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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.