Anonymous ID: 6db782 Feb. 22, 2020, 7:40 p.m. No.8222450   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2454 >>2545 >>2591 >>2834 >>3061 >>3102

Chuck Schumer HATES sea turtles

 

Bread #10523 >>8219288 pb Notable

Red Castle has halted a project on Fire Island in New York to work on an “emergency“ beach erosion situation near Mar-a-Lago. Schumer is fuming.

 

Why did USACE and Weeks Marine temporarily pull out of the Fire Island beach restoration?

 

Fire Island has been ongoing since Hurricane Sandy 2012 and is a narrow sand bar beach resort along Long Island. The Palm Beach beach restoration is also along public beaches impacted by Matthew and Irma in 2016 and 2017. And the restoration priority is not related to winter weather conditions. The FACT [senator Schumer] is their beach restoration priority is due to the sea turtle nesting season. Otherwise beach restoration cannot occur before the summer and would have to wait till November – due to sea turtle nesting.

 

Weeks Maine and USACE should be COMMENDED for their priorities.

 

Pics: Fire Island 1 & 2, Palm Beach 1 & 2 for comparison of beach restoration areas and priorities

 

NY Post article w/ SeaTurtle Hater Schumer:

https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/fire-island-dredging-halted-for-emergency-beach-project-near-mar-a-lago/

 

Palm Beach Daily News article with facts:

https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/20200130/palm-beach-midtown-area-sand-fill-set-to-crank-up-this-month

 

Weeks Marine webpage: https://www.weeksmarine.com/about-us

Anonymous ID: 6db782 Feb. 22, 2020, 7:41 p.m. No.8222454   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2459 >>2466 >>2591 >>2834 >>3102

>>8222450

 

Chuck Schumer HATES sea turtles

 

https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/20200130/palm-beach-midtown-area-sand-fill-set-to-crank-up-this-month

 

Midtown Beach and the surrounding shore will be replenished with sand starting sometime in February

 

Midtown Beach and the surrounding shore will be replenished with sand starting in February, Coastal Program Manager Rob Weber told the Shore Protection Board recently.

 

The renourishment of Phipps Ocean Park and nearby shore also is planned for this winter, but could be delayed, he said.

 

It’s hoped the Phipps work will occur immediately following the Midtown project, Weber said. But that depends on the number of dredges Weeks Marine, the contractor for the Midtown and Phipps projects, can move into the area, and on other factors including weather conditions.

 

Otherwise, the Phipps work will have to wait until November because it can’t take place during the height of sea turtle nesting season, he said. The creatures come ashore to lay their eggs between March 1 and Oct. 31; the activity peaks during the summer.

 

Weeks Marine also is doing shore restoration in Boca Raton this winter, he said

 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is in charge of the federal project at Midtown, awarded Weeks Marine the contract to do that work for $19.1 million. Weeks Marine was the only bidder.

 

The shore from Casa Bendita south to Banyan Road, including Midtown Beach, will receive 700,000 cubic yards of sand.

 

The sand will be dredged from offshore and pumped onto the beach, where bulldozers will smooth it into place, increasing the elevation and width of the shore for better shore protection.

 

The Army Corps is paying half the cost, with the town, Palm Beach County and the state sharing the remainder.

 

The Corps originally agreed to pay 65 percent of the cost, but reduced its share to 50 percent after 11 oceanfront property owners refused to grant easements to allow heavy equipment access to privately owned portions of the beach. The owners objected that the easements would violate their property rights by allowing public use of their privately owned beach "in perpetuity."

 

The 11 owners’ properties are clustered within the northern portion of the project, between Seminole Avenue and Wells Road.

 

The town’s share is about $2.5 million more than it would have been if the 11 owners had granted the easements, Weber said.

 

Weber said the beach in front of the 11 properties will receive less sand than it would have under had the easements been granted. The sand reduction there is being done to help hold down the town’s share of the cost, but it will mean less storm protection for that area of the beach.

 

Army Corps officials have said the Corps cannot use public tax dollars to replenish the beach without guaranteeing public access to it. They have said the easements are perpetual so the Corps can have rapid access to the beach to replenish it, at full cost to the federal government, if there is a major loss of sand because of a hurricane or storm.

Anonymous ID: 6db782 Feb. 22, 2020, 7:42 p.m. No.8222459   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2591 >>2834 >>3102

>>8222454

 

Chuck Schumer HATES sea turtles

 

Midtown Beach and the surrounding shore will be replenished with sand starting sometime in February

(Palm Beach Daily News article continued)

 

One of the 11 owners, former Shore Protection Board member Harvey Kinzelberg, has said out-of-town residents trespass on his private beach and that of his neighbors. He said some were belligerent and refused to leave without police intervention.

 

Along the entire 2.8-mile stretch of shore in the Midtown project, nearly 40 property owners have signed easements allowing the access, according to the town.

 

Weeks’ bid for the Phipps project was $13 million, but the Corps and Weeks are negotiating the price, Weber said.

 

The Phipps project reaches from Sloan’s Curve south to the Palm Worth residential building, next to Palm Beach County’s R.G. Kreusler Park. Some 400,000 cubic yards of sand will be dredged and placed there for storm protection.

 

It is a town project, being done to replace sand lost to hurricanes Matthew and Irma in 2016 and 2017. FEMA is reimbursing the town for about three quarters of the cost, Weber said.

 

An additional 30,000 cubic yards of sand will be stored at Phipps Ocean Park for a separate contractor to haul to reaches 8 and 9 for dune restoration. That work will be bid separately by the town.

 

Reach 8 is between the Lake Worth Municipal Beach and south town limit. Reach 9 is in the town of South Palm Beach, which will reimburse the town for that work, Weber said.

 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for maintenance of the Lake Worth Inlet’s navigation channels, will be back next winter to remove sand from the channel and sand settling basins, Weber said.

 

That sand will be placed on the town’s north shore, as far south as Palmo Way.

 

The town plans to haul the sand by truck to as far south as Colonial Lane, in Reach 2. That will provide more storm protection for that area of beach, which is relatively narrow.

 

The Corps recently completed dredging the inlet at the end of last year. About 50,000 cubic yards was placed on the town shore, as far south as Onondaga Avenue, Weber said.