Hurricane Ian has drawn powerful attention to an Army Corps of Engineers feasibility study of coastal storm risk management in Collier County that began after Hurricane Irma but was shelved before a final report was released.  

The historic storm surge last fall from Hurricane Ian changed the way coastal risks are viewed. “We are redoing all of our beach modeling and we’re reanalyzing what potential sand sources we’ll be able to use for that because of the impacts of Ian and how it has affected what’s available,” said Army Corps project manager Abby Preddy at a well-attended public meeting April 26 at South Regional Library in East Naples. “We’re also updating our data and our structures, which is what we use in our modeling to assess what gets damaged in these kinds of storms.”  

The three-year study recently was reinitiated because Collier County’s low-lying topography elevates its risk of effects from sea level rise and coastal storms. The goal is to identify and recommend potential solutions to manage Gulf Coast storm risks from beach erosion, wave action and storm surge in order to reduce economic damage to existing development, infrastructure and natural resources in Collier. The local partnership effort is focused on reducing hurricane and storm damage along the beach areas off Vanderbilt, Park Shore, Naples and Marco Island.   

“In the first iteration of the study we got a lot of public concerns about some of the features in the recommended plan — things like their environmental impacts, impact to aesthetics — and so we’re trying to reformulate, we’re trying to utilize stakeholder knowledge and feedback and local subject matter experts and trying to get ideas for new solutions, new alternatives,” Preddy said.The feasibility study will determine if federal interest exists to partner on a coastal storm risk management project. The goal is to recommend solutions that are engineeringly feasible, environmentally compliant and economically justified.  

Examples of possible structural management measures include beach nourishment, groins, jetties, flood walls, flood gates, rip rap and storm surge barriers. Nature-based solutions could include vegetative dune plantings, artificial reefs and mangrove restoration. Nonstructural measures may include buyouts, changes to hurricane evacuation plans and revised building codes for minimal elevations.  

The Environmental Defense Fund, a national nonprofit environmental advocacy group, encourages Collier residents to voice support for nature-based solutions to managing storm damage risks. Instead of a high flood wall along Seagate Drive, for instance, EDF proposes a raised walkway flanked by wetland plantings.   

“Previously, the plan proposed flood walls and hard infrastructure instead of prioritizing the co-benefits of a nature-based solution,” EDF informed residents in a recent newspaper ad. “What future do you want for your community?”  

The three-year analysis is still in its scoping process, where the Army Corps gathers information, opinions and comments via public participation from local stakeholders, including elected officials, community groups and residents through meetings and charrettes. A draft report is expected next spring with a final report set to be released for review in early 2025 and completed in August 2025.   

The original three-year study initiated in October 2018 between the Army Corps and Collier County and federally funded for $3 million ended without a public release of findings. Last August, the Army Corps approved an additional three years and $2.97 million in federal funding for the reevaluation and reformulation of alternatives. On April 11, Collier County commissioners approved the continuation of the study. The eventual plan for recommendations also would have to be approved by county commissioners before a funding request is sent to Congress in three years.“Obviously, whatever we recommend, the construction costs will vary,” Preddy said. “Whatever we do recommend still has to go to Congress to be authorized, then it has to be appropriated, which means basically federal money in the budget to do the study. Then, the county would have to choose to enter into a project partnership agreement to go into the next phase of the project.”  

The county’s expense will be in paying the salaries of employees who spend time assisting in formulating the study. Christopher Mason, the flood plain coordinator for Collier County, was promoted last October to the director of Community Planning and Resiliency, a newly formed division of the county’s Growth Management Department. Mason’s role in the storm risk management study is to provide input to the Army Corps as a local government partner.   

“We’ll be sitting with the Corps and we have weekly meetings with them, so we do go over any new information on a weekly basis,” Mason said. “They present it to us, and we have staff vet it to make sure it makes sense. We’ll be hand in hand with the Corps through this process for the next three years.”  

Public comments during the study’s initial phase are due by May 8. Comments may be submitted electronically to Collier-CSRM@usace.army.mil or in writing to USACE Norfolk District, ATTN: Kathy Perdue, Planning and Policy Branch, 803 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510. People with accessibility issues that prevent written comments may call 757-201-7218.