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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20060615BeachTaskForceMinutes.pdfTybee Island Beach Task Force Minutes June 15th, 2006 Members Present: Berta Adams, Cecil Delorme, Helen Downing, Amy Lanier, Henry Levy, Dick Magune, Mary McCracken, Walter Parker, Wick Searcy, John Wylly, and Lou Off Ex-Officos Present: Diane Schleicher, City Manager; Paul Wolff, Council Member; Jan Mackinnon, DNR; and Hampton Spradley, Members Absent: Richard Grosse, Freda Rutherford (E), William Sprague Visitors: Lou Off called the meeting to order and welcomed everybody. The minutes from the May meeting were approved. Sand Relocation Policy: Berta Adams has assumed the responsibility for rewriting the Sand Relocation Management Procedure that had been requested by the Tybee Island City Council which is a supplement to the Beach Management Plan. She discussed the meeting that was held on Wednesday, 14 June with representatives of the DNR, City Council, Beach Task Force and Citizens at large. She explained that different problems of sand management required different responsible parties and the procedure was to define various situations and sets of responsibilities. After review of the document there was a discussion as to who would accomplish the work and how costs would be apportioned. It was explained that this is a procedure for the administration of this process and not specific to a particular project. Sand was separated into beneficial and nuisance categories depending on where it was located and where it should be. The need for a good monitoring program was included. The goal of this policy was to decrease the amount of time that it took to authorize a project. The DNR, Coastal Engineer and City Council would still remain in the approval process of future projects. Environmental impacts would be considered on all projects. From BTF comments the document was to be revised and Berta would see that copies would be forwarded to DNR, ACOE , Council and BTF members for comments. All comments were to be returned prior to the next BTF meeting on the 20th of July and the procedure document will be revised and formally submitted to the City Council for their action at the July 27th meeting. It was suggested that the final edit remove all specific examples. A discussion of the use of sand on the North East point ensued and was tabled as this procedure is not project specific. ACOE Projects: HB 727: Hampton reported that Lyle still does not have this information for us on the Sand Quality amounts and percentages. He would try to have it by the next BTF meeting and he would attend the meeting. DNR was requested to get involved and see that this action would be completed in the next month. Jan said she would discuss with Brad Gane as it was established in the February ACOE meeting that this would be coordinated by the ACOE and DNR and would be ready prior to the next required channel maintenance. It was also suggested that Mayor Jason Buelterman contact both parties to push this along. Hampton suggested Linda Morrison the new Chief of Operations for the Savannah District be contacted as she is Lyle’s boss. Hampton stated that he had nothing to do with the channel contracts. It was suggested that since Hampton was the ACOE project manager for Tybee Island he should be coordinating all things that have something to do with Tybee. Hampton said he was only the project manager for the channel impacts study. Channel Impact Study: Hampton stated that there will be a meeting of all involved in late July or August and would let us know at our next meeting. The ACOE also wanted to wait until the Savannah Harbor study was completed as that study has information on the affects of the channel on Tybee. Monica Dodd is in charge of putting together this meeting. LRR: Hampton reported that there was nothing further the ACOE could do until the funding was approved. Lou said that according to Howard Marlowe and Company the Senate would be taking up appropriations in the next couple of weeks. Jason was making a trip to Washington on the 20th of June and had appointments with both our Senators and several other interested parties to push for our funds to be increased from the $2,000,000 recommended by the House. Lou handed out an analysis that he did for a newspaper article that showed the difference that a decrease of $4,000,000 to the project will do. A copy of this is attached. Paul Wolff said he had seen the local aides to the 2 Senators at a meeting recently and they reported that both Senators had the word and were pressing for the required money. Henry Levy stated that the last storm, had taken out a triangle of sand 10 feet wide and left a scarp up to 18 inches high from 2nd Street to the north groin. Savannah Harbor Deepening: Lou said that there were plans being made by the ACOE that included placing offshore disposal sand into berms adjacent to the south side of the channel and this would be of no use to Tybee. Hampton was requested to look into this but said he had nothing to do with this and suggested that we set up a meeting with Lyle, Dan Parrott and Bill Bailey of the ACOE. We asked Hampton to report this back to these people at the ACOE and to give us some indication as to what was going on. All quality sand must be placed to the beneficial use of Tybee. Jan said that the DNR would not be in favor of doing this as well. Beach Master Plan: Lou asked Paul Wolff if there was anything new on Buffer study that was taking place to detail some of the items included in the Master Plan. He said there was a meeting on June 29th with the DNR and experts from University of Georgia to develop new ordinances. The DNR was studying the environmental impacts and planning to put out a guide book as to what is and is not allowed in the buffers, if decks can overhang and status of docks and bulkheads. Lou asked a question as what happens as salt water plants intrude on upland, does the owner loose part of the property. Diane, City of Tybee Manager, said that the situation with public restrooms was improving. Money has been requested in the 2009 SPLOST for 5 new facilities. Cecil Delorme had made a study of beach area rest room facilities and said he would get with Diane on good and bad ideas that he has seen in other communities. Tybee has submitted a big list of projects of which one half were to the benefit of visitors to the island. Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson has been very supportive of Tybee and has stated that we are a County recreation area. Mike Scarborough was on the agenda to discuss problems with the South Channel on the north side of Tybee. It has become a situation for both shrimp and shrimp boats. He will be asked to come to a future meeting. As there was no old or new business the meeting was adjourned.