HomeMy Public PortalAboutLTC 065-2022-Sand Nourishment Project Update 04-15-22BAL HARBOUR
- VILLAGE -
OFFICE OF THE VILLAGE MANAGER LETTER TO COUNCIL
NO. 065-2022
To: Mayor Gabriel Groisman and Members of the Village Council
From: Jorge M. Gonzalez, Village Manag
Date: April 15, 2022
Subject: Bal Harbour Beach Nourishment Project Update
The purpose of this Letter to Council (LTC) is to provide you with an update related to the
ongoing United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Beach Nourishment Project
along Bal Harbour Beach.
I am pleased to announce that the Beach Nourishment Project is complete, with the
contractor finalizing their equipment removal and USACE project closeout activities, well
ahead of the projected completion date of June 21, 2022. Additionally, Dade County
resumed the beach leveling and, seaweed cleaning this past Monday April 11, 2022.
The information below will provide you with additional information related to the periodic
presence of steep sand ledges along the Beach as provided by our Village Environmental
Engineering firm, Cummins/Cederberg.
Beaches and dunes are constantly being influenced by the natural forces of wind and water
resulting in sand being eroded, built up or shifted. Wind blows sand shoreward and helps
build the dunes; waves pull sand from the beach out to sea and push it back on shore
depending upon the energy of the waves. The shapes and slopes of beaches are
determined by these shifts in sand. Larger waves remove sand from the beach and deposit
it offshore with gentler waves moving sand back onto the beach. Wave action also shapes
the slope of a beach with high energy waves tending to increase the steepness of the slope
and lower energy waves resulting in mild flatter slopes.
A steep sand ledge, also known as an escarpment, may form because of erosion of sand
along the beach. Miami -Dade County (MDC) is the entity responsible for mechanically
removing escarpments that form along the Village beaches.
The ongoing beach maintenance activities conducted by MDC, include addressing these
escarpments which will be leveled in accordance with the permit. The Bal Harbour Project
Joint Coastal Permit (JCP No. 0307741-005-JM) condition #18c requires that visual surveys
for escarpments along the beach fill area be made after the completion of the project,
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