Pinellas Commissioners Hire Consultant for Upham Beach Renourishment/Geotube Repair Project

The Upham Beach Renourishment and Geotube Repair Project moved one step closer to completion today when the Pinellas County Board of Commissioners approved the employment of Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc. as the County's consultant to facilitate the project's bidding process. The County will rely on CPE to prepare the bid specs that will be used to select the dredging contractors who will renourish Upham Beach in June-July of this year, as well as the contractor(s) who will repair the beach's damaged Geo-textile T-Groins.

The Upham Beach geotubes are large sand-filled fabric structures that were installed by the County in 2005 as an innovative experiment to reduce Upham Beach's chronic beach erosion problem. While local property owners have been very pleased with the erosion prevention and storm protection provided by the Geotubes, the area's surfing community has opposed the project. The Suncoast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has questioned the cost and effectiveness of the structures, and has voiced strong objections to the impact of the geotubes on Upham Beach's surfing conditions.

Andrew Squires, (Assistant Director of Environmental Management) provided the following response to Surfrider's questions and objections in correspondence prior to today's meeting:

"The University of South Florida’s (USF’s) monitoring work has shown that 38% more sand was held at Upham Beach two years following nourishment with the geotube structures installed compared to two years following nourishment without structures installed (USF Report to Pinellas County, May 2009). Aside from these monitoring data, the geotubes have clearly helped maintain a wider beach with the exception of the area where the tubes have been damaged, which is why they need to be repaired. Furthermore, no negative downdrift impacts have been observed by the installation of the temporary groin field. The groin field has successfully held some sand while still releasing sand to downdrift beaches thereby preventing negative downdrift impacts."

The renourishment project is projected to begin in June, 2010, and the repair of the geotubes is projected to commence after the renourishment is completed.