The city of Gulf Shores was already concerned about beach erosion before severe weather came through this week. City council members met and discussed the current situation at a recent meeting.

Gulf Shores beaches have some problems.

“The winter storms have basically taken away a lot more to the beach after Salley,” says Brandon Franklin, Gulf Shores’ chief Building Official.

Some beaches in Gulf Shores are hardly beaches at all. The city council is worried. It’s trying to come up with a plan to keep the beach safe as spring and summer approach.

“Knowing that we lack in a lot of areas, our police department, public works department, fire rescue, we’re all working together now to try to come up with a plan in how we allow our service providers access on the beach but also allow us a safety plan as far as how we keep the beaches clean and how we provide safety to everyone that’s visiting the beaches,” says Franklin.

Tuesday night’s storms with wind gusts of around 60 miles an hour and surf of 8-10 feet didn’t help. Historically, the city has used the off-season to replenish the beach by pumping offshore sand onto the beach. The last time local beaches were re-nourished was 10 years ago. The beach buildup was scheduled to be performed last November, but is now on hold until this fall.

“There was a change on the federal level on the requirements. We could not meet the timeframe in doing it in the offseason. And it doesn’t make sense to re-nourish the beach in the middle of the season, people are there, it’s dangerous, you’ve got equipment running up and down the beach. So, we really got messed up with the change in policies at the federal level,” says Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft.

Re-nourishing local beaches comes with a price tag of roughly $10 million.