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Home My Public Portal About20080515BTFMinsApproved.pdfTybee Island Beach Task Force Minutes: May 15, 2008 Approved: 6/19/08 Page 1 of 3 Members Present: Berta Adams, Helen Downing, Harvey Ferrelle, Amy Lanier, Henry Levy, Mary McCracken, Lou Off, Walter Parker, Freda Rutherford, Wick Searcy, Harry Spirides, Greg Stoeffler, John Wylly Members Absent: Jimmy Burke, Cecil DeLorme, Mark Smith, Bill Sprague Visitors / Ex-Officios Present: Burt Moore - COE, Diane Schleicher – City Manager, Hampton Spradley – COE, Paul Wolff – Councilperson CALL TO ORDER (Agenda Item 1): Lou called the meeting to order at 11:35am. ATTENDANCE AND GUESTS (Agenda Item 2): See above MISC.: Lou reviewed the Coastal Connections from Howard Marlow. The House passed the Beach Act Authorization through EPA more money for water quality monitoring. Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 is a wetlands protection bill. It could change from navigable waters to all waters of the United States to use to define wetlands. Hurricane predictions of damages of $500B could happen in 2020 due to increased building in coastal areas. National Flood Insurance was passed by senate. Changes include people living behind a levy / damn will be required to buy flood insurance, increases to premiums could be 15% and subsidized rates could be phased out for vacation homes. Updated flood maps are being done. NOAA has been studying chemicals in mussels & oysters throughout various sites over the past 20 years. The studies have shown a decrease. Lou presented the requirements of HB 727/CZM to the SEG (Stakeholders Evaluation Group) at their 5/6/08 meeting. He also spoke at a Rotary Club meeting in which he discussed the importance of beach nourishment, bureaucracy issues and long-term solutions. Discussion ensued about the long term plans for renourishment. APPROVAL OF (APRIL) MINUTES (Agenda Item 3): Diane clarified that the money from LNG totaled $35,000 ($25,000 + $10,000). Henry noted that Dr. Babu is actually not a resident of Tybee. Walter moved to approve the April minutes with the mentioned changes. Wick seconded the motion. All approved. Tybee Island Beach Task Force Minutes: May 15, 2008 Approved: 6/19/08 Page 2 of 3 ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS REPORT (Agenda Item 4): (COE Actions & Status sheet provided separately) 1) Tybee Coastal Zone Management Implementation: a. SAD commander held a meeting in April. Formal responses will go back to SAD soon . 2) Channel Impact Feasibility Study: a. Published at the end of April. A link was sent to the city. 3) Tybee Island Shore Protection: Renourishment Update... a. A pre-solicitation meeting is scheduled for 5/16. b. There has been a lot of interest by the contractors. c. The next step afterwards will be to run the RFP in the paper and opening the bids in early Aug. We will then know how much sand we can place and award the contract in September. d. The goal is to start the renourishment in Nov or Oct. e. The balance of funds are being set up in an escrow account which the COE will draw from as needed. i. The city cannot earn interest on state funds. Therefore, the $2.9 million is going to the COE without gaining interest. The City Manager is looking into quotes from banks so we can put the money into the highest yielding account from which the COE can draw. The $1.3 million from City / County could earn from now until January and or February. ii. The feds found some extra money that we can use. Therefore, we now have $10,735,000 total funds for the project. f. Environmental hurtles are still looming. Paul made good contacts with resource agencies which will help w/ relationships. g. There is an issue w/ Piping Plover critical habitat that needs to be resolved. h. Fish & Wildlife wants to do a biological opinion. Paul helped at the conference he attended & they have promised to be done by June 30 instead of the typical 4/ 5 mo. 1993 was the last biological opinion made for Tybee. i. EPA’s comments were answered and it does not seem to be an issue. j. Lou reiterated the rest of the process. k. Lou reviewed a letter written April 28 from Mayor and Council to Sonny Perdue about the state supporting Tybee nourishment with another $1,000,000. 4) Jasper County Terminal Development a. Another meeting on 5/3 with EPA, Fish & Wildlife to get top environmental concerns voiced re: the Jasper County Terminal. 5) Brunswick Harbor Deepening (Burt) a. Mitigation contracts going smooth b. Funding relief is not going to get better. 6) Savannah Channel Maintenance a. Dredge is just above Fields cut and will be there another 2 weeks 7) Savannah Harbor Expansion a. No changes. John mentioned a concern with a pipe that is too short on the Back River at Inlet Ave. which backs up every time it rains. Per Diane, this may be part of the 14th Street drainage project. Tybee Island Beach Task Force Minutes: May 15, 2008 Approved: 6/19/08 Page 3 of 3 TYBEE RE-NOURISHMENT PROJECT – UPDATE (Agenda Item 5): See COE Report above (Agenda Item 4, number 3) TYBEE FUNDING FOR BEACH MAINTENANCE, COUNTY / TYBEE FUNDS 2008 (Agenda Item #6): See COE Report above (Agenda Item 4, number 3e) BEACH MANAGEMENT PLAN (Agenda Item #7): Lou suggested after the renourishment project, the Beach Management Plan should be reviewed and updated. It has been 3 ½ years since it was last done. OLD BUSINESS – SEA WALL, LNG, HILTON HEAD (Agenda Item #8): - Lou hopes there is some extra money left in order to remove the old sea wall and groins at 2nd St. Recommendations by Olsen w/ any money after that would be to do maintenance on the north and south rock groins. - The formal presentation for LNG is still being discussed. Diane is going to check with the Mayor. - Helen will call Colonial Oil to discuss assistance with renourishments in the future. - Mary will find the name for a ship repair company Burt mentioned which is on Hutchinson Island. - The Hilton Head trip will take place either 6/24 or 6/25. NEW BUSINESS (Agenda Item #9): - Henry passed out a May 3, 2008 article about the Corps of Engineers being sued over flooding in New Orleans. Based on research of a 1988 study about the COE and its channel dredging effect on Tybee. o Henry motioned to recommend to City Council they sue the Corp. of Engineers.  The motioned failed due to lack of a second. o Lou commented that it is his opinion that the COE does what they are told to do. - Greg asked about plans for cleaning the beach (i.e. reed grass, raking the beach, etc.) after the renourishment. o Burt explained the process of tilling a beach. o Lou suggested research be done about cleaning the beach. - Lou suggested that Jimmy, Harry and Greg review the Beach Management Permit with Diane - Discussion ensued regarding strategies for holding sand at 2nd St after this re-nourishment in case there is no federal assistance in the future. o Diane shared an article about using a tiered application with tube systems to protect eroding shore. o Lou said NC and FL have laws against doing any hard surfaces such as sea walls, groins, etc. o There is a terminal groin at Sea Island that is used to collect drifting sand and returning it to erosional areas of the beach. MEETING ADJOURNED (Agenda Item 10): 1:04 pm