CONCORD, Mass. – The town of Edgartown is seeking a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District to conduct work in waters of the U.S. in conjunction with placing additional beach nourishment at project sites in Edgartown, Mass.
The town received a Corps permit on Sept. 18, 2014 for beach nourishment and now is seeking to incorporate additional beach nourishment into that existing permit. The additional beach nourishment will consist of an expansion of the existing Fuller Street/Lighthouse Beach footprint. The expanded beach nourishment includes two town of Edgartown-owned parcels that comprise a portion of Fuller Street/Lighthouse Beach and two privately-owned properties located immediately north of Fuller Street (15 Gaines Way and 94 Fuller Street). The expanded beach nourishment area per property would be Fuller Street/Lighthouse Beach, 137,322 square feet; 94 Fuller Street, 13,202 square feet; and 15 Gaines Way, 30,970 square feet.
The source of the beach nourishment material would be from previously permitted Edgartown maintenance dredging sites or a compatible upland sand source.
The Sept. 18, 2014 issued permit was for dredging and the discharge of dredged material below the high tide line of water of the U.S. for the maintenance dredging and beach nourishment of several sites in the town of Edgartown in order to maintain navigation within multiple waterways and the nourishment of multiple beaches in the town. A total volume of approximately 200,000 cubic yards of sand and silt material would be removed by both mechanical and hydraulic means and disposed of below and above the high tide line of approximately 18 acres of town beaches.
The maintenance dredging sites included: Cape Pogue Bay (The Gut, The Narrows, and Dike Bridge Approach); Edgartown Harbor and Eel Pond (Eel Pond Boat Channel and Boat Ramp, Lighthouse Point, Inner Harbor, Collins Beach, Caleb’s Pond); Katama Bay Boat Ramp and Channel; Great Pond (Great Pond Channel, Sluiceway Approach, and Herring Creek Restoration Sites); Sengekontacket Pond (Borrow Site #1 and Sengekontacket Pond Inner Channel); and Little Bridge-North Inlet Channel.
The beach nourishment sites include: Cape Pogue Bay (Cape Pogue Elbow, North Gut, The Narrows – Over Sand Roads and Nantucket Sound Beach, and Dike Bridge Over Sand Roads); Edgartown Harbor and Eel Pond (Eel Pond Spit, Lighthouse (Fuller) Beach, Private Property Sites A-F, and the Froelich Property); Great Pond (South Beach, Great Pond Delta, and Wilson’s Landing and Beach Area); Sengekontacket Pond (Sylvia State Beach, Bend in the Road Beach, Cow Bay Beach, Pay Beach, and Inkwell Beach).
The purpose of this permit review is to bring all of the town’s dredging and beach nourishment maintenance activities under one comprehensive permit. This will give the town the flexibility they need to dredge and nourish the highest priority areas and allow for effective and efficient use of town resources. The permit will be valid for 10 years.
The dredging portion of this project will impact approximately 40 acres and the beach nourishment portion will impact approximately 18 acres of Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for various species and life stages. Habitat at this site can be described as subtidal silt and sand. Loss of this habitat may adversely affect these species. However, the Corps has made a preliminary determination that the site-specific adverse effect will not be substantial. Further consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding EFH conservation recommendations is being conducted and will be concluded prior to the final permit decision.
The public notice, with more specifics on the work proposed by the town of Edgartown, can be viewed on the Corps website at www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx. The application for the federal permit was filed with the Corps in compliance with Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which provides for federal regulation of any work in, or affecting navigable waters of the U.S.; and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge or fill of material in U.S. waters, including wetlands.
Public comments on this work proposed by the town of Edgartown (file # NAE-2011-1511) should be forwarded no later than Nov. 23, 2016 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Regulatory Division (ATTN: Kevin Kotelly), 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2751. Additional information is available from Permit Project Manager Kevin Kotelly at 978-318-8703 or toll free 800-343-4789 or 800-362-4367 (if calling from within Massachusetts) or by email to: kevin.r.kotelly@usace.army.mil.