Town council mulls over beach restoration
Council members, at a Dec. 17 workshop, discussed the possibility of moving sand from the Matanzas Pass dredging project to critically eroded areas near the center of Estero Island instead of expanding beaches in Lynn Hall Park, which is the current plan.
But one day later, Steve Boutelle, Lee County Marine Engineering Manager and project manager for the beach restoration project, said he had spoken with Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials who said using sand from Matanzas Pass was not an option for any restoration project.
Boutelle said the sand in the federal channel also couldn’t be used in the Lynn Hall Park area as it was in 1996 and that it would be pumped offshore.
Boutelle, who updated council members at the workshop, said he has received about 50 e-mails from Beach residents who had questions and concerns about the project.
Approximately four and a half miles of Estero Island have been determined by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Agency to be critically eroded and in need of beach restoration, Boutelle said.
“That is the designation that they review about annually,” he said. “They did review it last year and they did not change the designation for this island. So, according to their interpretation of the data that’s available, it’s critically eroded. That means that there is some infrastructure at risk from damage.”
Boutelle said the federal government also completed a coastal study and found three areas throughout Lee County that were at significant risk of damages caused by beach erosion. Those beaches are Captiva, Gasparilla and Estero Islands and Estero Island is the only one that has not completed a restoration project, Boutelle said.
Boutelle said he received some questions about the environmental aspect as a result of placing sand on the beaches.
“Every public works project, I don’t care what it is, will have costs – both monetary and non monetary,” he said. “The state and federal agencies have issued their permits and essentially that means that whether it be pinfish, shells, sea turtles, manatees – there is a long list – those issues have either been avoided, minimized or mitigated to the satisfaction of all of those permitting agencies.”
Boutelle said he also received e-mails from residents who are concerned about the quality of sand to be placed on the beaches.
“We have met their criteria in our identified sand source,” he said, adding that the sand would come from a shoal located between Estero and Sanibel Islands.
Some Gulf-front property owners are concerned about dunes and vegetation plantings, Boutelle said.
“There is no requirement in the permits,” Boutelle said, “but it is, however, a fairly new requirement that Lee County, by way of a comp plan amendment, says that every project the county funds will include dunes and vegetation.”
Boutelle said when county commissioners passed the amendment there was specific discussion about the Estero Island project.
“The question was, ‘Should it be applied there?’ And it was recognized that it could be problematic. And the commissioners said, ‘Yes.’ They see that as a best management practice for beach projects and it has been done on every project that has been constructed in Lee County.”
As a part of the maintenance of a restored beach, Boutelle said tilling would be required annually to keep sand from becoming too tightly packed, which could hinder turtles laying eggs.
Construction easements have also been a concern from many property owners since the project was conceived. Boutelle said the easements are required by the Army Corps of Engineers as a condition for their participation in federal funding.
“If you don’t have an easement for a parcel, they’re not going to pay,” he said. “So if they’re not paying for that piece, somebody else is going to have to.”
Currently only about 50 percent of the required easements have been signed by property owners, Boutelle said, and some of those who have signed have asked if they can opt out because of the new dune and vegetation requirement.
“There were a number of property owners who have indicated to us that they have changed their minds,” he said, “and I think there is a valid issue there from the one perspective from the one thing that has changed and that’s the vegetation. Those who signed early did not necessarily sign on for a dune and vegetation project.”
Boutelle said county commissioners will decide if those property owners can opt out at a future commission meeting.
Council members will hold a second workshop on beach restoration Dec. 29 at 6:30 p.m. and should vote on the issue at the Jan. 5 session.