Posted on March 16, 2021
In the midst a detailed, fact-filled draft letter to the US Army Corps from the Sandwich board of selectmen, one sentence dramatically underscored the town’s urgent need for federal help.
“Over the last month, four private homes on Spring Hill Beach have toppled onto the beach and been destroyed as drastic erosion continues to place public and private property in peril,” the letter said.
It also laid out the history of Sandwich’s plight and gave a clear-eyed look at the future.
“As you know, for more than two decades the Town of Sandwich has been relentless in our pursuit of solutions to address ongoing beach and dune erosion and coastal sustainability issues that have adversely impacted our community, especially at Town Neck Beach,” the letter said.
“With heightened climate change conditions, these continued erosional pressures have reached a critical stage resulting in unacceptable risks to important town services, property, and infrastructure, as well as scores of private homes.”
Town Manager George H. (Bud) Dunham is hoping many more such letters will be drafted by other and sent to the Army Corps in the next few weeks—the public comment period set aside by the Corps before the agency determines if—and how—to help refurbish Town Neck Beach.
By Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Dunham had written similarly worded draft letters of support and sent them to Sandwich’s federal and state legislators and the Barnstable County Commissioners. He has asked that the letters be tweaked and forwarded to the US Army Corps before the April 2 deadline.
Other town departments and advisory boards will also be encouraged to write letters on the town’s behalf, and private citizens’ comments would also be welcome, town officials have said in the past week.
The letter-writing campaign comes on the heels of the US Army Corps’ release of a long-awaited report detailing the Cape Cod Canal’s role in starving the town’s beach of sand.
The 600-page draft report said the jetties at the Cape Cod Canal’s east entrance entrance interrupts the natural transport of sand and “starve the downdrift littoral system of sediment needed to maintain a stable shoreline.”
The Army Corps’ determined that the most feasible and effective solution would be depositing upwards of 400,000 cubic yards of sand on Town Neck Beach. The sand would come from a site off Scusset Beach.
Although ongoing maintenance—replenishing Town Neck Beach using sand from routine dredging of the canal, and/or the Scusset site—was not a part of the $12.5 million solution, the report does recommend that such maintenance take place.
The letters written by Mr. Dunham underscore the need for ongoing maintenance.
He asks that when the Army Corps’ periodically dredges the bottom of the Cape Cod Canal to clear the passageway for boat traffic, the dredged sand be deposited on Town Neck Beach “rather than disposing of the material offshore at the Cape Cod Canal disposal site in Cape Cod Bay.”
After the public comment period is closed, and the public’s comments are included into the Army Corps’ draft report, there are still several steps to go before the renourishment project is approved and sand is actually moved, said Michael S. Riccio, project manager for the Army Corps’ New England District in an email.
“Getting the draft report out to public review is an important milestone and puts us in a good position to approve the study soon,” Mr. Riccio wrote.
“Right now the report is going through three concurrent reviews; Public Notice, Agency Technical Review (ATR) and Division Review.
“Any comments received during these review periods will need to be addressed and necessary revisions to the report will need to be made before we can route it to North Atlantic Division for final approval of the study.
“Barring any major concerns requiring substantive changes to the report, I would anticipate the review process being completed within the next 60 days and routed to Division shortly thereafter.”
After approval, the project would enter a design and implementation phase, Mr. Riccio has said.
Funding and environmental permitting must then be sought, Natural Resources Director David J. DeConto said last week. Mr. Riccio and Mr. DeConto have said the renourishment will not begin until at least fall of 2022.
Mr. DeConto has said the public comment period is a good time for interested parties to support the proposed solution, urge the federal government to put a maintenance plan in place, and also ask that the budget for the project—currently capped at $12.5 million—be increased.
To view the report—and comment—go to the Army Corps’ website, www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects-Topics/Cape-Cod-Canal-Section-111-Shore-Damage-Mitigation-Project/.
