end of its serviceable life, the association could install a turtle-safe replacement without placing an early burden on the budget.

In a proposal to Lovingshimer, we offered to guarantee voluntary mitigation for 90% of the violations within two to three months if the City would allow associations with deck lamp violations to postpone any action until the need for replacement was imminent. Moreover, since these high intensity deck lamps were installed on association parking decks - a substantial distance from the beach - none of them fell into the �A� (most threatening) category. After consulting with former Inspections Manager Cate McCaffrey, Lovingshimer agreed. Going forward, instead of automatically citing associations for violations, code inspectors would work with associations to insure that compliance didn�t sacrifice resident safety or blast holes in the association budget.

STEPHEN HIGGINS AND LOU FISHER

Following approval of the arrangement by the Galt Mile Advisory Board a few weeks later, former Code Compliance chief McCaffrey offered to address association concerns by participating in a joint presentation by City and County environmental officials. At the May 7, 2007 Presidents Council meeting in Playa del Mar, after Lovingshimer summarized the general agreement, Natural Resource Specialist Lou Fisher from the Beach and Marine Section of Broward County�s Natural Resources Planning and Management Division described how various types of lighting affect Sea Turtle nesting habits and hatchling behavior � the scientific rationale for the ordinance. Fisher works with retiring Broward Beach Administrator Stephen Higgins, a primary engineer of the Broward County Beach Renourishment Project.

BROWARD NAT RES SPEC LOU FISHER

After Fisher congratulated Galt Mile Associations for voluntarily creating a vehicle that balanced resident safety with Sea Turtle survival, Lovingshimer introduced a series of discourses by McCaffrey, Building Department Director Valerie Bohlander, Public Works Facilities Manager Tom Terrell and Environmental Services� Kris McFadden.

VAL BOHLANDER

Within the next three months, every association kept its commitment, addressing more than 90% of the lighting violations along the Galt Mile beach. Shortly after Lovingshimer declared the project a great success, the Galt Mile suddenly lost a good friend in Code Compliance � Al Lovingshimer passed away. On November 20, 2007, Lovingshimer was posthumously named �2007 Code Enforcement Officer of the Year� by Building Department chief Valerie Bohlander. Since then, several associations with deck lamp violations corrected those as well.

Following Al Lovingshimer�s untimely demise, Mike Maloney replaced Cate McCaffrey as Manager of the Code Compliance Division when Cate was named Director of Business Enterprises. GMCA officials met with Mr. Maloney at the Regency Tower to confirm our understanding with the City. By 2010, Lovingshimer�s �turtle-safe lighting� hat was passed to Code Compliance officer Mario Sotolongo. Not only is Sotolongo familiar with the neighborhood and experienced with helping member associations explore frugal compliance options - like Lovingshimer - he assigns a higher priority to resident safety than racking up numbers for depopulation spooks in Tallahassee.

Since beachfront buildings first adapted seaward fixtures with shields and screens to quickly and inexpensively comply with City Law, the oceanfront evening environment of many associations has been noticeably darker for the past three years. Some association residents miss the brighter pool deck and patio walkway during evening constitutionals. As lamps that were hastily jury-rigged with blocking devices a few years ago give up the ghost, they can be replaced with high intensity bollards and other directional fixtures � preferably as part of a professional lighting plan � that will brighten the deck without illuminating the adjacent beach.

A few months ago, several associations reported receiving telephone threats from someone claiming membership in an organization with enforcement authority for the City lighting ordinance. The caller threatened the associations with punitive consequences unless certain lighting elements were immediately altered. After investigating the incidents and contacting Fort Lauderdale�s Code Compliance Division, the claim was found to be fraudulent.

The caller actually belonged to a group with a permit to rescue endangered hatchlings and document disorientation events. They have no authority to issue violation notices or exact penalties. Evidently, the calls were made by an overzealous volunteer who seemingly overstepped the bounds of her organization�s mandate. Since the incident isn�t reflective of how the organization ordinarily operates, the parties shall remain nameless.

FORT LAUDERDALE BUILDING DEPARTMENT

Inasmuch, the only authority empowered to enforce the City�s lighting ordinance is the Code Compliance Division of the Fort Lauderdale Building Department. To avoid headaches and save money, associations planning to alter or upgrade their lighting should contact Mario Sotolongo at 954-828-6326. While keeping the neighborhood association up to speed, Mario spent the past few years working directly with member associations to remedy legitimate violations or reject baseless or unreasonable complaints. In November, 2010, while assisting four Galt Mile associations upgrade or modify beachfront lighting, Sotolongo said �In this neighborhood, most people and their associations want to do the right thing. However, they want lighting solutions that are right for both people and turtles.� Words of wisdom!

Click To Top of Page