Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – As Gulf Shores gets ready to hire a coastal engineer to study severely eroded beaches in search of a temporary solution until full renourishment can happen, City Engineer Mark Acreman offered up a caveat.

“There is a high possibility that there is no solution,” Acreman said in a council work session on Feb. 20.

Because of a new permit from FEMA requiring environmental and historical reviews of sand pull sites in the Gulf the project that was expected to be completed in the fall of 2022 must now be put off until after the summer season.

“It’s really disappointing because this should have happened this past fall, November, December, last winter,” Mayor Robert Craft said. “Someone decided they needed more information so they stopped the process until we could do other research for them. That put us here because we desperately need the sand. Our beaches are in bad shape.”

At Feb. 27’s regular session, the council is likely to approve a request from Acreman to approve an $11,600 contract with Volkert to assess the severe erosion on West Beach Boulevard in the vicinity of West Ninth Street.

Acreman said there are two hotspots sorely needing more sand, one west of Little Lagoon Pass and one from West Eighth Street and West 10^th Street. Sand from the upcoming dredging of Little Lagoon Pass will help alleviate some problems west of the pass.

“That will provide some immediate relief for that area,” Acreman said. “We won’t get six or eight feet of sand back but we’ll get some back that will allow those boardwalks to be extended down to finally touch down back into sandy beach area. We’re working with ALDOT on that. Normally those dredge projects generate 10s of thousands of yards of material. This is a substantial amount of material that will help alleviate hotspot number one.”

The second hotspot, however, is going to be much harder to solve and that’s why Acreman is proposing the assessment.

“This one here we’ve got to be a little more focused on and we really need to have our coastal engineer Dr. Al Browder and evaluate this location and if there is something that can be done and hopefully make some recommendations,” Acreman said. “There’s a possibility we could even get some additional funding for that as an emergency protective measure.”

Craft and other city officials are hoping there’s a way to provide a quick-fix for the problem.

“We’re trying to find if there is something interim we can do because we’ve got properties down there that have very little beach,” Craft said. “And, we have challenges in getting our fire-safety folks back and forth and our law enforcement folks back and forth crossing all these eroded areas as well as a place for visitors to be able to go out and enjoy the beach. We’re doing everything we can to find an interim option opportunity to get in front to save this season and instead of having to wait until the fall when the big one comes through.” 

The study is expected to take 30 days and then another 30 days to evaluate what was learned and if anything can be done on the eroded sections.