95-23 v Commissioner Weiss
RESOLUTION
95-23
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ATLANTIC
BEACH, FLORIDA, REQUESTING THE
SECRETARY OF THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT
OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TO
REVIEW CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE COASTAL
CONSTRUCTION CONTROL LINE AS RE-
ESTABLISHED FOR DUVAL COUNTY,
FLORIDA, IN JULY, 1992, AND TO ESTABLISH
A NEW COASTAL CONSTRUCTION CONTROL
LINE FOR MUNICIPALITIES IN DUVAL
COUNTY IMMEDIATELY.
WHEREAS cooperation among State, county, and local governments is desirable
and beneficial to all citizens, and
WHEREAS State, county, and local governments are increasingly aware of the
need for environmental protection and enhancement, and
WHEREAS those governments closest to a problem frequently suffer most, and
yet provide the best remedies, and
WHEREAS most of the ten miles of Duval County coastline have been settled,
occupied, and reasonably developed and preserved by local citizens for well over seventy
years, and
WHEREAS massive concrete seawalls and granite armoring along the Duval
County coastline constructed at various times since the 1920s have functioned as planned
in reducing storm damage to beach and upland interests, and
WHEREAS such seawalls and granite armoring, having successfully resisted
equivalent to 100 year storm action is now buried beneath vegetated sand dunes resulting
from the ongoing beach re-nourishment project of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, and
is now only partially exposed to erosion forces, and
WHEREAS in March of 1976 the State of Florida established in Duval County a
Coastal Construction Control Line that was both empirically correct, and seaward of the
majority of seventy year old structures on the seacoast, and
WHEREAS there have been no appreciable costs to the State noted by
implementation of the 1976 Coastal Construction Control Line, nor has it noticeably
affected a homeowner's ability to preserve and protect his residence, and
WHEREAS a new Coastal Construction Control Line was established for Duval
County in 1992 that was landward of the 1976 Coastal Construction Control Line, and
well landward of a line of coastal residences, the majority being of great age, and
WHEREAS at the time of establishing the new Coastal Construction Control Line
certain objections to it, occasioned by consideration of mathematical, historical, coastal
seawall and coastal rock armoring, 100 year storm frequency and reach of impact
correctness, were raised by Duval County citizens, and
WHEREAS the Coastal Construction Control Line re-established in Duval County
in 1992 did not account for the active beach profile as required by State rule at the time of
re-establishment, and
WHEREAS the mathematical model used for the establishment of the Duval
County Coastal Construction Control Line was subsequently and substantially revised at
great cost to the State of Florida through considerations of complaints of citizens, and
WHEREAS the State of Florida commissioned a Peer Review Group to study the
newest model to be used to set subsequent Coastal Construction Control Lines, and
WHEREAS the Peer Review Group in their final report of January 3-5, 1995,
formally expressed in writing in detail serious objections to the new Coastal Construction
Control Line model, specifically, concern with consistency of, and scientific basis for,
numerical models used for the Line, and the extent to which coastal armoring should be
accounted for in the establishment of the Line, and in particular, called for rejection of the
ad hoc 2.5 multiplier used in model calibration, and
WHEREAS application of the new model used without the ad hoc 2.5 multiplier
will frequently place the Coastal Construction Control Line well to seaward of the original
1976 Coastal Construction Control Line(emphasis added), and
WHEREAS now neither the previous nor the newest mathematical model will
serve to precisely determine the proper location for a Coastal Construction Control Line
on the heavily armored, Duval County coastline, and
WHEREAS considerable hardship has already occurred on the Duval county
coastline by residents wishing to preserve, protect, and enjoy property well landward of a
reasonably set 1976 Control Line, said hardship being directly attributable to placement of
the 1992 Control Line, and
WHEREAS the best protection of fragile coastal resources may be by those
stewards closest and most directly benefited and affected by the natural forces on our
coasts.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF
ATLANTIC BEACH, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS:
The Honorable Virginia B. Wetherell, Secretary of the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection, be requested to consider at the executive level, certain points
that would influence placement of a new Coastal Construction Control Line in Duval
County, Florida, namely:
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a. Technical objections were raised to the setting of the 1992 Control Line,
which reasons still exist, and are documented in the report by Olsen Associates (report
attached hereto).
b. Substantially the same model and procedures used to re-establish the Duval
County Coastal Construction Control Line have been found erroneous enough to
commission an expensive revision of the Coastal Construction Control Line model.
c. The newest Coastal Construction Control Line model has been found
severely flawed in a Peer Review Group report commissioned by the State of Florida
(report attached hereto).
d. The Coastal Construction Control Line set in 1976 adequately and
reasonably reflected over half a century of storm, erosion, and construction location data
for Duval County.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:
a. The Coastal Construction Control Line as re-established in 1992 be
revoked for the coastline of Duval County immediately.
b. The more restrictive of; the Duval County Coastal Construction Control
Line of 1976, or a Coastal Construction Control Line as delineated by Duval County
municipalities, be established for the Duval County coastline immediately.
This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon passage.
PASSED by the City Commission of Atlantic Beach, Florida,
this 14th day of Aug•, 1995.
Attest:
. 1127t ''
a tC�
MA EN KING U L T. FLETCHER
City Clerk Mayor
AA
roved as to form and Correctness:
NC. SEN
Atto y
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