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Shoreline Committee Meeting
There was a shoreline committee
meeting held at Wormwood's Restaurant last Thursday.
They had a good turnout, and invited guests from Senator
Collin's office, Representative Pingree and others spoke and
were brought up to date with the Army Corps project.
I'll have more on this later this week.
Camp Ellis Beach on Facebook!
I've created a Camp Ellis Beach
site on Facebook. Request as a friend and I'll reply
as soon as possible!
The webcam is up and running!
I've changed the Live
Video link to open the video feed directly into a portion
of the web page, instead of within it's own application.
This should make it easier to view. You may still be asked
for a username and password. Just type "maine" into
the username and leave the password field blank. Click
the Live
Video menu item to the left and the video should come
up!
The Guestbook is online!
You may now sign in and leave comments
in the Guestbook. These are
public comments and can be seen by others, so play nice! Army Corps Update
This is the latest information (September 2009) from the
ACoE website:
SACO RIVER AND CAMP ELLIS BEACH, SACO (1st CD)
– The New England District, in response to a
request from the city of Saco and state of Maine, is
undertaking a study under the authority of Section 111 of
the River and Harbor Act of 1968 to find a remedy to the
ongoing erosion of Camp Ellis Beach. The Corps meets
periodically with state and city officials and local
interests to discuss ongoing computer modeling efforts being
conducted by the Woods Hole Group (WHG) under contract to
the Corps. The models are examining effects of coastal
structures on wave climate, currents and erosion. Initial
modeling and evaluation of alternatives determined that a
spur jetty, an offshore breakwater, a combination of the
spur jetty and breakwater, or T-head groins offered the best
protection.
However, with identification of soft clay
under a large portion of the study area, the offshore
breakwater was not feasible and additional breakwater
alignments situated closer to shore were evaluated.
Additional subsurface investigations were completed in 2005,
and the results were used to develop and model additional
alternatives. The results of these efforts were provided to
the sponsor, state and public in January 2006. These efforts
indicated that a plan involving a 750- foot long spur jetty
and periodic beachfill was the optimal Federal plan. Local
interests prefer a plan for a 500-foot spur jetty and two or
more nearshore breakwaters that require less frequent
periodic beachfill. Modeling of this locally preferred plan
has been completed and has been reviewed by the city and the
state. As this project will exceed the $5 million statutory
cap under Section 111 authority, Congress provided specific
authority in the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 to
exceed this limitation.
This Act authorized a maximum Federal
expenditure of $26,900,000 for work under Section 111 at
Camp Ellis.
Ongoing FY09 and FY10 activities will
include completion of design efforts, and preparation of a
decision document and environmental assessment (EA). The
decision document will require review and approval by the
Corps’ North Atlantic Division before release for public
review. The Corps and City anticipate beginning the Federal
and state regulatory approval process for the project during
the fall of 2009. Once environmental approvals are secured
for the final proposal, and Congressional funding for the
project is received, then preparation of plans and
specifications would be completed. A construction contract
would then be sought in the subsequent two to three fiscal
years. The last effort under this project will include beach
nourishment of Camp Ellis Beach.
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