Summary 



More than 300 plaintiffs owning property along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Brevard County, 

 Florida, are suing the United States for the alleged taking of their property through beach and 

 dune erosion attributed to construction, operation, and maintenance of Canaveral Harbor. This 

 Harbor was constructed from 1950 to 1954 on an uninterrupted segment of barrier beach. In this 

 report, coastal-sediment processes along the coast are identified and analyzed, with emphasis on 

 quantifying shoreline change, bathymetric change, and storm-induced beach change. Analysis is 

 focused on two property owners, Don and Gale Applegate, and Noro and Company, Inc., who 

 were the test plaintiffs selected by the Court. The Applegates purchased their property on 

 August 12, 1981, and still own it. Noro purchased on September 8, 1986, and sold on 

 September 11, 1996. In this report, estimates of beach and dune erosion, if any, were calculated 

 from time of purchase to December 8, 1997 (representing the present), for Applegate, and from 

 time of purchase to September 11,1 996 (the sale date), for Noro. Appendices contain detailed 

 technical material to supplement discussion and findings contained in the main body of this 

 report. 



Long-term, regional beach change was evaluated by analysis of survey data on shoreline 

 position, bathymetry, and beach profiles taken through time. Data sets accessed originated from 

 the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the National Ocean Service, and 

 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and were supplemented with specific data 

 collection performed for this study. The analysis was conducted within a Geographic 

 Information System framework that included estimation of errors in the data and analysis 

 procedures. Erosion of the beaches and dunes, principally attributed to storm impacts, was 

 estimated at the properties of the two test plaintiffs by compiling storm data and calculating 

 beach and dune change with a numerical model. 



Conclusions of this study are as follows: 



2 



1. The sand placed on Brevard County's beaches by the USACE in 1974/75 extended the 

 shoreline seaward of the 1948 (pre-Harbor) shoreline position and seaward of the September 

 1972 (pre-fill) shoreline position. The 1974/75 beach fill more than compensated for beach 

 erosion that had occurred since the Harbor was constructed. The erosion-impact zone 

 induced by the Harbor that was present on the (natural) beach prior to beach-fill placement 



These plaintiffs claim the purchase occurred in September 1983, but a copy of the deed indicates that Noreen and 

 K. Edward Jaynes, General Partners of Noro and Company, purchased the Noro property on September 8, 1986, and then 

 sold the property to Sandra Daniels on September 1 1 , 1996. 



2 



This sand was placed as part of disposal operations during deepening of the Canaveral Harbor entrance channel and 

 construction of the Trident turning basin and access channel. Although technically not considered a beach fill, because 

 authorization of the project and the primary objective concerned navigation and disposal of dredged sediments, hereafter 

 the material will be referred to as beach fill or fill for convenience and simplicity of discussion. 



Summary 



