Almost a year and a half after two hurricanes hit the coast in 2022, Volusia County is starting to fix several of its beach parks that were damaged in the storms.
The start of several of these projects also comes as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission granted an extension to allow construction to go through sea turtle nesting season.
“The county is just now beginning our major recovery efforts,” said Jessica Fentress, the county’s Coastal Director, “We know that a lot of our property owners right now still have not completed their permanent repairs.”
Fentress said starting May 1 through the end of October, there will have to be daily surveys for sea turtle activity around construction sites.
If a nest is found, they’ll have to temporarily stop.
Several beach parks and about 80 county walkovers still need to be repaired in Volusia.
“We have skilled trades workers who are skilled at carpentry. They can rebuild walkovers, we are still rebuilding walkovers,” she said.
Staffing is one of the reasons Fentress said there’s been a delay in getting these repairs done.
“We have to go through a FEMA process, which our residents don’t have to do but our local agencies, municipal and county, we have to go through FEMA to make sure FEMA buys off on those changes. If we vary in the slightest of way whether by material or location, we have to go through a full federal review,” she said.
Work is expected to continue through the rest of the year.
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