As complex beach recovery continues, Daytona Beach tourism board looks ahead

DAYTONA BEACH — A labyrinth of environmental and bureaucratic challenges still loom in the ongoing effort to restore Volusia County’s 47 miles of beaches in the wake of catastrophic damage from tropical storms Ian and Nicole, according to an update presented this week to Daytona Beach’s tourism board.

In a lengthy power-point presentation, Volusia County Deputy County Manager Suzanne Konchan reviewed the catastrophic impact of the back-to-back tropical storms and offered an update on beach restoration for the Halifax Area Advertising Authority board of the directors.

The presentation unfolded on Wednesday roughly an hour after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced at a press conference in Daytona Beach Shores that Volusia County will get $37.6 million, the largest portion of $100 million in funding for beach erosion projects statewide in the wake of the tropical storms.

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“The state is allocating 1/3 of the approved $100 million for Volusia County,” Konchan told the HAAA board, which oversees and funds tourism promotion by the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau through county bed tax collections. “That really reflects the amount of damage we experienced here and the need we have for sand renourishment.”

Lori Campbell Baker, executive director of the Daytona Beach Area CVB, expressed optimism that the destination would be able to sustain the momentum of two previous record-breaking years in 2023, but acknowledged that the county’s beaches were a key asset.

“One of the things that is really affecting us is the condition of the shoreline,” Baker said.

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Many of the 52 slides in Konchan’s presentation recapped the devastation left behind following the storms, which damaged all of the county’s coastal parks, as well as the majority of the county’s beach access ramps and walkovers.

After the second storm hit, 105 out of 141 beach walkovers were closed, as well as 15 of 17 county coastal parks. Also, 33 of the county’s 37 beach ramps were either closed or damaged, Konchan said.

By Tuesday, 67 of 141 walkovers were open, as well as 14 coastal parks and 13 beach ramps, she said.

As work continues, Konchan said she expects more areas of the beach to reopen as the key summer tourist season approaches.

“We’ll continue to see announcements of additional beach ramps opening in coming weeks and months,” she said. “The same will be the case with the beach walkovers.”

Recovery will be slower in harder-hit Daytona Beach Shores

However, in some of the hardest-hit areas, including Daytona Beach Shores, the road to recovery will take longer, she said. Three of the county’s beachfront parks in Daytona Beach Shores  —  Frank Rendon Park, Edwin W. Peck Sr. Park and Dahlia Park  — remain closed due to storm damage, she said.

“That will most likely be the case through the end of the year,” Konchan said. “Frank Rendon will be a challenge to reopen in 2023.”

The beach restoration process spans three areas of county government  —  public works, growth management and public protection  —  as well as city, state and federal government and environmental agencies, Konchan said.

That’s reflected in the process involved in repairing damage to the Daytona Beach Boardwalk that has resulted in the presence of metal barricades to prevent visitors from approaching stairways to the beach that have been closed due to storm damage.

“When it comes to the beach, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is the primary authority, but the county manages the beach on behalf of the community,” Konchan said. “The city (of Daytona Beach) provides permitting. So you do have all three entities at play.”

A brief update on the city’s progress on repairing the east end of the Daytona Beach Pier was offered by David Waller, the city’s public works director. The city is in the midst of a nearly $700,000 pier restoration project that Waller said on Wednesday has a “long road” to completion.

Waller said that the city also had started on a 120-day design and permitting phase with a coastal engineer for the Boardwalk repairs. “I’m hoping for summer,” he said when asked about a potential completion date, adding that it was too early in the process to offer a more specific timetable.

'Beach On' marketing campaign to resume

As work on the beaches continues, the CVB’s “Beach On” marketing campaign will be re-started in February, said Amy Shackelford of the Zimmerman Agency, the HAAA board’s Tallahassee-based marketing firm. The campaign that had been slated for rollout in October was sidelined due to the impact of the storms.

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“It’s a balancing act,” Shackelford said of the timing. “We want to make sure we’re not building up any expectations we can’t meet.”

Daytona Beach plans to make a splash on Times Square

In the marketing realm, the board unanimously approved spending $250,000 to put a bit of the World’s Most Famous Beach in the middle of New York City’s Times Square in the form of an anamorphic fully 3-D billboard in the famed intersection.

That investment will cover the creation of a 15-second spot that will play in a rotation for a total of five minutes every hour from April 1-30. The initial concept, yet to be created, will feature a kite-boarder who emerges from the surf and hovers in the air over the street below.

There also will be a street team deployed to connect with potential visitors as well as the capability to geo-track potential visitors, Shackelford said.

Board members were excited about the idea.

“That’s what I love about you guys,” said Androse Bell, general manager of Hard Rock Hotel. “You came to us with guts and courage and the ability to do something different. Something like this is unique and that’s what we want.”

A raise for CVB executive director

In other action, the board approved Baker’s annual performance evaluation, which included a 6% raise for job performance that was rated at 4.24 on a five-point scale. The raise lifts her annual salary to $154,847 from its current amount of $146,082.

Baker’s performance was praised by several board members.

“We’ve had steady leadership for seven years,” said Jim Berkley, general manager of the 744-room Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort, the area’s largest hotel. “You’ve done a phenomenal job, and it’s not an easy job you do.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach tourism board hears update on Volusia beach repairs