Palm Beach has begun rebuilding eroded shoreline in the South End, where it says about 750,000 cubic yards of sand will be dredged from offshore and placed on the beach this winter.
The dredged sand is being deposited on the beach in Reach 7, which extends from the north end of the park southward to the Ambassador Hotel and Residences, near Palm Beach County’s R.G. Kreusler Park.
Some of the sand will be trucked from the north end of the park and placed at Sloan’s Curve.
“Beach renourishment projects like this one are crucial to protect property and infrastructure and provide critical habitat for sea turtles and other marine life,” Melissa Ceriale, chair of the town’s Shore Protection Board, said in a December 11 news alert from the town. “Our beach and dune system are our first line of defense in sustaining our island for the future.”
The Reach 7/Phipps Ocean Park project, part of a Coastal Management Plan approved by the Town Council, will last for about 10 weeks during early 2025, the town said.
Lake Worth Beach access issue
The plan also calls for more than 20,000 cubic yards of dredged sand to be trucked to reaches 8 and 9 for dune restoration in that area. Reach 8 extends from Lake Worth Municipal Beach southward to the Palm Beach’s south town limit. Reach 9 extends from the Palm Beach’s south town limit southward to Lantana Municipal Beach.
Dump trucks were supposed to start dumping sand south of Lake Worth’s public beach, in reaches 8 and 9, on January 1.
After months of discussion, Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach had reached an agreement in which the city gave Palm Beach permission to use the south side of Lake Worth Beach’s public beach and casino complex at 10 S. Ocean Blvd. as an access point and staging area for the dune restoration work.
But Lake Worth Beach withdrew from the agreement last week, only eight days after its city commission voted 4-1 on December 3 to grant access to Palm Beach.
Lake Worth Beach said it cancelled the agreement because it subsequently learned that it violated a City Charter, approved by voters in 2009, that prohibits the pumping of sand onto the city’s public beach from offshore borrow sites. The provision also prohibits the beach from being used as a staging area for dredge and fill projects.
The provision was not correctly codified into the City Charter because of an error of the city clerk at that time, the city said.
Palm Beach’s Town Engineer, Patricia Strayer, told the Palm Beach Civic Association Tuesday that the issue with Lake Worth Beach has not caused a delay for Palm Beach’s sand fill project.
“We have not reached the point of stockpiling sand and trucking,” Strayer said. “We are a couple of weeks from that … At this time we are not planning to put anything on hold.”
Under the agreement, Palm Beach was to donate $80,000 to Lake Worth Beach to fund disability access improvements to the city’s beach and promised to ensure that the beach was restored in as good or better condition than it was before the work began.
Palm Beach does not have its own access point to rebuild the dunes in Reach 8, Palm Beach Public Works Director Paul Brazil has said. During previous dune restorations, the town was given access to Reach 8 by the 3360 S. Ocean Blvd residential building in Palm Beach. But Brazil told Palm Beach’s Town Council in July that 3360 S. Ocean Blvd. was not willing to grant access again this year, citing the effect of the noise and dust on its residents’ peace and quiet.
Palm Beach officials have been communicating with Lake Worth Beach officials to seek a resolution to the access issue, Palm Beach Deputy Town Manager Bob Miracle said.
“Beach restoration is critically important work,” Miracle told the Civic Association Tuesday. “It benefits not just Palm Beach but Lake Worth Beach and [downdrift] communities further south.”
The access issue is on the agenda for Lake Worth Beach’s City Commission meeting on Tuesday, December 17, at 6 p.m. Palm Beach will have at least one Public Works Department employee at the meeting, Miracle said.
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