Surf Cat

A group of Flagler Beach residents and supporters has raised more than $41,000 to pay off a handful of beachfront property owners who are blocking a $25 million dune restoration project by refusing to sign easements that would let the work proceed across their land.

The holdouts had pressed the county government for compensation, but the county has refused. 

“The people that live here band together so well, and there are so many people that did live here or want to live here — and I knew that if we got the word out and got that ball rolling, that it would be amazing. … it’s got a special place in their hearts.”

— CARLA CLINE, fundraiser organizer

As of the afternoon of Aug. 14, the online fundraiser, titled “Help Save Flagler Beach,” had exceeded its $40,000 goal, totaling $41,191 from 327 donors since it was set up the night of Aug. 12.

“These monies will be compensating very misinformed property owners who have selfishly chosen to not sign easements, putting our entire town at risk,” the text of the fundraiser states. “We have exhausted all efforts to change their minds and this is our last attempt to secure the funding, as we only have a few more days until the grant expires.”

The project would involve the Army Corps of Engineers adding sand along the beach, widening it so that future storms are less likely to punch through the dune and damage A1A and inundate the land, homes and businesses west of it. The project is in part a reaction to the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew.

But gaps in the project would create “breach points” that undermine the project’s integrity, so the Army Corps will not proceed unless they received signed easements from all of the property owners along the 2.6-mile stretch of beach.

As of Aug. 14, 11 property owners have not signed, and eight of those are represented by attorney John LeReux, according to County Attorney Al Hadeed. (One other property owner is in the process of signing documents, according to Hadeed.)

LeReux has pressed the county to pay the property owners as if the case is an imminent domain case. The county has repeatedly said that it is not: The property owners aren’t losing rights to their land, which would actually be enlarged and protected, and thus gain value, from the project, according to Hadeed.

The county faces an Army Corps deadline of Aug. 19 to get all of the 141 easements signed, or the Army Corps will cancel the project.

Hadeed has led the county’s side of the effort to collect signed easements. But the county government had nothing to do with the fundraising effort, he said.

“This was totally done by citizens on their own,” Hadeed said. “This is an indication of how strongly our public feels about undertaking these dune restoration projects.”

Without the project, he said, Flagler Beach is “incredibly vulnerable.”

“The length of our beach is so short, when storm waves come crashing there’s nothing to slow them down; there’s nothing to dissipate their energy,” he said. “The next storm is just going to be able to have a straightaway shot at slamming into the edge of A1A. Thus, the dune restoration project is critical  because that support system that would be constructed and installed is what is going to blunt the force of storm waves — it’s going to dissipate that — and that could very well save our community from a catastrophic loss.”

Hadeed said the county will emphasize the community’s grassroots effort in conversations with the Army Corps. 

“It shows very strong community spirit. That can only help us,” he said.

The grassroots fundraising effort was organized on www.gofundme.com by Carla Cline, the owner of Flagler Surf Art and Stuff and the website www.flaglersurf.com, which features a live webcam stream of the beach and has brought Cline an audience.

Cline said the idea came about in conversation with Craig Atack, a local attorney. 

“He said, ‘Why don’t we just do a fundraiser and pay these people?’ And at first I was not for it, because the last thing I wanted to do was reward people for bad behavior,” Cline said. “Then I thought: As a last option, it could possibly work.”

She asked around to see if people who’d already signed easements would be upset if the holdouts were paid to do so when they themselves had not been.

“The consensus was no, because mostly everybody supports [the project],” she said. So she contacted local attorney Dennis Bayer about how much to raise and how to proceed, and settled on $4,000 per holdout, she said.

The holdouts had pushed the county for more than that, but Cline found that unpalatable.

“We’re not buying their land; they’d still get to keep it,” she said. “We’re just giving them money. … It’s 10 holdouts, $4,000 per person.”

Large donations include $5,000 from Oceanside Grille co-owner John Lulgjuraj; $1,000 from Beach Front Grille owner Jamie Bourdeau, $1,000 from Stocker Flagler Holdings I, LLC, $800 from wakeboarder and wakeboarding coach Tarah Mikacich, plus numerous $500 donations from area residents and businesses. There have also been many donations of less than $100.

Bayer, Cline said, would be contacting the holdouts’ attorney to let them know about the money raised. 

“At this point, it’s basically like: ‘We raised $40,000, however this works for you, tell your clients there’s some money available,'” she said. “Hopefully they take it, because if the deadline comes and the grant goes away, they get nothing. So here, they get some cash in their pocket, they get the property improved.”

She added, “All these people that donated — if they don’t accept, they’re going to be so frustrated.

The money, according to the text on the fundraiser page, will be transferred to an escrow account set up by Bayer, who would then pay it out to the recipients.

“If the mission is not achieved, all donations will be returned, minus service fees,” the text of the fundraiser states.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect date for the Army Corps deadline for easements. The story has been corrected to reflect that the correct date is Aug. 19.