Army Corps sends re-nourishment letter
Below is the expected letter which Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber of Commerce President John Albion received from the Army Corps of Engineers as stated in The Beach Observer last Wednesday:
Dear Mr. Albion:
As you requested, and as a follow up to the public meeting on July 16, 2009, this letter serves as information for the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce and its constituents to help make an informed decision regarding the benefits of construction of the Federal Shore Protection Project at Estero Island, Lee County, Florida.
The design of the project at Estero Island was developed using the National Economic Development objective. The Federal objective is to contribute to national economic development consistent with protecting the Nation’s environment. Resources, including Federal dollars, are scarce and therefore intensive evaluation goes into determining the allocation of those resources. The NED principle ensures that a project will be constructed only if the projects outputs -the benefits to the Nation from the use of the resource- exceed the cost of using it without unnecessary sacrifice of environmental resources. The Project at Estero Island was approved using these principles and the Assisted Secretary of the Army for Civil Works determined that the Estero Segment of the Lee County Shore Protection project was, “technically sound, environmentally acceptable and economically justified.”
The design of the Estero Island project includes nourishment of 4.7 miles of shoreline from FDEP monument R-175 south to FDEP monument R-198 on the southern end with a 1,800-foot taper section connecting the proposed beach fill to the existing shoreline, In addition to beach re-nourishment, the project provides for a terminal groin at the north end of the island. This terminal groin would help stabilize erosion along the project length and substantially ease shoaling induced navigation concerns at Matanzas Pass.
If the Federal project at Estero Island is constructed, the project would realize additional benefits beyond those produced by the initial construction. This includes the benefit of hurricane and storm damage rehabilitation eligibility. Once an authorized Federal project has been initially constructed, it becomes eligible to receive emergency re-nourishment at 100 percent Federal cost if damaged by a significant storm event. Eligibility criteria relate to the strength of the damaging storm and extent of damage to the project.
For example, 15 Federal projects applied and qualified for emergency nourishment following the 2004/05 hurricane season which included Hurricane Charley, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne. Roughly $78.8 million (Federal) were spent to return the impacted beaches to their pre-storm condition. The Project at Captiva Island in Lee County has benefited twice since 2005 from this emergency rehabilitation and has received approximately $7 million (Federal) which did not require any cost share.
These expedited re-nourishments protected Captiva from subsequent storm impacts and continue to provide valuable environmental and recreational beaches that were otherwise lost to the storms. Emergency rehabilitations proceed in the most efficient manner possible and, when deemed necessary, the Federal government can proceed with expedited or emergency permitting procedures.
It is at the discretion of the project sponsor, Lee County, whether or not this project will move forward. The Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, will continue to work as their partner to answer any questions they or the other citizens of Lee County may have. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the project manager, Ms. Jackie Keiser at 904-232-3915.
Sincerely,
Alberto Gonzalez, P.E.
Acting Chief, Coastal,
Navigation and Antilles Branch
for Project Management