Will lawsuits delay Destin beach restoration?

Even if landowners suing to stop Destin’s beach restoration project lose their case, the suit might delay restoration until after the 2009 hurricane season starts.

If that happens, General Manager Jerry Stalnaker of the Jetty East condo association told The Log, the association will look at countersuing because of how desperately their beach needs more sand.

The Okaloosa County Tourist Development Council has been hoping to begin dredging sand from the Gulf to Destin and Okaloosa Island beaches early next year. Several condominiums associations have filed suit to block the $25.9 million project, saying the sand to be used is poor quality; most of the added beach would become public property; the beach in front of their condos isn’t significantly eroded; and the special tax assessment levied on beachfront owners is calculated unfairly.

The plaintiffs include Oceania Owners’ Association, Emerald Towers Owners’ Association, Regency Towers Condominium Owners’ Association and several individual owners.

“Any litigation, no matter what it’s about, is going to take some time,” TDC Attorney Michelle Anchors said at Wednesday’s TDC meeting. “It’s safe to say it won’t be resolved by January.”

“We’re getting real close to not getting it done,” County Beach Projects Coordinator Jim Trifilio said.

Trifilio said the county was still applying for its state permit for the project, so as to have the permit ready when work could begin. Prior to the lawsuits, Trifilio had anticipated an early 2009 start.

County Commissioner and TDC member James Campbell told The Log it would be a mistake to start restoration while the case is in the courts: “If you did it, you might have to come up there and undo it ... Once we’re tied up in litigation, there’s nothing that can be done.”

Stalnaker told the TDC it was important to know if the lawsuit would delay the dredging because Jetty East’s portion of Holiday Isle is so badly eroded: “Hurricane Ike came into our parking lot. We’re desperate for beach sand.”

Some critics of the project have said they’d support it if restoration and the owners’ fee were confined to the worst-eroded parts of Holiday Isle. Stalnaker said nobody proposed that in the multiple public meetings the county held on levying the fee.

Stalnaker told The Log that the association had contacted an attorney about suing the plaintiff, because of how much damage Jetty East would suffer if restoration fell through. Stalnaker said the first step would be finding out if a lawsuit was possible when the plaintiffs hadn’t stopped the project yet.

“If we do do it, we’re going to try to get as many condominiums out on Holiday Isle to join us as we can,” Stalnaker said.

The MSBU funding plan
                              Destin               Okaloosa Island
Florida grants:     $100,000                $7,889,178
TDC:                     $9 million              $1.797 million
Property owners     $4.45 million         $2.66 million
Total:                    $13.55 million        $12.35 million