Surfside says dune rebuild from 87th to 96th Street is substantially complete

Construction on Surfside’s dune restoration project, which covers the town’s beachfront from 87th Street to 96th Street, is now substantially complete, according to the town’s November Gazette.

The work, which began in May, raised and stabilized the existing dunes, replanted native dune vegetation to hold the sand, and improved the walking path along the beach, the town says. Vice Mayor Dayana Benmergui wrote in the same issue that the project is “nearing completion.”

A key piece is a set of new diverter dunes: low, triangular mounds of sand planted with sea oats, placed at breaks in the dune line. The town says they are meant to slow storm surge pushing through those gaps while still letting seawater drain back out, limiting how much water and sand reaches the streets behind the beach. They add to diverter dunes Surfside built earlier, which the town describes as the first in Florida.

When the town announced the project in May, it said construction would start May 11, reach substantial completion in about 90 days and finish by Sept. 8, with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection guiding the work and Miami-Dade County monitoring sea turtle nests. Neither the notice nor the Gazette gives the project’s cost or a new date for final completion.

Money for the dunes is also coming from a private project. The Gazette says the Town Commission changed the development order for Ocean House, at 9309–9317 Collins Ave., to require a contribution toward the dune work. And the town’s first budget amendment of the year, up for discussion at Monday’s Budget Committee meeting, would carry forward $50,731 left over for dune work.

Questions about the project go to Public Works/CIP Director Andre Eugent at (305) 861-4863, ext. 305, according to the town’s notice.