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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20060817BeachTaskForceMinutes.pdfTybee Island Beach Task Force Minutes August 17, 2006 Members Present: Berta Adams, Cecil Delorme, Helen Downing, Amy Lanier, Henry Levy, Dick Magune, Freda Rutherford, William Sprague, John Wylly, Lou Off Ex-Officos Present: Jan Mackinnon, DNR, Pat Farrell, Bert Moore, Dan Parrott, Lyle Maciejewski, ACOE, Paul Wolff, City Council, Bubba Hughes, City Attorney Members Absent: Mary McCracken (E), Walter Parker (E), Wick Searcy (E) Visitors: Kevin Haas, Ph.D. Assistant Professor and Paul Work, Associate Professor Georgia Institute of Technology, Savannah. Lou read a statement from Mayor Buelterman who could not be present. The Mayor will be traveling with the Chamber of Savannah to Washington, DC on September 14th to lobby our representatives to increase the funding level for Tybee’s re-nourishment for 2007. It is his understanding that the Conference Committee will not be finalizing the budget until after November election. Jack Kingston, Saxby Chambliss, and Johnny Isakson are very much aware of our needs in this regard. The County has allocated 8 million dollars to Tybee in the 2009 – 2015 SPLOST negotiations. He thanked Pat Farrell for standing by Tybee in the SPLOST process. He also stated that in the Island Living News article about the county not supporting Tybee beaches needs was totally wrong. Lou Off called the meeting to order and welcomed members and visitors. Dan Parrot introduced the new people from the COE. Burt Moore will be replacing Hampton Spradley as our COE representative and Stan Clark, Chief of the Navigation Branch. Berta motioned to approve the July Minutes. Henry seconded. The minutes were approved. HR 727, sand quality amounts, banking procedure Lyle Maciejewski, COE, stated that at the last meeting beach quality sand was defined. He had engineering go back and look at the channel segments that fit the new criteria. Operations have come up with a volume of sand dredged between the channel limits for the past 10 years. Lyle plans to have the engineering division do estimates for several types of dredges, mobilization, and the various channel segments and to calculate replacement on various parts of the beach. This will represent a complete picture of various costs for all scenarios. Lou asked about the borrow area. Dan stated the borrow area is an option. HB 727 states the material will be placed on the beach or near shore if it is least costly. If it is not least costly an alternative can be to go to the borrow area. According to Dan, there is still more beach quality sand in the borrow area. It was questioned how far up stream does HB 727 apply? According to Jan of DNR, the law speaks to entrances of rivers and harbors. Tidal waters extend much further. Bubba, Lyle, DNR with Erik Olsen are to work on the definition on how far up stream HB 727 applies? There are two parts to HB 727: 1) when the channel is dredged the good material goes to Tybee beaches 2) if the good material coming out of the channel is too expensive then the COE must find the same amount of sand from a different area that is less expensive to place on Tybee beaches. Channel Impact Study Lyle stated that the study being done for the Savannah Harbor improvements as it affects beach erosion should be fully reviewed and ready on September 15th. A summit meeting will be held with Tybee in mid-October. At this time the COE only has $125,000 in federal dollars. The scope to determine the impact of the federal channel on Tybee Island Shore Protection Project is very narrow. It will cost approximately $450,000. The cost could drop depending on GPA study results. Berta asked if assuming this part of the study was completed what would be the cost share and the cost for further study. Dan stated that there would be a cost share of 50/50, but would not speculate on the cost. LRR The LRR is approved. LRR was assuming a 2008 re-nourishment. The COE will consider as part of the 2008 budget the Tybee Island Re-nourishment Project with all the other worthwhile projects. COE cannot let us know if it’s in the budget until the President releases the budget in February. Lou asked Dan if there is any opportunity in extending the Shore Protection Program beyond our 2014. Dan heard that Howard Marlowe is working on that, but did not comment further. Sand Relocation A new draft of the Proposed Sand Management Procedure was distributed to the members for review. Three major additions since the last meeting – added a section that stated the law, changed certain words, a statement of policy for beneficial sand with a step by step process to be followed – there will be no short cuts; however if its non-beneficial sand there is a shorter process. Also lays out the law for cross walks. There was much discussion. Lou asked Berta to coordinate with those that still had problems with this procedure – Bill, Jan and also include the City Manager, Diane Schleicher. It is hoped the procedure can be voted on at the next meeting to send to City Council. Berta asked everyone from the Beach Task Force to again look it over and submit her comments. Berta will send out one more updated copy and a non response within 7 days will indicate approval. New Business Lou made a motion that Dick Grosse be removed from the Beach Task Force due to non participation. Bill seconded the motion. It was approved to remove Dick from the membership list. Old Business Kevin Hass, Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology Savannah, presented at the last meeting their capabilities of monitoring Tybee beaches. He is working on proposals and further information concerning this. Lou stated that we are looking at the possibility of this group taking over the monitoring for the Army COE to meet the Shore Protection Program and adding the North Beach. Kevin has gathered information from the COE about where the survey has been done over the past several years. The oldest data that he received was from 2002. He needs to know what monitoring we need to have done. Currently there is no monitoring going on at all. The last monitoring was done by the COE in the fall of 2005. The main issues are how many profiles we need, how often does it need to be monitored etc.? Lou asked for a cost per monitoring event from Kevin. Lou asked if the COE was in the position to accept a monitoring from another firm. Dan stated that the COE has no problem with an outside firm doing the monitoring. Burt is checking to see if there is a preliminary study of the North Beach. We need the COE numbers for the last several years. The PCA says that monitoring is cost shared up to a certain point then the city will take over all responsibility. Dan understands that the city will pay for all additional surveys prior to the next nourishment. We will get a cost from the COE and Georgia Institute of Technology. Freda suggested that Lou check on the city’s procurement process if over $5000. Beach Maintenance Funding Plan Tabled until next meeting There being no other business the meeting was adjourned.