The Florida Senate

161.161  Procedure for approval of projects.--

(1)  The department shall develop and maintain a comprehensive long-term management plan for the restoration and maintenance of the state's critically eroded beaches fronting the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Straits of Florida. The beach management plan shall:

(a)  Address long-term solutions to the problem of critically eroded beaches in this state.

(b)  Evaluate each improved, modified, or altered inlet and determine whether the inlet is a significant cause of beach erosion. With respect to each inlet determined to be a significant cause of beach erosion, the plan shall include:

1.  The extent to which such inlet causes beach erosion and recommendations to mitigate the erosive impact of the inlet, including, but not limited to, recommendations regarding inlet sediment bypassing; modifications to channel dredging, jetty design, and disposal of spoil material; establishment of feeder beaches; and beach restoration and beach nourishment; and

2.  Cost estimates necessary to take inlet corrective measures and recommendations regarding cost sharing among the beneficiaries of such inlet.

(c)  Design criteria for beach restoration and beach nourishment projects, including, but not limited to:

1.  Dune elevation and width and revegetation and stabilization requirements; and

2.  Beach profile.

(d)  Evaluate the establishment of feeder beaches as an alternative to direct beach restoration and recommend the location of such feeder beaches and the source of beach-compatible sand.

(e)  Identify causes of shoreline erosion and change, calculate erosion rates, and project long-term erosion for all major beach and dune systems by surveys and profiles.

(f)  Identify shoreline development and degree of density and assess impacts of development and shoreline protective structures on shoreline change and erosion.

(g)  Identify short-term and long-term economic costs and benefits of beaches, including recreational value to user groups, tax base, revenues generated, and beach acquisition and maintenance costs.

(h)  Study dune and vegetation conditions.

(i)  Identify beach areas used by marine turtles and develop strategies for protection of the turtles and their nests and nesting locations.

(j)  Identify alternative management responses to preserve undeveloped beach and dune systems, to restore damaged beach and dune systems, and to prevent inappropriate development and redevelopment on migrating beaches, and consider beach restoration and nourishment, armoring, relocation and abandonment, dune and vegetation restoration, and acquisition.

(k)  Establish criteria, including costs and specific implementation actions, for alternative management techniques.

(l)  Select and recommend appropriate management measures for all of the state's sandy beaches in a beach management program.

(m)  Establish a list of beach restoration and beach nourishment projects, arranged in order of priority, and the funding levels needed for such projects.

The beach management plan may be prepared at the regional level based upon areas of greatest need and probable federal funding. Such regional plans shall be components of the statewide beach management plan and shall serve as the basis for state funding decisions upon approval in accordance with chapter 86-138, Laws of Florida. In accordance with a schedule established for the submission of regional plans by the department, any completed plan must be submitted to the secretary of the department for approval no later than March 1 of each year. These regional plans shall include, but shall not be limited to, recommendations of appropriate funding mechanisms for implementing projects in the beach management plan, giving consideration to the use of single-county and multicounty taxing districts or other revenue generation measures by state and local governments and the private sector. Prior to presenting the plan to the secretary of the department, the department shall hold a public meeting in the areas for which the plan is prepared. The plan submission schedule shall be submitted to the secretary for approval. Any revisions to such schedule must be approved in like manner.

(2)  Upon approval of the beach management plan, the secretary shall present to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the chairs of the legislative appropriations committees recommendations for funding of beach erosion control projects. Such recommendations shall be presented to such members of the Legislature in the priority order specified in the plan and established pursuant to criteria contained in s. 161.101(14).

(3)  Once a project is determined to be undertaken, a survey of all or part of the shoreline within the jurisdiction of the local government in which the beach is located shall be conducted in order to establish the area of beach to be protected by the project and locate an erosion control line. No provision of ss. 161.141-161.211 shall be construed as preventing a local government from participating in the funding of erosion control projects or surveys undertaken in accordance with the provisions of ss. 161.141-161.211. In lieu of conducting a survey, the board of trustees may accept and approve a survey as initiated, conducted, and submitted by the appropriate local government if said survey is made in conformity with the appropriate principles set forth in ss. 161.141-161.211.

(4)  Upon completion of the survey depicting the area of the beach erosion control project and the proposed location of the erosion control line, the board of trustees shall give notice of the survey and the date on which the board of trustees will hold a public hearing for the purpose of receiving evidence on the merits of the proposed erosion control line and, if approval is granted, of locating and establishing such requested erosion control line. Such notice shall be by publication in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county or counties in which the proposed beach erosion control project shall be located not less than once a week for 3 consecutive weeks and by mailing copies of such notice by certified or registered mail to each riparian owner of record of upland property lying within 1,000 feet (radial distance) of the shoreline to be extended through construction of the proposed beach erosion control project, as his or her name and address appear upon the latest tax assessment roll, in order that any persons who have an interest in the location of such requested erosion control line can be present at such hearing to submit their views concerning the precise location of the proposed erosion control line. Such notice shall be in addition to any notice requirement in chapter 120.

(5)  The board of trustees shall approve or disapprove the erosion control line for a beach restoration project. In locating said line, the board of trustees shall be guided by the existing line of mean high water, bearing in mind the requirements of proper engineering in the beach restoration project, the extent to which erosion or avulsion has occurred, and the need to protect existing ownership of as much upland as is reasonably possible.

(6)  In no event shall the department undertake a beach restoration or beach nourishment project where a local share is required without the approval of the local government or governments responsible for that local share.

(7)  The department may adopt rules to administer this section.

History.--s. 3, ch. 70-276; s. 1, ch. 70-439; s. 23, ch. 78-95; s. 2, ch. 79-233; s. 9, ch. 86-138; s. 20, ch. 87-97; s. 29, ch. 94-356; s. 1440, ch. 95-147; s. 6, ch. 96-321; s. 3, ch. 96-371; s. 4, ch. 98-311; s. 12, ch. 2000-346.