Posted on June 21, 2016
By Aleese Kopf, Palm Beach Daily News
A large-scale South End beach nourishment project is still several years away, but the approval process is inching along.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published the final draft of an environmental study Friday that critiques proposals from the town and Palm Beach County to place sand on the shore and in the water south of the Lake Worth Pier. The federal environmental impact statement evaluates how the proposed projects will affect marine life and their habitat and other ocean resources.
“Publication of the final EIS is just another milestone reached in the town’s long-term goal of maximizing storm protection in Reach 8,” said Coastal Coordinator Rob Weber. “There is still a long way to go before sand can be placed in the water in Reach 8.”
Town and county officials, environmentalists and residents have 30 days to submit comments about the study before the corps issues its final opinion. Following the corps’ “record of decision” in the next couple of months, the town can resume state and federal permitting, Weber said.
The corps will use the study “to determine whether to issue, issue with modifications or conditions, or deny” permits.
The town’s preferred plan for Reach 8:
* 65,200 cubic yards of dredged sand, of which 3,400 cubic yards would be placed in the water and the rest would go above the mean high water line.
* Temporary impacts to about 3.8 acres of nearshore hardbottom habitat.
* The town would be required to mitigate the loss of habitat by creating about a half-acre of artificial reefs.
* Dredged sand would cost about $2 million. Mitigation would cost about $485,000, or $915,000 per acre.
The corps analyzed an alternative option that included increasing the sand volume to 121,700 cubic yards — mitigation could cost about $1.2 million.
The corps also evaluated a proposal from The Coalition to Save Our Shoreline to add 253,100 cubic yards of sand and place two T-head groins. Mitigation for that plan could cost $5.9 million to $8 million, depending on sand-grain size.
The purpose of analyzing alternatives was to determine if the town’s preferred plan “is the least environmentally damaging,” according to the corps. The corps said adding larger quantities of sand makes impacts to hard-bottom habitat “much greater.”
The county’s preferred plan proposes adding about 77,600 cubic yards of mined sand to beaches in South Palm Beach, Lantana and Manalapan. The county also wants to place seven coastal structures perpendicular to the shoreline.
Source: Palm Beach Daily News
