Glynn’s Folly, as the Summerplace Sea Wall Atrocity is commonly called, has already cost the public a fortune in legal fees, ongoing sand pumping, damages to adjacent property, and lost recreation value.
Additional actual costs must include the catastrophic erosional impacts on the adjacent public Wabasso Beach, immediately down-current from Summerplace. Lawsuits from Disney’s Vero Beach Resort loom as a potential future liability of the sea wall. And, then, there are the environmental impacts…
Recently the Vero Beach Press-Journal noted that the beach in front of Glynn’s sea wall is non-existent at high tide, having been washed away because of inevitable changes in beach dynamics resulting from the armoring.
All Summerplace residents have deeded beach access, and the right to use this beach. Now, their beach has been destroyed by the actions of a few, selfish property owners. These folks live in an unsustainable location: on top of the primary dune in a State-designated area of a critically eroding shoreline. How long will we have to wait for a rational, science-based solution to the current mess we call our County’s beach management policy?
It is important to question if our “protective” actions are really protective. Young scientists can take on this daunting task by developing science fair projects that focus on testing the helpfulness of human interventions like sea walls, dikes and animal population control. Thank you for identifying this issue!