HomeMy Public PortalAbout20060518BeachTaskForceMinutes.pdfTybee Island Beach Task Force Minutes
May 18th, 2006
Members Present: Helen Downing, Amy Lanier, Freda Rutherford, Walter Parker, Henry Levy,
William Sprague, Wick Searcy, and Lou Off
Ex-Officos Present: Paul Wolff, City Council; Hampton Spradley, ACOE;
Jan Mackinnon, DNR, Diane Schleicher, City Manager
Members Absent: Berta Adams (E), Cecil DeLorme, Richard Grosse, Dick Magune, Mary
McCracken, E, and John Wylly
Visitors: Lyle Maciejewski
Lou Off called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone.
The minutes from the April meeting were approved.
Lou discussed an editorial that was in the Savannah paper on 5/16 concerning the Army Corps
and some of their problems. Bill Sprague stated that Louisiana has had the biggest budget of
ACOE projects and had done nothing to improve the levees.
Lou stated that Marlowe and Associates were working on legislature to add to the 50 year
program life of the Shore Protection Program for a number of projects throughout the
U.S. – including Tybee. There will be more on this in the future.
We have heard that the House Appropriations Committee recommended $2,000,000 for our 2007
re-nourishment instead of the $6,000,000 requested. We have not received the final word or a
breakdown of projects as yet. If this is the case, we will look to what we can do to increase this
amount. Representative Jack Kingston did obtain the full amount of almost $20,000,000 for
Brunswick Harbor Deepening.
LRR
Hampton stated that all was complete except for the funding and the ACOE would start as soon
as it was funded.
PMP
Hampton stated that he and Dan Parrott have been in contact with Erik Olsen and planned to
meet with all involved on June 26th or 27th. The problems dealt with the methodology of the
project and we want to make sure all independent technical review people are OK with it. We do
not want to have the study rejected due to wrong methods of application. The ACOE still does
not know if they will do the work or contract it out.
HB 727
Lyle reported that his study has shown that there is suitable material in the river maintenance
dredging especially in stations 18 to 24, which includes 6,000 lineal feet of channel out in the
curve. This includes the widener area where there are good sand drifts around the old break
water structure. This material meets the size of the recommended material but he is not
concerned with the color as that can change if dredged. We have asked him to quantify the
amount of material available and he said he would do this for the next meeting.
Lou said that we needed to keep the pressure on to get this information moving as we would be
having the dredged material this coming winter placed in our near shore. Lyle stated that costs
were increasing and did not know if this could be done. Lou said that they pay for turtle watches
and equipment and our sand would be considered another cost of business even if less sand
were to be removed.
Advanced Widener
Lyle said that all paper work has been completed to do this project. However it is now estimated
to cost $12,000,000.
Paul suggested that the beaches in the area go in together to buy a dredge to be used by all.
This could cut costs and be used more efficiently. A discussion followed concerning the need for
permitting and operation of the equipment.
Beach Management Plan
Lou requested all members to assist in the review of important documents that are distributed
between meetings. A letter sent out to all members got replies from only 3 members out of 14.
The letter concerned the development of a method to move sand from one area to another on
Tybee as requested by the City Council. DNR’s Brad Gane said that following approval of our
Beach Management Plan we could start the work on this.
Berta is working with Erik Olsen and will modify the document accordingly after meeting with
him.
Freda stated that this action in part was started by requests from Harry Spirides who had
problems with the dunes overflowing into the walkways. We also noted that the South Channel
was filling in due to a migration of sand to the north and settling on the point that could be used
for North Beach and 2nd Street. Mike Scarbrough has told Freda and Lou that there is a problem
with Shrimp movement due to too much sand in the channel. We will request his presence at a
task force meeting to explain all this.
Paul stated that Danny Carpenter has experience in moving sand with a pan from location to
location and this is something that could be done on the NE point. Lou stated that he estimates
there to be more than 300,000 cubic yards available in the inter-tidal zone there.
Lou sent a letter to Susan Shipman, DNR CRD concerning Mark Dodd telling Tybee Council
Members that our re-nourishment program was not good. Susan said he did not work for her
DNR.
The problem with rest rooms is drawing a lot of attention and is improving. A discussion took
place that the City wants to build a park and rest rooms on 19th and Chatham. Diane requested
our input and it was generally stated that rest rooms were good but needed to be discussed with
all neighbors.
Paul said that they were working on buffer guidelines with DNR and EPD to protect water quality
and provide directives for this area. A rough draft is expected by May 31.
The Back River residents having sand problems have met with Ann Thran of the DNR and are
working on getting a city permit to expedite this problem.
Lou stated that the ACOE could not provide us with any meaningful information on the old sea
walls north of the anchor. Mark Williams is attempting to do some exploration work with DPW
equipment. Lou will get in touch with a TIC representative to see if they had any ideas as to what
can be done. TIC has done a lot of Savannah wharf work.
Meeting Adjourned