Beach Renourishment Project http://www.savethecape.com {ts '2010-07-31 00:07:31'} {ts '2010-07-31 00:07:31'} Bluewater RSS http://www.bluewateri.net http://www.savethecape.com http://www.savethecape.com Beach Renourishment Project
I thought it might be time for another update on our beach nourishment and USFWS issues. At present we have a conference call scheduled for next Thursday the 12th with FEMA, Division of Emergency Management and our County representatives to strategize our face to face meeting with USFWS here in Gulf County. As yet, we do not have the face to face meeting with USFWS scheduled but are working on a time. We thought it important before that meeting, for us and FEMA to discuss our best approach and hopefully an acceptable approach to accomplish our goal of getting this project moving forward.

I have given Senator Nelsons Office more information on our issues with USFWS and our project and they are reviewing to see if it would be appropriate for them to intervene on our behalf at some point. I made sure they were well aware of the differing opinions of the two Federal Agencies. Hopefully they will give me feedback shortly.

I would like to reiterate our efforts to a KEY CONTACTS FOR CAPE SAN BLAS form for you to complete on the site www.savethecape.com, in the near future. Grassroots communications are far more effective when they come from constituents, personal friends, relatives, campaign contributors and the like, so we want to compile this information on our property owners, visitors, etc. We want to carry as much influence as possible to Washington D.C. and we need your help to do it.

While there are other initiatives going on, this gives all of you an overview of where we are in the process. Again thanks for your patience as we proceed.


Warren Yeager
County Commissioner Dist. 5



PUBLIC NOTICE ON CCCL: (You may need to copy and paste the link)

Good Morning Everyone,

Just as an FYI; the Department has initiated rulemaking to make proposed amendment to Chapter 62B-26.016, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.). This Chapter provides the legal description of the Coastal Construction Control Line in Gulf County. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Florida Administrative Weekly (FAW) today, November 6, 2009, Volume 35, Number 44. This notice can be reviewed (beginning on page 5657) by clicking on the following link:


pdf>
https://www.flrules.org/Faw/FAWDocuments/FAWVOLUMEFOLDERS2009/3544/3544doc.p
df

A hearing was also notice and will be held at the date, time and place shown
below:

DATE AND TIME: December 3, 2009, 6:00 P.M.
PLACE: Centennial Bldg., 2201 Centennial Dr., Port St. Joe, Florida SUBJECT AREA TO BE ADDRESSED: The legal description of the location of the Coastal Construction Control Line, specifically along portions of Cape San Blas, in Gulf County.

I've updated the Bureau's web site with the current status of Gulf County's rulemaking process. If you receive questions regarding this process you can direct them to the web site:


http://www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/default.htm#GulfCounty


Hope that this helps. If you encounter problems please do not hesitate to contact me.

***************************************************
Rosaline Beckham, Environmental Specialist III Bureau of Beaches and Coastal Systems Division of Water Resource Management Department of Environmental Protection
(850) 488-7815
rosaline.beckham@dep.state.fl.us
***************************************************
]]> http://www.savethecape.com/blog.cfm?id=77 11/05/09 Please pay particular attention to the last paragraph of Commissioner Yeager's letter and refrain from contacting any legislators, officials, etc., at this time.

Also, were working on a KEY CONTACTS FOR CAPE SAN BLAS form for you to complete here on the site in the near future. Grassroots communications are far more effective when they come from constituents, personal friends, relatives, campaign contributors and the like, so we want to compile this information on our property owners, visitors, etc. Stay tuned for more information once its available for you to fill out. Thank you for your support of the Cape. We have come a long way, but the journey will always continue. Lets keep focused and working together!

COMMISSIONER YEAGERS LETTER FOLLOWS:

Paula,

As a followup to our recent discussions on keeping everyone informed as to the ongoing negotiations with USFWS on hurricane Gustav sand loss replacement, I wanted to give the first update as to where we are in the process.

Just to discuss a little of the history, after Gustav the County applied for and received approval for 15 million dollars from FEMA to replace sand loss that occurred during the storm. Before FEMA can release funds for the project they have to get a letter of concurrence from the USFWS. When FEMA made that request, which they believed would be a formality, USFWS sent a letter saying they did not concur based mostly on Piping Plover habitat concerns.

As probably everyone knows we recently had a conference call with USFWS, FEMA, Congressman Boyds Office, MRD Coastal Engineers and several of us from the County to try and identify the issues that needed to be addressed for USFWS to approve of the project. During that conference call USFWSs argument seemed to be that they do not believe this project qualifies as an exception to a rule that says you cannot use federal money in a CRBA area, abandoning the Piping Plover argument. We believe, as does FEMA, that this project does qualify for an exception based on the language in the rule.

Our coastal engineer Michael Dombrowski has already written a response to USFWS addressing their concerns and explaining in great detail why this project should qualify as an exception. USFWS did not respond to Michaels letter nor did we convince them on the conference call of our arguments for the exception. Our goal now is to give USFWS enough information based on the CBRA act to convince them this project qualifies for an exception. We are currently setting up meetings with everyone on our side, including FEMA, to formulate a plan prior to our next meeting involving USFWS.

I am confident that our team can work through this process and be successful in getting the funding for this project. I would request everyones patience while we are working with the agencies to resolve all the issues. I will continue giving up-dates on our progress to keep everyone as informed as possible.

Thanks and with Warm Regards,
Warren Yeager, County Commissioner District 5   
]]> http://www.savethecape.com/blog.cfm?id=76 10/26/09

FOR RELEASE on May 18, 2009
Contact: Leslea Meyerhoff, ASBPA Best Restored Beaches Committee Chair, 760-804-9144 Paula Ramsey Pickett, Gulf County Tourist Development Council, Director, 850-229-7800




St. Joseph Peninsula Named
One of America's Best Restored Beaches


St. Joseph Peninsula (Cape San Blas), FL - The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) announced today that St. Joseph Peninsula is a winner of its 2009 Best Restored Beach Award. "ASBPA created the Best Restored Beach award in 2001 as a way of highlighting the value of America's restored beaches," said Harry Simmons, mayor of Caswell Beach, N.C., and ASBPA president. "As Americans flock to our coastline during the upcoming beach season, most don't even realize they may be enjoying a restored beach."

The St. Joseph Peninsula beach restoration program began after repeat storm events eroded the natural shoreline to a point where it would not recover without a full nourishment project. Property owners lobbied County Officials to begin the process for studying the feasibility of a nourishment project of this magnitude. After three years of research, design, funding, permitting and completion, the restoration became one of the fastest projects to move through the process in the State of Florida.


"It is an incredible story on how a small group of property owners worked with the County Commission, stakeholders, and the environmental community to develop a local funding source and construct the $21 million project in such a short period of time," said Michael Dombrowski, Project Engineer, MRD Associates. "The project will provide years of protection to the upland properties, which just a year ago a 20-year storm event would have resulted in 50 to 100 structures probably being condemned."


"Seeing the beaches of Cape San Blas restored was a dream that many thought impossible," said Laurel Eiler, Chairman of the Gulf County Beach Advisory Committee. "Only by working together as a community we able to turn this dream into reality. I am so proud of what we've achieved. Our beaches will provide protection of homes and enjoyment for countless visitors in the years to come. This award from ASBPA is a huge honor for us!"


For the last 40 years, beach restoration has been the preferred method of shore protection in coastal communities on the east, west and Gulf coasts. Beach restoration is the process of placing beach-quality sand on eroding beaches to reverse or offset the effects of erosion.

The three main reasons for restoration are:

Storm protection - a wide sandy beach helps separate storm waves from upland structures and infrastructure.

Habitat restoration - numerous species rely on wide, healthy beaches as a place to live, feed and nest.

Recreation enhancement- America's beaches have twice as many visitors annually as all of America's national parks combined. Every year, there are over 2 billion visitors to America's beaches.

In 2007, beaches contributed $322 billion to the America's economy. More importantly, for every dollar the federal government spends on beach nourishment, it gets $320 back in tax revenues. Coastal communities, along with various planning and funding partners, have restored more than 370 beaches in the United States, including such iconic coastlines as Miami Beach, Coney Island and Southern California's Venice Beach.


Paula Pickett, Gulf County Tourism Director, explains, "In a time of economic recession, the beach is an even more desirable destination than other domestic and foreign alternatives. Our beaches are the economic engine, with over 300,000 visitors coming to Gulf County annually; we can't afford not to maintain our most valuable asset. We are honored to be recognized for our project, and this award is for the many people who were involved in this accomplishment."

To enter the competition, coastal communities nominated their restoration projects for consideration, and an independent panel of coastal managers and scientists selected the winners. Judging was based on three criteria: the economic and ecological benefits the beach brings to its community; the short- and long-term success of the restoration project; and the challenges each community overcame during the course of the project.


Other beaches honored this year include: South Padre Island, Texas; Marine Park - Bellingham, Wash.; Fire Island (New York); Encinitas (Pacific Station), Calif.; Lido Key, Fla.; Duval County, Fla.


Past award winners include: Panama City Beach, Fla., in 2002; San Diego Beach in 2003; Ocean City, Md., in 2004; Indian River County, Fla., in 2005; Rehoboth and Dewey Beaches in Delaware in 2006; the Chaland Headland Restoration Project in Louisiana in 2007; and Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle, Wash. in 2008.



Join Our Mailing List!

Gulf County Tourism Development Council
150 Captain Fred's Place
Port St. Joe, Florida 32456


]]> http://www.savethecape.com/blog.cfm?id=75 05/18/09
Also, there will be some final work in the area of Sunrise/Sunset soon. Due to the storm-related damage to Sunrise/Sunset, the County was requested to construct the dune about 40 feet from the structure to provide sufficient room to repair the foundation. These repairs are almost complete, and the owner will be pushing the sand toward the buildings and shaping the dune to the original design grade over the next few weeks. The work at Sunrise/Sunset will be completed by April 30th.

We are hopeful it won't be too much longer and we will have some word on the status of our application for FEMA funding to repair the beaches from the storms of last season. As soon as we have that information, we will get it out to you through this site.

The third picture is from the work at Stump Hole. I asked Michael to describe it for you, since I was pretty sure I wouldn't get it right! "GAC Contractors grading the existing rock (foreground) to provide a base for the new revetment. The sheet-pile wall (to the right of the photo) in acting as a wave break so that the contractor can work on the revetment during rougher sea conditions."

Finally, the work of the original St. Josephs Peninsula Advisory Committee is complete. It has been a challenging but rewarding journey over the past four years, and we now have our beautiful restored beach. Homes and properties have been protected, and our visitors can continue to enjoy one of the miracles of nature we all know and love simply as Our Cape.   

Thank you seems extremely inadequate, but we do want to recognize and show appreciation one more time for the committee members: Susan Wright, Bill Cleveland, Steve Conroy, Ray Golz, Tom Graney, Steve Newman, Charlie Weston, Roland Wilson; and subcommittee members: Anne Anderson, Julia Cunningham, Andrea Heard, and Debbe Wibberg, Al Minzner, and Ron Shaeffer. Also, to others who helped on various activities or served for part of the time on the committees, thank you!

Of course we couldnt have made it this far without Paula Pickett and the support of Don Butler, the County Commissioners, FDEP Beaches and Coastal Systems, and our engineer, Michael Dombrowski. Again, thank you all for your time, your talents, and your willingness to work so hard for so long!!

Like any good story, however, this is not the end of the book, just the end of the first chapter.   Weve taken the first, huge step with our initial project. There will be more work to come, however, with FEMA projects, the possibility of expanding our project to earn Federal funding, and much more. The website will be redesigned soon, we hope, and new committees and task forces will be needed. If you wish to be involved in our efforts going forward, please drop us a note at info@savethecape.com and let us know you would like to participate!

Once the groundwork for the site has been accomplished, we will hopefully be developing a new database so we can contact people whenever we need assistance or participation in projects as well. When you receive notification of a new signup form, we do hope you will take a moment to complete it and stay involved.

This quote seems a fitting way to sign off what may be the last blog from the committee in its current form. Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds. We have achieved a wonderful thing for our community and each and every one of you deserves to be very proud.    Laurel Eiler, SJPBAC co-chair
]]> http://www.savethecape.com/blog.cfm?id=74 03/24/09