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The City of Port Aransas has applied to the
Corps of Engineers for a permit to move sand and seaweed to disposal
areas within the dunes and more importantly to move sand from the
middle and upper beach to the lower beach. Moving sand in a
seaward direction rather in its natural landward direction ultimately
starves the dunes of the sand supply which is necessary for their
growth and rebuilding between major storms. It takes decades for
the dunes to regrow what is lost during a major storm. This permit has no limit on the
quantity of sand that the city can move!
The
following link will take you to my letter of objection to many aspects
of this permit application.
The following links will take you
to the Permit Application and Plans.
If you wish to request a public hearing or
comment about these plans for beach maintenance on Port Aransas
Beaches, your response must be received by the Corps of Engineers by 31
December, 2007. The address for comments is below.
Matthew Kimmel
Regulatory Branch, CESWG-PE-RCC
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
5151 Flynn Parkway, Suite 306
Corpus Christi, Texas 78411-4318
361-814-5847 Phone
361-814-5912 fax
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July 8,
2007 City Dune Permit Proposal
The
following is a discussion about the dune permit that the City is
seeking to use the front of the foredune ridge as a permanent rotating
temporary storage for seaweed and sand. This will leave the most
important part of the foredune ridge in a permanently weakened state
because it will never fully vegetate. City council will consider
this proposed Dune permit on Thursday, July 19, 2007 at the regular
council meeting.
Comments on the
City
of Port
Aransas
Seaweed Maintenance
Application for Dune Permit and Beachfront Construction Certificate
By
Richard L. Watson, Ph.D.
6/28/2007
The City of Port Aransas has
a tough problem to
solve. How to get rid of the seaweed on
our tourist beaches while not damaging the beach or dune system. City council created a beach maintenance
committee to evaluate beach management practices. The
dune ridges are our ONLY protection from
damaging frontal storm surge during hurricanes.
The natural dune seawall must be protected and allowed to grow.
All committee meetings were
attended by
GLO representatives. In addition the GLO
hired a geologist (Kim Mckenna) who used to work for the GLO to serve
as an
outside expert to help find non-damaging solutions to the problem. The entire committee as well as the City
Manager and City Planner presented unanimous recommendations to be
forwarded to
the City, the GLO and McKenna. These
recommendations made up the bulk of McKenna’s recommendations and
the committee
unanimously voted to use her report as the final product of the
committee to be
presented to the City Council. This
report is included as an attachment.
One of the recommendations
was that the
front of the foredune ridge be allowed to grow 20 feet further seaward
and
that, if possible, seaweed be disposed of behind the dune ridges on GLO
property between Lantana and Rd. 1A.
This will require a permit from GLO.
This beach and dune permit
which the City
may be seeking from the GLO has several recommendations which probably
would
have been rejected by the beach maintenance committee, had they been
able to
review it.
Please refer to the following
application for
a dune
permit. Look at the colored figure which
is the second page.
This permit application calls
for
excavation of 40 feet of the most seaward part of the dune ridge to be
used as
a rotating disposal area for seaweed and sand.
After obtaining a Corps of Engineers permit, this sand and
decomposed
seaweed could then be deposited on be beach below the high tide line or
in the
edge of the water.
Further, the permit
application calls for
deposition of sand and seaweed from eroding parts of the beach
(basically from
the Beachwalk development southward) to be deposited only within its
own
transect in the eroding section of the beach.
However, this permit application also
states
that sand from accreting areas (Mostly between Lantana and Rd 1A can be
deposited within eroding or accreting sections of the beach! This means
that the intent, or at least the possibility, exists to remove sand
from the
accreting beach/dune system from Lantana to 1A and deposit further to
the south
in the area where the beaches are eroding.
This is robbing Peter to pay Paul and will reduce the growth of
the
beaches and the dunes in the accreting area.
The accreting area has most of
the developed
part of Port Aransas behind it and those dune protect over one billion
dollars
worth of real estate.
If
any sand is
moved, it
should stay within ¼ mile of where it was deposited and should,
if at all
possible be moved in the landward direction, so that it can help the
dunes to
build to give us further protection during hurricanes.
Further, the
permit
application describes the historical dune restoration (red and yellow)
in the
figure as having been built manually. I
am not sure about the dunes south of Ave G., but the new frontal dune
ridge
between Lantana was entirely built naturally.
About 10 years ago, the city placed a row of dune protection
bollards
out 30 or 40 feet from the high dune ridge (which was partially
man-made by
stacking seaweed and sand). These
bollards were there to keep cars and scrapers out, so that the
vegetation could
advance and build a new dune ridge. It
has built a beautiful new and natural dune ridge. It
would have built naturally in the absence
of the bollards, if cars and scrapers would have stayed out. South from G to 1A, I believe that most of
that same new ridge also built naturally from forward growth of
vegetation and
wind-blown sand as well, but there was some seaweed placed there. In short, this is really not just a Beach
Maintenance Storage Area as suggested by the dune permit application. It was built naturally after a late 90s City
Council had the bollards installed. It
serves as an important part of our protection from storm surge.
Last week, the
city dumped
seaweed and sand in the low between this frontal ridge and the higher
ridge
behind it because there are few disposal areas that can now be used. This is the first seaweed or sand dumped
there by the city north of Ave. G. This
will do no harm and will end up being a beautiful foredune ridge and
further
strengthen our storm defense.
Beach Maintenance Storage Areas
Use
of the
front of the dune
ridge as a Beach Maintenance Storage Area is a terrible idea.
It
will be
permanently ugly as
it will not vegetate in. It will
permanently weaken the most important part of the foredune ridge
system.
Natural foredune ridge systems have a gently
sloping front which becomes well vegetated.
The root systems of the grasses and other plants hold it
together and
retard erosion, especially during smaller storms. This
protects the main dune ridges from storm
attack. When the dune ridges are eroded,
the erode by wave attack at the base, and collapse vertically, like a
cliff. Permanently weakening the base of
the dune ridge and not allowing it to vegetate in is a great mistake
and
weakens the entire foredune system.
What Can We
Do?
One
of the
recommendations in
Kim McKenna’s report and by the beach committee was to dispose of
this material
behind the main dune ridge in the strip of GLO land between the beach
and
private land from Lantana to 1A. The GLO
is probably amenable to this.
This
material
will ultimately
end up as a well vegetated dune ridge giving us further lines of dunes
behind
the main dune ridge for storm protection.
If this area is entered from Lantana, Avenue G, and private
beach access
roads (on GLO land), the damage to the foredune ridge will be minimal
and
temporary.
Conclusions
1.
Any sand removed from any part of a transect
should be kept in the same area and should NOT be transported south to
the
eroding beaches.
2.
If at all possible, sand should only be
transported in a landward direction, toward or into the dunes. This is its natural direction of transport. Moving it seaward starves the dunes of sand
which would normally help build them.
3.
The front of the dunes, whether man-made, or
natural should not be excavated to provide temporary storage areas for
seaweed
and sand as this permanently weakens the critical frontal side of the
natural
dune seawall.
4 .
Even though this City Council may have the
best of intentions and maintain our beach and dune system in a
non-destructive
fashion, thispermit opens the door for future councils to do great
damage with
the permissions that will be granted.
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The City Council of the City of Port
Aransas appointed a committee to study beach maintenance practices and
to recommend any changes and improvements. The committee was
composed of Scott Holt, Chairman, Noyes Livingston, Vice Chairman, Jim
Freeman, Murray Judson, Tony Amos, and Richard Watson as a non-voting
ex-officio member. City staff participated and were very helpful in all
meetings. City staff included, City Manager Michael Kovacs,
Planner David Parsons, Crockett Moreno of public works and Judy Lyle
from Finance. All meetings were attended by members of the Texas
General Land Office (GLO). The GLO hired Kimberly McKenna, a
coastal geologist who used to work for the GLO to study to work with
the GLO, the City, and the Committee to evaluate the committee
recommendations, to evaluate local, state and federal law pertaining to
beach maintenance, and to make recommendations to the GLO and to the
City about our future beach maintenance. The culmination of the
work by the beach committee and City staff was a compilation of
suggestions by individual members of the committee and the staff.
It can be viewed at the second link below. Ms. McKenna's
report is available at the first link below. It is a well done
and comprehensive report covering all aspects of the beach maintenance
and dune protection problem.
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Click
here to read a letter from Dr. Richard A. Davis (over 40 years as a
Coastal Geologist) to the Port Aransas City Council, Feb, 2006
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February 23, 2006
Heavy
equipment operated by the City of Port Aransas has moved hundreds of
dump trucks of dune quality sand from the beach road on the left side
of the posts. They are now removing sand from the seaward side of
the posts and transporting it down to near the water. This sand is
no obstacle to traffic on the beach because cars are NOT ALLOWED to
drive on the beach on the seaward side of the line of posts shown in
these photos. This sand should be allowed to continue its natural
migration to the dunes where it will strengthen our Natural Dune
Seawall, if we will only allow that to happen.
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Email just in from a long time Port
Aransas resident who was here for Hurricane Carla.
In 1960, before hurricane Carla,
the Port Aransas dunes extended much
closer to the waters edge. The old Dunes resturant between
Lantana and
Beach was surrounded by high dunes. The entire beach was much narrower.
In that storm most of the Island was covered with water from the
bay
and water from the gulf side scowered out the dunes leaving a much
wider
beach. Wetting down the driving area is lot better than scraping
it
out. I think we need all the dune protection we can get.
Thank you for
all you are trying to do to keep the city from removing sand from the
beach. Keep up the good work.
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Click hear to read the letter
from Eddie Fisher (GLO) and my response in blue.
Effect
of Hurricane Carla at Port Aransas in 1961
The following illustrations are taken from
Hurricanes
as Geological Agents: Case Studies of Hurricanes Carla, 1961, and
Cindy, 1963 by Miles O. Hayes, University of Texas Bureau of Economic
Geology, Report of Investigations no. 61.
This first figure shows the wind
field of Hurricane Carla.
Note that the hurricane force winds extended nearly the entire
length of the Texas coast and inland almost to Austin. Port
Aransas sustained winds in excess of 100 mph even though Port Aransas
is located far to the west of the landfall near Port O'Connor.
Carla was a large diameter, very powerful hurricane.
This
illustration shows the distribution of the height of the
water level, the hurricane surge from Carla. It is interesting to
note that his huge storm had only about a maximum 12 ft. surge on the
open Gulf beaches. The surge in the bay at Port O'Connor was at
least 22 ft., 10 ft. higher than on the adjacent Gulf beaches.
This is because the storm filled the bay with water and then blew
all of that water to the downwind side of the bay. The hurricane
surge is generally HIGHER in bays than on the open Gulf beaches.
We need for our natural dune seawall to be high enough and wide
enough to protect us from hurricane surge overwash from the Gulf.
Even though we may still be flooded by water from the bay side of
the island, there will be much less damage than if we are overwashed
with direct Gulf surge topped by hurricane waves.
This photograph dramatically
shows the massive erosion of the dunes on Mustang Island by Carla.
The sand that those dunes gave up helped to protect the town and
bought time for the storm to pass. The dunes have since rebuilt
in the interim before the next bad storm.
Pertinent Sections of the Texas Administrative Code (State Law)
Texas
Administrative Code -- Local Government Management of the
Public Beach (Part 1)
(State Regulations Controlling Beach Maintenance)
Texas
Administrative Code -- Local Government Management of the Public Beach
(Part II)
(This part contains the rules for maintaining the public beach,
excerpted below)
Excerpt
from Title 31, Part 1, Chapter 15, Subchapter A, Rule 15.7 section (l)
Maintaining
the Public Beach
(l) Maintaining
the public beach. Local governments shall prohibit beach maintenance
activities unless maintenance activities will not materially weaken
dunes or dune vegetation or reduce the protective functions of dunes.
Local governments shall prohibit beach maintenance activities which
will result in the significant redistribution of sand or which will
significantly alter the beach profile or the line of vegetation. All
sand moved or redistributed due to beach maintenance activities shall
be returned to the area between the line of vegetation and mean high
tide. The General Land Office encourages the removal of litter and
other debris by handpicking or raking and strongly discourages the use
of machines (except during peak visitation periods which disturb the
natural balance of gains and losses in the sand budget and the natural
cycle of nutrients.
Note
that the regulation states that "All sand moved or redistributed
due to beach maintenance activites shall be returned to the area
between
the line of vegetation and mean high tide." This does NOT mean
putting the sand back in the edge of the water!
The purpose of this regulation is to ensure the maximum growth or
re-growth of the dunes and the sand storage in the upper beach an dunes
for protection from the next hurricane, whenever it may come.
When sand is placed back in the water, surf currents will carry
it away to the north or to the south. It is likely lost to the
section of beach from which it was removed.
Texas Hurricanes from 1912-1978 Affecting
the Corpus Christi Area
Hurricane
Celia (1970) Flood Map for Port Aransas
(Dark Blue Shows Hurricane Flooding,
Light Blue is Normal Water Level)
The following photo shows the repairs to the island road in the
vicinity of Corpus Christi Pass after Hurricane Celia. The road
was cut at the bridges for quite a while after the storm. This
kind of damage occurs where there is no natural dune seawall to prevent
overwash.
The
following hurricane flood maps are from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
publications
Hurricane Beulah (1967) flood map for
Port Aransas
(Dark Blue Shows Hurricane Flooding,
Light Blue is Normal Water Level)
The following two photographs show
how Hurricane Beulah opened Corpus Christi Pass. Note the highway
bridge on the island road out in the middle. This is far less
likely to happen where there is a strong natural dune seawall.
Please excuse the condition of some of these old photos. They
have survived several hurricanes.
Hurricane Carla (1961) flood map for
Port Aransas
(Orange Shows Hurricane Flooding, Light
Blue is Normal Water Level)
Hurricane Allen, 1980
Hurricane Allen has 8.9 feet of surge flooding on the beach at Port
Aransas. However, the Corps of Engineers did not produce any high
resolution surge flood maps in their Allen publication. While
Allen had a significant surge, it did not overtop the dunes.
Allen did however significantly damage the island road down in
the area of the bridges where there was little or no dune ridge for
protection at Corpus Christi Pass and Newport Pass. The following
photo shows the island road destroyed by Allen. This is what can
happen where there is no natural dune seawall.
