Some 250,000 cubic yards of sand will be pumped from a channel to Upham Beach and Sunset Beach.
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN
Published February 25, 2004
ST. PETE BEACH - Gary Brown walked along Upham Beach on Tuesday morning as a strong wind pushed the water on shore. It was the Toronto resident's first visit to the public beach and he was surprised at how little sand is there.
"They need a lot to fill this one," said Brown, a 54-year-old retired custodian.
But officials say more sand is on its way. After being postponed last spring, a beach renourishment project is scheduled to start on Upham in July, said Jackie Hand of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Until Monday, it appeared the project was going to be delayed again. Blame it on some "bureaucratic problems," said Harry Glenn, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo.
Although the Upham project was included in an appropriations bill signed in December, the money hadn't made its way to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville office, which will fund the renourishment, Glenn said.
And without the check, the office can't open up a 60-day bid process.
Young, who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, found out about the funding delay last month and began to make some calls. When the problem was resolved, he made one more call.
Hand, project manager for the corps' Jacksonville office, and Pinellas County officials were discussing the funding dilemma on Monday when they heard from Young's office. "I can't tell you what happened, but he did his magic," Hand said.
If all goes as planned, workers will begin a three-month project that will pump 250,000 cubic yards of sand from Pass-a-Grille Channel to Upham Beach in St. Pete Beach and Sunset Beach in Treasure Island.
Upham Beach has eroded so much there is little shoreline left. Some walkers navigate on the tops of ledges that have developed over time.
"It's worse than it was two weeks ago," said William Povero, 65, who has been spending winters the past nine years with his wife, Mary Ann, in a condominium near Upham.
"I was shocked," Mrs. Povero, 58, said of the eroding beach.
And there are residents in nearby condominiums who are leery the project will still happen. "We are concerned," said Joe Gonzalez, 61, a resident of Silver Sands condominiums, which are adjacent to the shoreline.
The $4-million project, which includes renourishing 2,000 feet of Sunset Beach in Treasure Island, was postponed last year. Instead of watching sand come to the beach, Gonzalez and others watched contractors remove 1,000 cubic yards of material from Upham Beach.
Four years ago, during Upham's most recent renourishment, a corps contractor pumped some clay onto the beach. Clay on a beach makes nesting difficult for endangered sea turtles so it had to be removed before any fresh sand was added.
Upham Beach was traditionally renourished every five years. In the third year after renourishment, the beach gets a little skinny. By the fourth year, the beach gets thin enough to warrant closing some dune walkovers. By the fifth year, the situation is dangerous.
Which is all the more reason why renourishment projects are vital, Hand said. Without the beach, Florida suffers, she said.
"It's important that people in Florida really emphasize to the administration how important beaches are to the economy in Florida," Hand said.
