REPORT ON CEPRA II PROGRESS
I attended a preconstruction meeting on the CEPRA II project October 15. I was very impressed in the type of detail and organization the contractor, GLO, City, County, and engineering firm have put into the sand renourishment project. With contract and permit signatures in place, the CEPRA II project will commence October 20 and finish 3/12/04 before turtle nesting season. A detail of the beach nourishment date for your subdivision on West Galveston Island can be viewed at: http://www.gcoem.org/cepra/construction_schedule_(10-14-03).pdf.
Per the schedule, the first sand nourishment project will be Pirates Beach, Palm Beach, and Pirates Beach West, followed by Bermuda Beach, Spanish Grant, Hershey Beach, Condos, Sands of Kahala Beach, Sunny Beach, Kahala Beach Estates, Sea Isle, Terramar, and the last project will be the 5500 Association.
The trucks will be operating 5 days a week from dawn to dusk. The drivers are instructed to advise any resident, property owners, or renter that ask questions to contact the respective property owners association for information.
Since Hurricane Claudette changed the beach profile in the original design, the beach fill placement will be moved landward where there is an erosion scarp and no houses to work around. In areas where there are houses the same landward limit will be kept but the elevation will be lowered. The fill area will be graded in order to avoid any ponding. No swales or low areas landward of the fill will be created. There is a laser level on the bulldozer to make certain there will be no swales.
In subdivisions where erosion did not occur up to and around existing houses, the fill template will be moved landward to match the existing erosional scarp. The type of adjustment will be kept consistent for each subdivision and will not be varied within a subdivision.
The landward limit will be held with the subdivisions of the 5500 Asso, Terramar, Sea Isle, Bermuda Beach, and Spanish Grant.
For Kahala Beach Estates, Hershey Beach, Sands of Kahala, Condos, and Sunny Beach, the sand fill will move to the new landward position created by Claudette. The engineering firm, Shiner Moseley, will walk the project area with Coastal Surveying and the contractor, Apollo Environmental, to set stakes for the new landward limit of fill.
For Pirates Beach, Palm Beach, and Pirates Beach West, the sand fill will be 1/3 from the bottom of the sand sock and fill out to the beach. The sand socks will be covered with sand with FEMA funds at a later date.
The sand socks at the condos will be covered with sand during the project.
For CEPRA I participants, Bermuda Beach, Spanish Grant, Sea Isle, and Terramar, FEMA funds have yet to be approved but if hey are in the next few weeks, the funds will be used to add any additional sand to the project for your subdivision. The GLO will coordinate the effort. If the FEMA funds are not available, then the money will be used for future CEPRA projects for your subdivision.
The $10,000 CIAP awards the City sponsored for Spanish Grant, Seascape/Sunny Beach, 5500 Association, and Sea Isle, are included in the project and each of these subdivisions received extra sand above their previous CEPRA match.
We are ready to rock and roll with the sand nourishment project. 212,598 cubic yards of sand will be placed on almost 7 miles of beach. We really appreciate the work, cooperation, and efforts of the GLO, City, County, Shiner Moseley Engineers, and all the participants.
- Jerry