Where will Dauphin Island's grant go?

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (WALA) - The east end of Dauphin Island is shrinking nearly 10 feet per year.

That puts homes, beaches and a lot of significant landmarks at risk. But the city has a plan to bring some relief.

Robin Linn has called Dauphin Island home for 11 years and has noticed her beaches drifting off.

"There has been a lot of erosion on the east end,” said Linn.

This is something Mayor Jeff Collier and other officials have noticed.

"I've been here 51 years, and of course, seen the amount of deterioration into the east end. It’s scary," said Collier.

Tuesday, FOX10 News took a tour of the area with Mayor Collier, Engineer Scott Douglass and Parks and Beaches Director Matthew Kapps.

We found rocks about 200 feet off the shoreline, marking where the beach used to end.

Douglass said on average the east end loses nine feet a year.

"A lot of that fluctuation is natural. Some of it has probably been aggravated by the ship dredging practices. To keep the ship channel, which we have, has starved Dauphin Island for 40 or 50 years," said Douglass.

As the east end erodes, other areas of the island are gaining sand. However, the structures don’t shift with the island.

Among others, the east end is home to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Fort Gaines and the Bird Sanctuary. All of which are threatened by the erosion.

"All of these things help bring tourists to the island and help preserve the wildlife habitat," said Kapps.

The city has planned a $5 million project to take sand from a few miles out and rebuild some of what has been lost.

"This represents the first time a restoration project like this will take place on Dauphin Island," said Collier.

It might be too late for some homes on the south end. Some homes in the Audubon area are almost completely in the water.

Collier said the project doesn’t stretch that far, but there is still hope.

"We hope that there will be a residual type benefits to them but our focus of the project. We’ll focus on those areas that are most under threat at this particular point,” said Collier.

Linn is thankful for the project and wishes there was more money to go around.

"I wish it were for the whole island, but the whole island is much more money to put in the beach stabilization project, but a little bit at a time," said Linn.

The mayor and city council worked years for the grant to fund the restoration project. If all goes according to plan, it will be complete in a year.