On March 13, 2008, the Surfrider Foundation, the Snook Foundation and three individuals filed a Petition for Formal Administrative Hearing against the issuance of the FL DEP permit authorizing a 1.3 mile beach dredge and fill. The intent of the Surfrider challenge is to block the project which threatens to destroy valuable and irreplaceable near-shore ecosystem that provide unique recreational and economic resources. This habitat is essential to the survival of threatened and endangered species of sea turtles and coral and provides essential habitat as a fisheries nursery.
In spite of the FL DEP stable beach determination, the Town of Palm Beach is trying to move forward and bury 7 acres of hardbottom/coral habitat. In exchange the Town has agreed to build 8 acres of “mitigation reef” to compensate for the burial, at a cost of approximately 8 million dollars.

The Lake Worth City Council had voted unanimously the year before not to participate in this unnecessary and environmentally destructive project. While the Lake Worth public beach is excluded from the project area, the amount of fill proprosed would still kill the public's ability to surf, dive and fish.

Recent news media:

Project Delay

Fighting Beach-widening

Protest by Surfrider Foundation

Reef Challenge

Additional Media Clip