Key Biscayne beaches nearer federal protection aid

A long drive by Key Biscayne to get federal aid for its beach mitigation and renourishment advanced last week as a county committee pushed the effort forward toward an Oct. 3 vote by the county commission.

The prize would be inclusion of the barrier island in the federally authorized Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, a key element in Miami-Dade’s resilience program.

For years, Key Biscayne has tried to get into the program’s federally authorized beach erosion and hurricane protection program, which now covers 10.5 miles Atlantic Coastline from Government Cut to Haulover Park. Being excluded meant the village had to fund any projects on its own, mostly band-aids rather than major improvements.

Last week’s stamp of approval without comment from the county commission’s Port, Resilience and Sustainability Committee moved forward to the full commission an agreement for the county to split the cost with the US Army Corps of Engineers of a storm risk management study. In a separate agreement, the village would pay half the county’s share.

The total cost of the feasibility study for including Key Biscayne’s beaches in the Coastal Storm Risk Management Project is now estimated at $4.2 million. Without the study, the village can’t be included in the project.

Village Manager Steve Williamson, who was at last week’s meeting, told Miami Today 18 months ago that the Army Corps was finally convinced that the challenges Key Biscayne faces from sea-level rise and storm surge are unique, and the Corps was adding a bayside study to supplement the oceanside study already in the works.

“This is a new direction,” he said, “and one that the Corps is comfortable with. Creating a plan that incorporates the oceanside and bayside will be a benefit to our environment and our community.”

In maintaining the beaches, county Chief Operations Officer Jimmy Morales wrote to commissioners, “through long-term agreements with the Army Corps, Miami-Dade County serves as the local non-federal sponsor for beach renourishment activities along 13 miles of coastal beaches” running as far south as Government Cut.

The Key Biscayne Atlantic shoreline study area was included in a 2018 federal resolution, Mr. Morales noted. “However, the Army Corps ultimately concluded that a comprehensive Atlantic back-bay solution would be necessary to establish a Key Biscayne segment that would be federally authorized in the future.”

But in March of this year, the Army Corps released a work plan for this year that included funds to begin the Key Biscayne study, with half the money for the study to be locally provided.

“The Corps is looking at this holistically,” its Chief Resilience and Sustainability Officer Roland Samimy told Miami Today last year. “While it will take a little more time to complete, this additional study will result in a comprehensive solution that will prove to be more beneficial for the village.”