PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Local businesses at Indian Rocks Beach are seeing a decline in customers, and that's because parts of the beach are closed due to a dune restoration project currently underway.
"We might get a lot of cancellations because of this," said Maria Bagnoni, who is the property manager of Tommy's on the Beach vacation rental.
Bagnoni said the dune restoration project is causing some issues.
"They closed our access, so none of our guests can go on the beach now," she said.
The city and county are working to restore the sand dunes after Hurricane Idalia caused damage from storm surge.
The project is scheduled to continue for over a month as trucks transport sand to the beach.
"It is hurting our business because we do have to tell guests that are coming from other states that our beach isn't open," said Bagnoni.
The project impacts the areas between 23rd and 28th Avenues and Whitehurst to Central Avenue.
"For them to enjoy the beach, they will have to drive there and park and use the beach there," she said.
"When they don't have access to the beach, that obviously causes a bit of a problem for us," said another business owner, Natasha Madelaine.
Bagnoni isn't the only one impacted. Natasha Madelaine owns Sandy's Cafe and said the traffic around the construction is also causing issues.
"It is significantly slower than normal, so we are just muddling through, but we will make it," said Madelaine.
Business owners say the longer this project takes, the more likely it will impact their businesses going into the holidays.
"A lot of people like to come down here for Thanksgiving," said Madelaine.
"We rented the whole building for Thanksgiving week, and I'm going to have to let them know that the beach might not be open," said Bagnoni.
Madelaine said the project is worth it despite the problems the Indian Rocks Beach community is facing.
"I think it's important for the sea life…we do have a lot of sea turtles that come and nest here. It's also a very important part of our wildlife," said Madelaine.
