Next Wednesday, the demolition and reconstruction of the Flagler Beach pier will come to an end. The $16 million project is on hold because of two additional turtle nests that were dug in the way of the massive trestle that is being built. After the turtles hatch in around two months, it will start off again.
The newest turtle nest must be completed by September 10 at the latest.
Construction engineers and city officials decided that redesigning the trestle line to avoid the eggs would be too costly and may take so long that the turtles might have hatched by the time the redesign is finished.
Dale Martin, the city manager, announced this morning that he is implementing the municipal engineer’s suggestion to halt work and exercise patience for a period of one and a half to two months. He refers to this as the turtle nest delay, and preliminary work will continue until Tuesday.
According to Lori Ottlein of the Flagler Turtle Patrol, the first nest was dug more than three weeks ago by a green turtle, which is the largest of the nesting turtles. Just before the first piling was to be drilled, that required a workaround. It was shifted just enough to provide a 20-foot buffer around the nest. The work went on.
Ottlein stated that Sunday, of course, was the day that tiny Miss Loggerhead chose to appear and nest directly in the center of the design.
The intended trestle was practically encircled by the nests.
In order to lay the groundwork for a trestle that will run parallel to the pier, Vecellio and Grogan, the contractor, had been driving massive metal piles into the ground. Heavy machinery will be able to perform the demolition and reconstruction thanks to the platform.
Late on Wednesday morning, Vecelio and Grogan project manager Justin McKay presented the nesting challenge and its solutions to the city administration. None of the alternatives were appealing or economical, except to wait out the nesting.
Our Specialty Trestle Design Engineer is having trouble designing around Sea Turtle Nest #2, according to our conversations, McKay wrote. He suggested an idea, but the only way he could implement it would be to move the entire Unit 1 of the trestle (for which we are currently laying the piling) and change the trestle entry’s radius. We would have to remove every piling we had put in, move them, and then drive them again in order to do this. Additionally, there is no assurance that the material haulers will be able to turn safely with the new suggested radius (the haulers themselves verified that our old radius worked), so future adjustments, rework, etc., may be necessary at a later time. It is currently hard to predict the effects of this.
Relocating and redesigning the trestle south of Turtle nest 1 would be an additional option, according to McKay. This would require a thorough rebuild and result in additional problems. Public beach space would be further reduced, and dunes would be severely affected. He added, “We also risk the creation of more nests that might be incompatible with a new trestle design.”
The corporation would need to modify the trestle (the original took a month to build), have regulatory bodies evaluate it, and change its prefabrication in order to accomplish that.
According to McKay, waiting out the incubation period and starting work again after the eggs hatch is the last alternative that comes to mind. In this situation, V&G will try its utmost to reduce expenses brought on by factors under our control. He let the city manager give him advice on what to do next.
Marin was informed by City Engineer Bill Freeman that he was not hopeful of developing a substitute that differed much from waiting the 55–70 day incubation time.
Permits for nest relocation are granted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. However, it’s not as easy as it seems. Prior to the start of construction, the contractor would have needed to get such permits. That’s what happened last year when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers restored the city’s beach. In this instance, that did not occur.
The nests could only have been moved during the extremely short window of a few hours between the time the eggs are set and nine a.m. on the first morning following the nesting, if the permissions had been in place. Ottlein stated that the nests might not be relocated after that. Additionally, relocated nests have a poorer hatching success rate than intact nests.
James Sherman, the chair of the Flagler Beach Commission, stated, “I suppose we just have to follow the rules and regulations put in place by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and FWC and follow the proper protocols and procedures.”
Every nest is flagged by the Flagler Turtle Patrol, and the flagging date coincides with the due date. August 16 is the marked date for the first nest. That does not necessarily imply that the hatchlings will appear on that day. After that date, they can take up to fifteen days.
September 10 is the marked date for the second nest. According to Ottlein, this season’s turtles have begun hatching at 60 days. According to her, they will hatch more quickly the hotter it gets. Protected by a 10-by-10 enclosure, each nest can give birth to 80–140 hatchlings. However, they lead precarious lifestyles and are vulnerable. Only one in 1,000 will survive to age 25, the age at which turtles may begin laying eggs. Survivors live beyond 80 years.
Their nests are also fragile. Nobody really knows how that pounding of the pilings might affect the eggs, Ottlein said. 20 feet away might be good, maybe it s not. This isn t something we ve encountered. They might be OK. We don t know.
The Turtle Patrol has documented 163 nests in Flagler Beach alone so far this season (from Snack Jack s to the Beverly Beach town limit), and over 500 nests from the Beverly Beach town limit to Washington Oaks Gardens State Park.
It sounds like with the different options to redesign, possibly refabricate, pull out the already installed pilings, the alternative to wait until the incubation period may be the most feasible, City Commissioner Scott Spradley said. It s just a fact of living in a coastal environment. We all have had the expectation of possible delays anyway, for hurricanes. This is one many of us did not foresee. But it s just as much a reality.
