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Bay Harbor Improvement Association Bay Harbor, Bahia Azul, Bahia Azul Orner, BeeGee Bay, Route 4, Box 190 B26, Galveston, TX 77554 |
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Latest Status Report February 2010 We have signed the
contract with Gahagan & Bryant for the remaining Tasks to complete our
Island Restoration Project including the channel dredging. GBA will begin
Post Storm Survey work, weather permitting, and follow up on the Easement
Permit with the General Land Office. They will then prepare the Final Design
& Plans for construction bids. Unfortunately we were not
granted the Gulf of Mexico grant of $25,000. However, unsolicited, we were
given a non-matching grant from the Coastal Beach & Bay Foundation of $10,000.
We continue to provide up-dated information to the Texas GLO (CEPRA $225,000
pending application) where our Project is on the Alternate Project List. We have been in contact
again with the Galveston Bay Foundation and believe we will be able to renew
our application and possibly receive significant funding. This is all “in the
works”. Also, we are continuing to communicate with Scott Williams of the US
Fish and Wildlife Service who is searching for funds for our Project. A recent contact with Kris
Benson of NOAA gave us some encouragement as he offered to research other
funding sources for our Project including our pending South East Aquatic
Partnership application. This means that we
continue to need private funds to reach our total project goal. We hope you
received our thank you picture/note and will donate again to our community
Project. We really need your donations NOW to avoid losing our present grants
and all the progress we have made. We want to get this Project done and are
still trying to target June 2010. We have contacted the
Coastal Counties Restoration Initiative and the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation and they have agreed that if Gahagan & Bryant sends our Final
Design and Plans out for bids in March they will consider our Project funded
and these two grants will not expire. This is critical and we must have sufficient
funds and pledges to do this. Please remember that our
Project includes the dredging of the boat channel and in order to get this
done we were able to apply for and received matching grants by restoring the eroding
island with the dredged materials. We have to match these grants. Please
donate by contacting Betsy Redfield (713) 961-1641 e-mail: eredfield1@peoplepc.com November 2008 Although Ike took a toll
on all of us at Bay Harbor, the Habitat Restoration Project is still going
ahead. We contacted the Agencies we are working with and let them know that
the project is proceeding. Many of the habitat areas were severely damaged or
totally lost during Ike, so our little island habitat project will have an
even greater affect on the wildlife and fishery. A new Project Progress Board
has been installed at the Bay Harbor Marina to keep you posted. We still need your
financial support (click
here for smilebox message). Please give whatever you can. Also if you are
able to volunteer your time, please keep track of what you have done by downloading the Volunteer Form (click here to download), and then send
the filled in form to Betsy Redfield. Engineering: Rob Kite, Project Engineer
with GBA, sent us an updated Post-Storm Survey Proposal. They will conduct
bathymetric survey of main channel; identify the boundaries of the offshore
island; perform a topographic survey of the main part of the island; and
develop plan and cross section views of the proposed dredge and placement
areas as changed due to the storm. Any modifications needed will be
coordinated with the USACE and Natural Resource Agencies. Funding as of August 2009
(click below): List of
Applications Submitted For further information
and explanation of these funding, expense reports please contact Betsy
Redfield. Pending Applications: An application was
submitted October 1st to Fish America Foundation for $25,000. Our application
with National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (Shell Marine Habitat) for
$50,000 is still pending. An e-mail was sent following Ike informing the
foundation that our project was still on-going and that we definitely need
the funding as restoration was even more beneficial. The application to the
Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) is still pending and funding will
likely be pushed forward perhaps 2010.*GLO: We are preparing the latest
numbers in our account with Coastal Beach & Bay and the Bay Harbor
Habitat Project to submit to Dennis Rocha of the GLO. After his review we
will know if we are ready to sign the Project Co-operation Agreement for the
$100,000 matching funds. This is still a Big Project and will have a bigger
impact on the environment as the need for habitat nesting is even greater
after Ike. Members of the Board have been out the channel and believe that
there is very little Ike debris. The storm approaching from the North blew
all the junk away from our channel. If this is so, it will be good news after
the survey because the contractor will not have to clear away debris before
pumping. Betsy Redfield, Project
Chairman Technical Details of the Dredging and Island Restoration Index map showing location of project Detail map showing breakwaters Geotube and channel cross-section diagrams Gabion detail example Habitat Restoration
Project Background The Bay Harbor Habitat
Restoration Project began in 2005 as a typical maintenance dredging to
improve boat access to the bay from the Bay Harbor residential
subdivision. In looking for an
appropriate dredge material disposal site, local residents examined the
feasibility of upland disposal.
However, locating an appropriate upland site would require a
substantial expenditure of funds and would not provide any future public
benefit beyond the immediate need to provide continued boat access. The President of the Bay Harbor
Improvement Association and Board of Directors contacted other communities
and reached a local fishery biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife
Services. Debbie DeVore, from this
agency, made a presentation to the residents at the annual meeting in
2005. The idea and plan was developed
to beneficially utilize the sandy maintenance dredge material as a resource,
consistent with the Texas Coastal Zone Management Plan to restore vital
bayside marsh and bird nesting habitat areas. The most likely deposit area was to restore the eroding island
near the Bay Harbor Marina to a bird, fish, and wildlife habitat. By shoring up and enlarging the remainder
of the island, it would reduce further erosion and provide a beneficial use
of the dredge materials. Next came the need for funding such an elaborate
undertaking. The President of Coastal
Beach & Bay Foundation (CBBF) offered our community support in applying for
funding from various county, state and federal agencies. Through CBBF (a 501 c-3 organization)
donations, possibly tax deductible, could be made in the name of Bay Harbor
Habitat Restoration (BHHR) and set aside for matching funds. In August 2006 Bay Harbor submitted an application to the
Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) requesting $100,000 (matching grant)
to cover permitting and construction of the access channel and disposition of
the beneficial material. Bay Harbor made a presentation before the US CORPS OF
ENGINEERS at a Joint Evaluation Meeting on April 18, 2006, outlining the
project. Since our
submittal of an application to the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP)
in August 2006, Bay Harbor has made considerable progress in their project to
maintenance dredge the boat access channel and make beneficial use of the
material to restore an eroding island into a bird and wildlife habitat and
fishery marsh. Bay
Harbor is coordinating our project’s work and time schedule where appropriate
with Terramar in their project to minimize costs and maximize the beneficial
use of the dredged materials for reestablishing marsh mounds and terraces
resulting in overall habitat improvement. Bay Harbor and Terramar filed a
joint application to the US Fish & Wildlife and Coastal Beach & Bay
Foundation in May and were each awarded $25,000 in August 2007. The
engineering firm of Gahagan &
Bryant were contracted by Bay Harbor in June 2007 to do the Restoration
Project. Hydrographic survey, LSLS,
geotechnical analysis and preliminary design and plan have been completed.
Bay Harbor has had several meetings with agencies (USFW, NOAA, TP&W,
GLO), organizations (Coastal Beach & Bay Foundation, Galveston Bay
Foundation), and the engineer to
collectively develop the project design and plan. The final design and plan
will be competed and selected mid-February and submitted for permitting early
March. It is estimated that
permitting could take 8 to 12 months.
This would place construction to begin late 2008/early 2009. An
application to the Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act (CEPRA) cycle 5
was submitted in June 2007 and on November 2, 2007 Bay Harbor received
notification that their Habitat Restoration Project had been selected to
receive $100,000 matching funds. The
project design will restore the eroded island to a total area of
approximately 2 acres, including a 4-foot elevated area for bird nesting and
expanded marsh area for fishery habitat. An estimate of 10,500 cubic yards of
material will be retrieved for placement and fill on the island. To
stabilize the placed material, structural options for breakwater sections
include the use of geotextile tubes, gabion rock baskets, and reef
balls. The engineer’s plans now
forecast the total project to be between
$370,000 to $400,000. |
Funding Progress as of 11/2007
Bay Harbor Bird Island
Bay Harbor Bird Island Donations Since the overall project is expected to cost
$400,000, residents are targeting
donations of $200,000 and hope to receive grants to reach the estimated goal.
Fund raising includes socials, sale of merchandise and calendars, a Block
Captain program for communicating the project information to the residents
and the printing of a Bay Harbor Habitat Restoration brochure for mailing. A project bulletin board (pictured at
right above) is on site at the marina reflecting the project’s progress and
funds being raised. Efforts
are underway to raise more private funds from residents and local
businesses. Bay Harbor has also
submitted an application to FishAmerica Foundation for $25,000. An application is being submitted to the
Harris & Eliza Kempner Fund for $25,000.
And, we are preparing to re-submit our application to CIAP requesting
that our Habitat Restoration Project be moved to Tier I and funded
$100,000 in the 2008-2009 cycle. Resident's donations are currently being solicited; please
see the Bay
Harbor Restoration Project brochure. Contact: Betsy
Redfield, Chairman Bay Harbor
Habitat Restoration Project 4702 W.
Alabama Houston,
Tx 77027 (713)
961-1641 e-mail: eredfield1@peoplepc.com |
