FLAGLER BEACH, Fla.— Flagler Beach is at risk of losing a $26 million dune project because a few property owners won’t agree to it. 

In hopes of paying off the holdouts, a few locals are trying to raise thousands of dollars.

Lifelong Flagler Beach residents Carla Cline and Craig Atack have seen the changing sands firsthand.

The biggest blow to the once-lush dunes was Hurricane Matthew in 2016, they said. 

“It’s heartbreaking, and it is scary,” Cline said. “You realize that you are not untouchable by a hurricane.” The damage is hard to forget. 

“It looked like pieces of A1A had been bitten away by some monster or something,” Cline said.

While A1A has since been repaired, the sand dunes have not. 

“We’ve signed a contract with the Army Corps of Engineers last year to refortify this beach and what that means is we will be adding 125 to 150 feet of beach that will slope gradually out to the ocean and give us some protection for the homes along here and A1A,” Flagler County Board of County Commissioners Chairman David Sullivan said.

However, the Army Corps requires 140 signed easements from property owners allowing the improvements on their land. As of Monday, 11 of them were holding out.

According to John M. LeRoux, the attorney who represents eight of the holdouts, they are not against repairing the dunes.  He explained they are concerned about giving the government rights to their properties. 

“If we do not go forward with the Army program, we are really losing out on $26 million of money that was not coming from the county,” Sullivan said. “It was all allocated, and there is no cost to the taxpayer so it is a good thing in all directions.” Sullivan said. 

It is a hard pill for many community members to swallow. 

“Why other people wouldn’t want that, I don’t understand,” Cline said. 

Cline and Atack came up with the idea to start a GoFundMe in an attempt to pay off the holdouts. 

“It took me a minute or two to get over the fact of anger for giving people something for nothing, and then I realized there are so many people that love this town that we could probably persuade [them] into chipping in and actually make it work,” Cline said. 

Within two days, they raised their goal of $40,000. 

“Donations came from all over the place,” Atack said. “They didn’t just come from the island so it really feels good.”

According to the LeRoux, six of his clients have now decided to sign, either because of the money or social pressures. That gives the community hope for the future. 

“People just love this place, and they would do anything to keep it the way it is and to help it and to support it," Cline said.

Flagler County’s next meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers is Wednesday, August 19. 

If the project is completed, that area of Flagler’s coastline would essentially become a federal beach, granting it protection for the next 50 years, according to Sullivan.