Posted on April 10, 2018
By Joyce Russell, nwi.com
As waves continue to eat away at the shoreline of Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk and neighboring Ogden Dunes, officials still are looking for a long-term solution to battle erosion of these prime recreational assets.
A new state law, which will require clean dredged material to be placed on the beach rather than out into Lake Michigan, will have little or no immediate impact, most officials said.
The ultimate need, they said, is for funding to conduct a federal study aimed at long-term solutions and determining who would be financially responsible to implement those solutions.
At stake is the preservation of one of the most aesthetic shoreline recreational areas in the Region and an area of significant investment in Northwest Indiana’s Marquette Plan.
The $16 million park, funded by the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, federal, state and local money, opened to the public in 2009. Developed as part of the Marquette Plan, the park reclaimed a former dump site operated by the former National Steel. It is owned by the National Park Service, but managed by the Portage Park Department.
When it opened, Lake Michigan water levels were low, and visitors enjoyed using the park’s beach.
Erosion issues began to increase in 2014, along with rising lake levels. By 2015, the beach disappeared, and the walkway to the beach was closed by the NPS.
In January, the concrete observation deck collapsed due to erosion.
The lakefront and riverwalk is unique along Northwest Indiana’s Lake Michigan shoreline, because the Burns Waterway breakwall, Port of Indiana and other structures that jut out into Lake Michigan block the natural drift of sand along the lakeshore. The blocking of natural sand drift to the west of the structures causes the deprivation of sand to the area.
New legislation may not be a fix
Senate Bill 178, sponsored by state Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, requires sand that is regularly removed from the Port of Indiana, and other structures jutting into the lake, be deposited on existing Lake Michigan beaches in the hope continued replacement would combat the erosion.
“We are hoping for relief this summer,” Tallian said this week, adding they are currently working with agencies and businesses that regularly dredge to implement the legislation.
The three organizations that regularly dredge include the Army Corps of Engineers, ArcelorMittal and NIPSCO.
NIPSCO previously announced it won’t be doing any dredging in light of closing its Bailly Generating Station.
ArcelorMittal was granted a five-year dredging permit last year and may not have to follow the new law’s requirements until it applies for a new permit.
Marty Benson, assistant director of communications for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said the new law will take effect July 1, but there is no provision in the bill that makes it retroactive to existing permits.
The Army Corps, according to David Bucaro, outreach manager at the Chicago district office, said the agency does not have to follow the state law because it is not required to obtain a permit from the state to conduct dredging at the Port of Indiana.
Bucaro said the Army Corps will dredge about 85,000 cubic yards of material, either in late spring or early summer. That material will be dumped about 200 feet off shore, depending on the water’s depth.
“We will get it as close to the shore as possible near lakefront park,” said Bucaro, adding the sand likely will drift, with some landing at the beaches for the Portage park and Ogden Dunes.
The issue, he said, is who is going to pay for the incremental cost difference between dumping the sand in the lake and bringing it up to the lakeshore. He estimated the additional cost to be between $6 and $7 per cubic yard of sand. That would drive up the cost of depositing the sand dredged this year from $500,000 to $600,000.
“We are bound by law to find the option with the least cost,” he said, adding Ogden Dunes officials sent a letter asking the Army Corps to bid a potential 2019 dredging project to include those incremental costs. The letter of intent, however, does not mean the town has or will commit to paying the additional costs for future dredging projects, Bucaro said.
Paul Labovitz, superintendent of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, said the new law was “well intentioned,” but he doesn’t see it having an immediate impact.
“Ultimately, if there is dredging placed on the eastern-most corner (of Lakefront Park), it will help re-establish the beach and help Ogden Dunes,” Labovitz said.
This year, however, the only work that will be done at the Portage park is to work on safe access to the beach on the south side of the pavilion, he said. The collapsed overlook will remain where it fell.
What needs to be done
Officials agree the ultimate solution is a study by the Army Corps that would look at long-term solutions to the erosion problem. The study also would assign who is responsible for erosion and require that party, or multiple parties, to financially participate in the solution.
Tallian believes the Port of Indiana is responsible and said agreements as early as the 1960s required the state-owned port to indemnify for any erosion the port caused.
Bucaro said both Ogden Dunes and Portage have signed letters of intent to be a non-federal sponsor of the study once it is authorized. That could cost the two communities $850,000.
The Army Corps has requested funding for the study during the last two budget cycles, but it has not been funded. The agency would not request the funding from the municipalities until the federal funding is in place, Bucaro said. Once the study is funded, it could take three years to complete.
A similar study was completed decades ago in regard to erosion problems in the Cresent Dune/Mount Baldy area of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, both Bucaro and Labovitz said. That study determined the Army Corps is responsible because of the construction of the harbor at Michigan City and requires the Army Corps to replenish sand at that beach on a regular basis.
Labovitz also hopes the Portage beach will be chosen for the Army Corps’ Beneficial Use of Dredge Material Pilot Program, funded through the Water Resource Development Act.
The pilot program, Bucaro said, will identify 10 projects nationwide and place dredged materials on the beach to determine the benefits. He confirmed the Port of Indiana was one of the applicants. He said the applications currently are being ranked, but, like the study, there is no funding in place for the pilot program.
Labovitz said another potential option would be restoration of the observation deck and continued replenishing of sand on the beach, under consideration in talks about a national infrastructure improvement program.
U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Gary, said he supports efforts to combat the continuing problem along the shoreline.
“I appreciate the dedicated efforts of all the interested stakeholders to address the shoreline-erosion issues at the city of Portage Lakefront Park within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore,” he said.
“My office will continue to actively work with the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service and officials from the state of Indiana to identify solutions that ultimately will aim to improve public access and usage of this immensely valuable asset to our region.”
Both Bucaro and Labovitz said they don’t believe nature will provide relief anytime soon as lake levels continue rising.
Source: nwi.com
