Federal government considers helping Okaloosa beaches

DESTIN, FL - A federal decision this week could be a "pot of gold" at the end of the beach restoration rainbow, Okaloosa County Beach Projects Coordinator Jim Trifilio says.

"It's not often I get to come up and give you really good news," Trifilio told Okaloosa County's Tourist Development Council this week, but a federal "reconnaissance study" could turn out to be the first step in qualifying the beaches for the Federal Shore Protection Program.

The TDC is in the middle of obtaining state permits for $20 million of beach restoration on Okaloosa Island and in Destin. Last year, the TDC hoped the project would begin before the 2009 hurricane season, but the bond hearing - restoration will be paid for with bonds backed by part of the county bed tax - isn't until April and lawsuits could hold up restoration beyond that.

A number of property owners have sued to be removed from the restoration area, rather than see the water's edge behind their homes become public beach, as happens when the government spends money on restoration. The owners have also questioned the legality of the project on various grounds.

Trifilio said Congress authorized the reconnaissance study in 2006, but the money wasn't there until this week, when $96,000 became available. Trifilio said he'll meet with the Mobile office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in March "to make sure they actually know they have this money - a lot of times, odd as it may sound, they do not know."

A reconnaissance study is a cost/benefit analysis that tells the government whether federal investment in the area's beaches is justified. If the government decides it is, then comes a feasibility study, then designing and permitting the project, then construction of a new, wider beach. Once the beach is in the federal program, the government will continue providing money to rebuild it.

"It's a very long process, but it's that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow," Trifilio said. "It's a 50 year partner, you can't beat that."