John’s Island property owners are grateful to be getting badly needed sand on their beaches this fall, even though dump trucks will be a constant sight in their club community through the season.
General Manager Michael Korpar said the county’s contractor, Dickerson Infrastructure, has laid out a plan to minimize disruption and maximize shoreline protection, and that John’s Island residents are aware the dune replenishment project is expected to run through the Christmas and New Year’s holidays all the way to March.
“The homeowners here at John’s Island, as I think all of the homeowners are, they’re just happy to see the sand,” Korpar said. “They all understand and just want to see the beach renourished.”
As the replenishment project wound its way through the planning and permitting process over multiple hurricane seasons, John’s Island and numerous private property owners spent their own money bringing in private contractors to do emergency repairs on storm-ravaged beaches.
The dune replenishment will be completed in three phases, with a vacant lot at 1 Sea Court at the south end of John’s Island generously volunteered by owner John Tully to host the assortment of heavy equipment necessary to place 135,000 cubic yards of processed mined sand on the beaches.
“The King Tides we’ve had have meant a pretty slow start to the project due to the limited amount of beach they have to work with,” Korpar said last week, noting that the full complement of 25 trucks running multiple round trips from the Stewart Materials sand mine in Ft. Pierce was still not in full swing.
“But the plan is to have the beach in front of the club finished by Thanksgiving,” he said.
Crews are working from 400 Beach Road south to the staging site shoring up the dunes protecting the Beach Road condominiums in the meantime. Dump trucks enter John’s Island through the south oceanside gate, navigating mile past the tennis courts to the staging area on Sea Court.
It’s fortunate that Tully offered up his vacant lot, Korpar said, as “those two streets are very clear of the tree canopy that we have in other areas.” In much of John’s Island, high-profile vehicles might nick or damage the lush, old oak trees that line and shade the winding streets. “Dickerson has been very good about making sure the staging site is cleaned up each day when they finish work. We’ve had no issues with that,” Korpar added.
Once the club’s beach is complete and ready for the big holiday rush, crews will work from Sea Court southward toward the Tracking Station. At some point, the contractors will shift to the northern portion of the 2.9-mile project area just south of the Turtle Trail beach access.
The $6.6 million effort will conclude with the planting of nearly 148,000 salt-tolerant native dune plants, mostly sea oats, to help hold the sand in place, county Natural Resources Deputy Director Eric Charest said.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
