Update on Sargent Beach Nourishment Project Phase I and II

The below is a very detailed update from the Texas Government Land Office (GLO) on the beach nourishment project.  I am a little disappointed as we were told before that there was funding for Phase II of the project and it appears from this update funding has not been secured for Phase II - so we need the County Commissioners to start working on that funding! 

Here is the short version - 

• Beach nourishment is pumping sand up to restore the beach
• The funding for Phase 1 which is the jetty and breakwaters is set and should start on time
• Funding for Phase 2 - which is the nourishment has not been secured yet
• The final permitting is almost done and should be done this month
• Based upon permitting, licensing, bid, turtle nesting season - construction should start March 2022 on Phase 1
• Construction will only take 3-4 months so it should be done by July 2022 on Phase 1
• Since there is no funding for Phase 2 - the beach nourishment - the jetty and breakwater would be it
• HOWEVER - "based on the engineer’s previous modeling efforts, it is anticipated that sediment should begin to build up against the terminal groin (jetty), thus beginning a build-up of the beach on the west end of Sargent “West.” 
• The GLO has also executed an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement with the County to address a Hurricane Harvey FEMA Public Assistance program repair project for repair of Harvey impacts to the Sargent “East" area (replace 21,257 cubic yards of sand lost to Harvey); this work will be integrated into the construction (beach nourishment) Phase 2 discussed above. 

The last bullet is confusing - there is no funding for Phase 2 but there is some funding to replace a ton of sand lost to Harvey.  I will now work on getting an update from the County Commissioners.  The other thing to take away from this is that there a ton of moving parts and organizations that are working together to help us - which is great - but there doesn't seem to be one person or organization that is pushing all the groups to get everything done we need to get done to have a great beach. 

Here is the full email from the GLO - 

Mr. Saba, thanks for your email from August 5, 2021 requesting an update on the status of the Sargent Beach stabilization measures pilot project and associated beach nourishment construction. I’ll respond to each of your questions in turn below, followed by more recent updates on some aspects of the overall project.

As we understand it ‐ the beach renourishment will start right after the beach breakwater and jetty is in place and that is to start in January. Is that accurate for the start time?

 

So the sequence of construction for this pilot project will take place in two distinct phases, with Phase 1 consisting of constructing the 1,950 foot-long graded riprap angled terminal groin, which will be situated immediately adjacent to the north side of Mitchell’s cut and the five segmented nearshore graded riprap breakwaters, each 440 feet long and spaced 660 feet apart. Phase 2 will consist of the beach nourishment component of the project, with a north and south site. Placement will occur first at the south site just south of Mitchell’s cut, with approximately 185,000 cubic yards of material to be placed along a distance of approximately 3,250 feet. The north beach nourishment site begins adjacent to the terminal groin on the north side of Mitchell’s cut and extends east by a distance of 8,000 feet. This would see placement of up to 215,000 cubic yards.

 

At present, funding has been identified to address Phase 1 of the construction work. To that end, in late April of this year, Matagorda County submitted a Coastal Resources Funding Application for emergency CEPRA Cycle 11 project funding consideration to address this phase of project construction. This application also included a request for $16.3 million in GLO GOMESA Tier 1 funding for construction of this phase, since the pilot project is identified as a Tier 1 project in the GLO Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan and is therefore eligible for this funding consideration. The GLO has approved this emergency funding request and project proposal and is presently drafting a CEPRA Project Cooperation Agreement that will be executed with Matagorda County for Phase 1 of the construction. This will be a new CEPRA project with the GLO once again serving as the lead project partner. I anticipate that this agreement will be completed and may be sent over to the County for their signature within a month from now. Funding for construction Phase 2, the beach nourishment component, has yet to be identified.

 

and that is to start in January. Is that accurate for the start time?

 

To be ready to start construction of Phase 1 as discussed above, two things must first be finalized. One is the issuance of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) permit to authorize construction of the stabilization measures and associated beach nourishment, the other is development of the stabilization measures and beach nourishment design up from the present preliminary (30% completion-level) design to the final (100% completion-level) design.

 

Regarding the former, for the past several years, as you may be aware, the GLO and County have partnered on the present preliminary design and regulatory phase of the project, which saw the preparation and submission of a USACE Section 10/404 Individual Project permit to the USACE-Galveston District. As with all USACE permits of this type, a certain level of coordination with both state and federal resource agencies is required, notably consultations with the National Marine Fisheries Services under NOAA and with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding impacts to threatened and endangered species from construction of the project and development of an agreed upon set of avoidance and minimization measures. The culmination of these consultations is a favorable permit issuance decision from the USACE-Galveston District. The most recent permitting update from July 26 2021 was that the consultation with NMFS has concluded and that the USFWS was winding down their consultation by working to write the Biological Opinion, which is sent over to the USACE and incorporated into the permit as finally issued under a favorable permit issuance decision. The expectation is that a permit issuance decision will come at some point in the next month or so.

 

Regarding the latter, independent of the present permitting project with the GLO, Matagorda County has engaged the same project engineer (Atkins North America, Inc.) to develop the project design up from the present preliminary level to the final design. As this is outside the scope of the present GLO-County regulatory project, with Atkins working for the County directly and not the GLO, I’m not sure as of this writing of the progress being made on completing the design. The idea is to have the design completed to be construction solicitation-ready at about the same time that the USACE-Galveston District issues the permit for the project. I can tell you that at present, the County is coordinating with the GLO’s LaPorte field office to apply for a coastal lease that will be necessary to authorize construction of the stabilization measures on state-owned submerged land.

 

So to your question of the construction start date. In the above-mentioned  emergency Coastal Resources Funding Application for construction Phase 1, the County had laid out a proposed timeline for construction that had it beginning in December of this year and wrapping up in June of 2022. Assuming the USACE issues the permit by October, and the County completes development of the final design and technical specifications by that time, based on the internal GLO process for developing a construction services proposal solicitation, we could see the construction solicitation for Phase 1 by the end of this calendar year. Given the time for the solicitation to be on the market (30 days) plus the evaluation period, final contract negotiation and construction contract drafting, assuming the USACE permit allows construction activity during sea turtle nesting season (March 15-September 30), it may be possible to have a notice to proceed issued to the selected construction contractor by March 2022 and physical construction activity start that month.

 

Approximately how long will the project take?

 

The engineer’s estimated duration for Phase 1 (construction of the stabilization measures) is six months. The estimated construction duration for Phase 2 (beach nourishment) would be three to four months. As discussed above, the start of Phase 2 will be predicated on securing additional funding beyond what has already been secured to address Phase 1.

 

Will any of the sand from the San Bernard dredging be used in Sargent?

 

No-while harvesting material from the San Bernard river mouth was one of several sand borrow sources proposed in the USACE permit application, the USFWS took issue with that based on their determination that this area constitutes critical habitat; they have determined that sand dredged from this area must remain in this critical habitat unit, whether placed on the beach in the immediate vicinity of the San Bernard mouth or in the near shore. Removing material from this immediate vicinity was therefore not supported by the USFWS, so in the name of working with the Service to obtain a favorable outcome for this permit, it was dropped as a potential borrow source for use at Sargent beach.

 

How much sand will be placed on the beach ‐ as in how from the revetment wall will be the beach go after renourishment?

 

As discussed above, approximately 185,000 cubic yards of material is to be placed along a distance of approximately 3,250 feet at the south beach nourishment site, with 215,000 cubic yards proposed for placement at the north beach nourishment site. Based on the preliminary (30% completion-level) design, the placement berm will be 150 feet wide, with a seaward slope (10H:1V) of roughly another 100 feet in width. Keep in mind that as the design is further developed up to the 100% completion level, this may change.

 

Once the stabilization measures have been constructed, based on the engineer’s previous modeling efforts, it is anticipated that sediment should begin to build up against the terminal groin, thus beginning a build-up of the beach on the west end of Sargent “West.” There will be post-construction monitoring to determine what effect the presence of the stabilization measures are having on the beach and nearshore environment. As a pilot project, the anticipated performance is to demonstrate the ongoing stabilization of the shoreline by trapping longshore sediment  transport into Mitchell’s cut, coupled with the mechanical nourishment at first the south then the north nourishment sites.

  

The GLO has also executed an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement with the County to address a Hurricane Harvey FEMA Public Assistance program repair project for repair of Harvey impacts to the Sargent “East" area (replace 21,257 cubic yards of sand lost to Harvey); this work will be integrated into the construction (beach nourishment) Phase 2 discussed above.

  

I hope this response provides some clarity regarding the present status of this project.