Kristyn Cullis runs Salt & Vine Wellness Spa a few blocks from where Flagler County's next big construction project is about to start. She has already told a reporter she expects the work near her business to run six to eight months, not the three to four the county has floated. She is probably right, and she still wants the project to happen, because the alternative is watching another storm chew through the coastline in front of her door.
That trade-off, more disruption now for less risk later, is the story most people will hear about Flagler County's Reach 2 Beach Renourishment Project. On August 3, 2026, the county commission voted 5-0 to award a roughly $34 million contract to Weeks Marine to rebuild 5.5 miles of shoreline from North 7th Street in Flagler Beach north to Varn Park. County Engineer Hamid Tabassian told commissioners the project will place about 1.5 million cubic yards of sand along that stretch, with construction expected to begin in November and run four to six months. It is the first major beach renourishment project the county has undertaken since Weeks Marine finished a federally backed 3.6-mile renourishment between North 6th Street and Gamble Rogers State Recreation Area back in September 2024.
If you own property in that corridor, or you are looking at a listing there, the sand is not the part of this story that will show up at your closing table. The part that will is a separate, much quieter process that has nothing to do with how wide the beach looks from your porch.
What the Vote Actually Bought
The August 3 vote settled a project that had been in genuine jeopardy. Two weeks earlier, county officials were still waiting on roughly 17 property owners to sign construction easements, and at least one large property's seawall had collapsed and needed repair before crews could even start. Turtle nesting season meant that repair could not happen until after November, which put the whole timeline within days of losing state and FEMA grant funding. Commissioners cleared all of that on August 3 and locked in a November start.
None of that changes who owns what. Easements grant temporary construction access. They do not move a boundary line. Neither does a truckload of new sand. What actually determines ownership along this stretch, and what a title company will flag before you close, is a legal boundary that Florida sets independently of whatever the beach looks like on a given afternoon.
The Line the Renourishment Doesn't Touch
Florida draws two different lines through coastal property, and the confusion between them is exactly where deals get complicated.
| Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) | Erosion Control Line (ECL) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A jurisdictional line marking where the state regulates construction, based on modeling for a 100-year storm | A permanent, surveyed boundary between private property and state-owned land |
| Who sets it | Florida Department of Environmental Protection, under Fla. Stat. 161.053 | FDEP, established through a public survey, workshop, and hearing process |
| Does it move with the sand? | No. It is a regulatory line, not a property boundary | No. Once adopted, it is fixed regardless of future erosion or renourishment |
| What it triggers | A required seller disclosure and, for construction seaward of it, a state permit | A one-time legal determination of where private ownership ends |
The CCCL is the one most sellers have at least heard of. Florida law requires a written disclosure before or at the signing of the purchase agreement, not just before closing, if a property sits partially or totally seaward of that line. The mandated language is specific:
"The property being purchased may be subject to coastal erosion and to federal, state, or local regulations that govern coastal property, including the delineation of the coastal construction control line, rigid coastal protection structures, beach nourishment, and the protection of marine turtles."
Unless the buyer waives it in writing, the seller also has to provide an affidavit or survey showing exactly where that line falls on the property. Skip it, and the buyer has grounds to walk from the contract, not just negotiate a credit.
The Erosion Control Line is the part that rarely comes up until a renourishment project forces the issue, and this same Reach Two segment already went through that process once. Back in February 2025, FDEP held a workshop and hearing in Bunnell, led by planning manager William "Guy" Weeks from the department's office of resilience and coastal protection, to set a new ECL for the identical stretch from North 7th Street to the northern limits of Varn Park. At that hearing, the survey had already been completed and the line had already been drawn, though it had not yet been formally adopted. Once an ECL is adopted, it becomes the permanent baseline for the property. If a future storm pulls the beach back, or a future renourishment pushes it forward, ownership still follows the ECL that was surveyed, not the sand that happens to be sitting there in a given year.
That is the piece worth sitting with. The renourishment happening this winter will make the beach look and feel more protected. It will not make your lot bigger, and it will not change what a CCCL affidavit needs to show. The ECL process, running quietly in parallel, is the one actually fixing where your property ends.
Why This Shows Up at Closing, Not on the Beach
Local title work in Flagler County already treats coastal boundary questions as routine due diligence, not an edge case. Title examiners here regularly flag unpermitted or expired seawall, dock, and boatlift work alongside CCCL and elevation questions, because those are the items that hold up a clean closing on waterfront parcels. None of that changes the state-set closing costs. Flagler County uses Florida's standard documentary stamp rate of $0.70 per $100 of sale price on the deed, the same rate used in all but one of Florida's 67 counties, and owner's title insurance is charged at the same promulgated rate everywhere in the state, so a CCCL-adjacent property does not cost more to insure or record. What it costs is time: getting a current survey, confirming the affidavit meets the state's professional surveying standard, and now, in this specific corridor, checking whether the ECL has been adopted since the last time the property changed hands.
If you are selling a home anywhere between North 7th Street and Varn Park, that last point matters more this year than it has in a while. A CCCL affidavit prepared before this segment's ECL was formally adopted may need to be revisited before you sign a listing agreement. If you are buying in that stretch, ask specifically whether the ECL for this segment has been formally adopted since that 2025 hearing and whether the survey you are being handed reflects it. That is a different question than asking whether the beach renourishment is finished, and it is the one that actually protects you after closing.
The Piece Nobody Has Budgeted For Yet
There is one more detail worth knowing before you assume the county has this fully handled going forward. Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach officials have both said clearly that they will not accept a plan that singles out barrier island property owners to fund future beach maintenance on their own. At the same time, neither the county, Flagler Beach, nor Beverly Beach has yet budgeted money for maintaining the beach once this renourishment is complete. The project getting built this winter is fully funded. What happens the next time this stretch needs attention is still an open question, and it is worth asking about if you are buying property that depends on this beach staying in place.
FAQ
Does the Reach 2 renourishment change my flood insurance rate? The renourishment itself is not a rate factor. Flood insurance pricing is driven by FEMA flood zone designation and elevation, not by how much sand sits on the beach in a given year.
If I already have a CCCL affidavit from a previous purchase, do I need a new one to sell? You need a current survey or affidavit that reflects the CCCL as currently mapped for the transaction at hand. Since FDEP held a survey and hearing process for this exact corridor's Erosion Control Line back in February 2025, a document prepared before that hearing is worth double-checking with a licensed surveyor before you list.
Can I waive the CCCL disclosure as a buyer to speed things up? You can, in writing, but the law exists because the location of that line affects what you can build, how the property is insured, and what a future storm is likely to do to it. Waiving it does not waive the risk.
Reach Two is a genuinely good project for this stretch of coastline, and it is fair to feel some relief watching it finally move forward. Just do not let the good news about the sand distract from the paperwork that actually determines what you own. If you are weighing a purchase or a listing anywhere along this corridor, Ramona Damian can help you get the survey questions answered before they become a problem at the closing table. Let's Connect.
