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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20070816BeachTaskForceMinutes.pdfTybee Island Beach Task Force Minutes August 16, 2007 Members Present: Berta Adams, Helen Downing, Amy Lanier, Henry Levy, Mary McCracken, Wick Searcy, William Sprague, and Lou Off Ex-Officos Present: Hampton Spradley, ACOE; Jason Buelterman, Mayor; Paul Wolff, City Council; Diane Schleicher, City Manager; Sonny Emmert, DNR; Pat Farrell, County Commissioner Members Absent: Berta Adams (E), Cecil DeLorme (E), Harvey Ferrelle (E), Walter Parker (E), Freda Rutherford, Mark Smith (E), and John Wylly Visitors: Stan Kinmonth, Monica Simon-Dodd, Johnny Grandison, ACOE Mobile District; Kelly O’Rourke, DNR; Kevin Haas, GA Tech Consultant Lou shared an article written in the Savannah Morning News on August 6th concerning the COE and the state of New Jersey. He also shared an article that was written on August 9th concerning L&G expansion. Pat Farrell was invited to visit the site and they have told him that they would more than welcome any group such as the Council and Beach Task Force to visit the site and go over their safety measures etc. They are trying to do community out reach. They want everyone to have as much information as possible. Pat will call Lou with the contact person and phone number. Lou called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone to the meeting. July Minutes to be voted on at the next meeting in September. CORPS ACTIONS AND STATUS REPORT Tybee Coastal Zone Management Implementation The decision document is still at the South Atlantic Division. They are working with Head Quarters to come to some resolution. Lou asked Hamp to review the goal of the Coastal Zone Management. Hamp stated that he has not been involved in this at all, but he believed the goal is to look at the material that is dredged out of the harbor and to see what part of that should be placed near shore or what should be credited to Tybee. Lou asked who we could push this because we were told 4 months ago that this would be decided in July then it was August and now it is sometime in the future. Hamp is to talk with Dan and set up a conference call with Lou concerning this next week. Channel Impacts Feasibility Study STWAVE modeling is now communicating with the ADCIRC modeling which has held up progress for three weeks. ADCIRC modeling is scheduled to be completed early next week followed by GTRAN modeling. All modeling efforts will be completed in late August followed by an update to the Sediment Budget. The Draft Report with the results of the study will be submitted mid to late September. The COE had committed to getting this study completed in August, but due to the complication there was no way that it could be completed. Bill Sprague asked what the COE was trying to accomplish. Hamp stated that they are trying to quantify the effects of the Federal Navigational Channel to the shorelines of Tybee Island. In other words, they are trying with these computer models to figure out what would Tybee look like today without the Federal Project verses the effect of the project. The goal is to be able to quantify that in someway. The next phase would be to look at alternatives to mitigate for whatever impacts are determined. One of the alternatives could be an adjustment to the cost share. Jason Buelterman stated that the key difference is that the OMB puts it into the budget. Tybee Island Shore Protection Project The COE has some funding that they are holding on to should a Congressional add come in FY 08. Funds have been received by the COE to do a Project Information Report to evaluate the damage done from tropical storm Andrea. The goal of this report is to see what damages occurred from the storm. Lou asked who would fund this. Hamp stated that if the report was approved by SAD and Headquarters and if the project qualified that is would be eligible for 100% federal emergency funding to fix the project that was damaged. Jason stated that we tried to get into the Iraq supplement which didn’t happen after Andrea because we didn’t have the information needed to prove that it was an emergency. Now there is another Presidential supplemental where emergency funds can be added. Johnny from the COE stated that should the report be approved by South Atlantic Division the money will be found. Headquarters would allocate the money. We wouldn’t be waiting on a specific authorization. Lou asked Johnny when Kevin did a survey of the beach after Andrea he found that we lost approximately 60,000 cubic yards on the front beach and 30,000 cubic yards at the south tip, if this emergency project were approved would it be limited to the loses of Andrea only. Johnny stated that they are looking at doing an analysis under public law 8499 which specifically mandates that they restore a project to a pre-storm condition. They are doing the survey to determine what the post storm condition is. They already know what the design condition was based on their template. What we don’t know is what beaches were damaged. They want to be objective and capture all that they can within the footprint of the existing project. They are not allowed to make any improvements. They will determine if any damage was caused by tropical Andrea; where and to what extent. Their goal is to have a report ready within 45 days to go to division. The only thing that may hold the report up are the environmental implications per Tybee Island. He is confident that a report will be submitted within 45 days, but is unsure of what the results will be. Paul asked if it works out that this is actually worked into the supplemental budget would this be banked against our potential re- nourishment and would it be cost effective to go ahead and set up. Johnny stated that these are two different situations. He is not talking about re-nourishment, but restoration. Paul stated that it does not make sense to set up an entire system just to pump 90,000 cubic yards of sand. Johnny stated that they cannot pre-suppose at this time; that is the reason for the analysis. The lose of sand maybe more or less than everyone is perceiving. Once the analysis is done, they will make a recommendation in concert with the sponsor. Tybee will know what the quantities and the recommendation will be from the COE. Whatever is recommended and if the sponsor concurs then that project could be built. Anything coming behind it will not be in conflict. Paul asked for clarification. He wanted to know if Johnny was talking about a physical restoration and not just money dedicated toward restoration. Paul determined that they would physically pump sand on the beach; for whatever has been determined that has been lost due to the storm. Paul questioned that if a dredge was going to be set up for the restoration could the city piggyback onto this and pay the extra cost for re-nourishing the entire beach. Johnny felt that this could be done. The City would be in a position to deal directly with the contractor to do whatever needed to be done. Lou stated that one of the good points is that the COE will conduct a full monitoring of the beach which the City would have had to contract with Erik Olsen to do. This will save the City $25,000 to $30,000. This will be on the same lines as the Shore Protection Project. Jason asked if a smaller scaled project would need to follow the entire permitting etc. Johnny said that has been talked about. They expect to have a scope of legal requirements by early next week. They need to consider any agreements that might be in place already relative to this project. Normally they do not have delays, but we have a special situation. Johnny is hoping to manage this process so that any positive recommendations that may be made would not be delayed. Lou asked Sonny from DNR to check to make sure that they are working with the COE on this. Lou stated that until the analysis is completed the future is uncertain. Kevin wanted to know what criteria did the COE use to access what damage has occurred. Johnny stated that volume changes would be one of the criteria used by the team. Hamp wanted to emphasize not to count on this. The criteria calls for a category 3 hurricane or higher, but a full analysis team has been put together at no cost to Tybee. For the official start of this project, Hamp has sent a draft letter to Diane via email for the Mayor to sign requesting the COE to begin the project. The reimbursement of LRR remaining funds in the amount of $2,405.15 has been sent to the City. Mark Padgett is working closely with Erik Olsen to obtain required Federal permits for Fall of 2008 start for the re-nourishment. See the Attached Corps Actions and Status report for information on FY-08 Budget, Jasper County, Brunswick Harbor Deepening, Savannah Channel Maintenance Contract, Savannah harbor Expansion. Tybee re-nourishment project: Update Lou handed out copies of a letter written to the Mayor, Council and City Manager outlining four recommendations that were voted on at the last Beach Task Force. Jason Buelterman reported that the Council met the afternoon of the Beach Task Force Meeting. The City contracted with Erik Olsen’s firm to do the borrow site analysis whether it’s a federal or non-federal project. Jason has not sent a letter to the COE about the 206 – the reimbursement if we do the re-nourishment. Jason is waiting to meet with Jack Kingston’s office next week and then he will move forward. We are still trying to get a re-nourishment prior to turtle nesting season which is May 1st. Lou, Erik and Diane have had a meeting with the Regulatory Division of the COE. Erik is attempting to comply with the things that they need. It’s the first time the Savannah District has done this and they are going through the learning curve as well. Brad Gane has been working on permitting. To ask for a permit, certain amount of information is required, it is up to us to get this information. Erik needs two months to gather the information. We are hoping for permits in four months so we are still pushing for January 1st, but there are only two companies that are doing dredging on the east coast and they may not have a dredge in our area at that time. Jason stated that he felt so good after the last Beach Task Force meeting when we finally decided to go ahead and do the re-nourishment ourselves which is the best decision we could have made. What is frustrating is that we have to completely recreate the federal part. This is something we have to do and now we are having Olsen do all this work. Bill Spague doesn’t understand why it is so difficult since this is our 4th or 5th re-nourishment and we are doing the same thing that we did before. Hamp wanted to make sure that if we want to apply for a 206 know that it will cost more and take longer. This will require a congressional appropriation. It does not guarantee reimbursement, but it allows for the possibility to be reimbursed. A meeting with Kingston’s office, Erik Johnson, and Burke Day has been scheduled for Tuesday, August 21st. Another meeting has been tentatively schedule for Monday, August 27th. Merritt Meyers from Kingston’s office is setting this up. It will be with the COE, DNR, Kingston’s office, Chambliss’ office, and Isakson’s office. Lou is not sure what is going to happen at this meeting. Erik Olsen has a Vibracore vessel coming which tests sand. Diane received a letter from Erik Olsen outlining the steps necessary to move forward with the design and permitting process. Henry Levy made a motion to recommend to Mayor and Council to obtain Erik Olsen and Associates to continue with the tasks A-G (see Erik’s attached letter) and to prepare all requirements to accomplish a beach re-nourishment for Tybee Island. This motion was seconded by Bill Sprague. Motion carried unanimously. Lou and Diane will write a letter to the Mayor and Council concerning this recommendation after the meeting. Jason Buelterman stated that we need to get the money from the County ($450,000) and State ($2.93 million) because the bills are coming. Lou asked Sonny from DNR to get a report back to him, Jason, and Diane on the permitting process. The State is setting up a State Study Committee for permanent funding sources for beach maintenance. There is a meeting on Sept. 21st. Jason needs the Channel Impact study for that meeting. Hamp stated that he would do everything that he could to have the study completed. Tybee Funding for Beach Maintenance Amy had a contact with Southern Company, a subsidiary El Paso Gas Company. Jason has a call into them. Mark Smith will also contact them Lou talked with Charlie Sutlive of the Savannah Maritime Association. There are 17 private terminals on the river in addition to GPA. Lou drafted a letter to Eric Johnson to come up with a permanent funding source. Mary made a motion to send this letter to Eric Johnson. Wick seconded. Vote was unanimous. Old Business Jason is to write a letter to the state concerning the removal of the seawall. It was suggested to contact Burke Day since he is public safety Committee Chairman. New Business Mary is to write a congratulatory letter to Commander David Murk of the Coastguard. Meeting Adjourned