ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns County Emergency Management Director said Tuesday early reports from an engineering study about Summer Haven have been received by his office.
The study is supposed to find solutions to beach erosion and how to maintain the Summer Haven River.
This follows a 2021 nor’easter that created a new inlet.
The final reports are expected to be presented to the St. Johns County Commission in the next few months.
One resident News4JAX spoke to said he hopes the reports come up with solutions to help save the place he’s called home for over 10 years.
“The flow of the river is just now washing away their yards,” said Rick Paternoster, HOA president of Barrataria Island.
Paternoster said the nor’easter the area experienced the past few days did not help with conditions in Summer Haven.
The area has been battling years of beach erosion from storms and a breach back in November 2021 caused by a nor’easter. Since then the breach has gotten significantly worse with storms Ian and Nicole. It’s seemingly becoming an inlet.
The county has said it has spent more than $10 million since 2008 addressing erosion issues there.
Last year the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners approved a Texas-based company to conduct an almost $400,000 study.
This was to find solutions to maintain the flow of the Summer Haven River and address beach erosion.
It will look at things like sea walls, dune restoration or abandoning shoreline development.
According to Joe Giammanco, Emergency Management Director, final drafts are expected to be sent to county leaders in the next few months.
Paternoster said he wants the solutions that address the river to be ones that will help keep the area looking the same.
He said the storms have blocked good river flow meaning at low tide one area that is currently filled with water can be walked on. Something he said wasn’t the case when he first moved there.
Paternoster said he also hopes once the study comes out the commissioners can find ways to fund the solutions.
“And that the county can helps us get the funding whether it’s federal or state whatever. Help us get that funding to get the river opened up again and implement these solutions,” he said.
If the reports don’t produce workable solutions, the coastal damage will only get worse, Paternoster said.