Dump trucks full of sand will rumble through northern Broward County on an estimated 50,000 trips, under a plan to restore eroded beaches that may begin as early as next year.

The County Commission last week agreed to ask the state for help in funding the $44 million project to widen beaches from northern Fort Lauderdale to southern Pompano Beach. Under the most optimistic scenario, the work would begin in November, 2013, and take two years.

Environmentalists fear the project could end up burying offshore reefs, home to protected stands of staghorn coral. But coastal residents and business have been pressing for the restoration works for years, as they anxiously watched the surf inch closer to condominium towers, hotels and restaurants.

"The need for our beaches to be renourished is well overdue," said Pio Ieraci, president of the Galt Mile Community Association, which represents the row of oceanfront high rises between Oakland Park and Commercial boulevards. "We have water lapping up on some of the sea walls. Without our beach, what do we have? It's a draw for tourists and it brings sorely needed capital to our economy."

Beaches account for $548 million a year in spending and 17,700 full-time jobs in Broward County, according to the Broward County Department of Environmental Protection and Growth Management. Coral reefs also contribute a lot, with the reefs of Martin, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties accounting for $3.4 billion in business, according to a 2004 study.

Broward plans to acquire 750,000 cubic yards of sand from mines in Florida's interior, which dig up long-buried beaches from the time when sea levels were higher and Florida's coastline was farther inland.

A lot of newly placed beach sand typically washes away, and this would smother offshore stands of staghorn coral and other marine life on the reefs, said Dan Clark, of the environmental group Cry of the Water.

"You can't stack that stuff on the beach without burying the near shore reefs," he said.

Unless the project is altered to avoid harm to the reefs, he said his organization is likely to file a legal challenge.

He said that rather than damaging natural resources, the county should plug illegal storm water discharges along the beach, which wash away sand. County commissioners agreed and told county beach renourishment chief Eric Myers to return with a report on how to deal with these.

Originally posted here:

Massive parade of trucks needed to restore eroded Broward beaches