At the May 31st meeting at the Cedar Key Community Center from 4:30 to 6 pm, UF personnel, Dr. Savanna Barry and Dr. Mark Clark, City representatives and concerned citizens gathered again to discuss the two shoreline restoration projects, the next step and timeline. Dr. Savanna Barry gave a brief history of the Living Shoreline project starting by saying that shortly after Joe Raines Beach was completed, Sue Colson asked, “Well, what’s next?” The beach along G Street was readily identified as an area needing help.
- A meeting was scheduled for September 2016 to decide whether to attempt another project. Two weeks before the meeting, Hurricane Hermine came along and significantly impacted the beach near Airport Road. Barry continued, “We thought this might be a good time to discuss doing something on Airport Road as well.” It was decided to go ahead with the project, and UF was willing to take the lead.
- A meeting was held in March 2017 to discuss the options for stabilizing these two shorelines, both G Street and Airport Road. Several options were explored with homeowners and the community. It was decided to proceed with the creation of living shorelines.
- At a planning wrap-up meeting in March 2018, plans from the engineers at UF were presented. The plans included a living shoreline along G Street and a combination living shoreline and oyster bar/breakwater on Airport Road. At that meeting further changes were made and the consensus from the group was to go ahead with the project. Dr. Barry and Dr. Mark Clark applied for grants.
- Another meeting was held in January 2019 to bring people up to date after the grants were written and received. After discussion with the group, more design changes were incorporated.
There were several bumps in the road.
One such issue, affecting both projects, was that the herbaceous vegetation could potentially increase mangrove recruitment. The mangrove issue was taken to the DEP and the permit will give permission to remove mangroves from the areas of the living shorelines and to remove any new mangroves before the mangrove achieves the height of four feet. Clark said, “The DEP sees the value of these living shorelines as a means to help negate erosion.”
G Street
In a more recent event, the six co-owners of the dock on G street have made it known that they now oppose the project. Since the grant that was applied for included the G Street portion, this could jeopardize the entire project. Permits need to be applied for by June 21 in order to keep the nearly half million-dollar grant.
The remaining owners have expressed a desire for a full healthy beach. The first design replaced the sand spit at the corner on G Street. The owners of the dock fear that the sand and sill will migrate and disturb the use of the dock. So the design has now been modified to start on the north side of the dock. Fill dirt and oyster sill will be deposited on the north side of the dock, building up two groins on either side of a pocket beach. These groins mimic natural groins down the rest of the beach. Theoretically the second groin would trap any sand that migrates from the first groin. The oyster sill will probably be a jute mortar product with shell included. This sill will also help slow erosion. Over that will be planted with Spartina Alterniflora for the low marsh, Spartina Patens for high marsh and dune species. Loose oysters in the area will concentrated on the groins.
Airport Road
Another bump in the project occurred recently after the airport road bridge was completed. Florida Department of Transportation felt the concrete apron would not support the road, so they put 40 feet of granite rip rap down.
The plans for Airport Road are similar to the plans for G Street: sand and shell fill, S. Alterniflora, S. Patens, and dune species.
In addition, an oyster breakwater unit will be erected. The oyster reef breakwater will mitigate wave energy. Technically, oyster reefs are colonized by oysters. Since part of the barrier will be above where oysters grow, it will be a combination oyster reef and breakwater.
The fill will be added to the beach to raise it to the level of the road. The living shoreline will basically go right over the top the rip rap. There will still be a little of the rip rap showing by the road. Barry said she would meet with FDOT to see if some of the rip rap can be moved.
The oyster reefs are called reef balls or pallet balls. They are round at the base, four-foot diameter, and three foot tall. Clark explained, “These reefs will follow the negative two-foot mean sea level. This means you will see a portion of these about 85% of the time. Shorter ones could be used that would not be visible. That would take away some of the protection afforded by the reef. Also, being visible would make the reef less of a hazard.
The group decided to keep the plan to use the three-foot tall ones. They will be 14 reefs about 50 ft long and 4 feet. wide with 10 -foot spaces between them. The design also calls for a ramp and a 20-foot break for kayaks.
Looking Forward
The meeting on May 31, 2019, was to show the change in the design and ascertain if the community wanted to continue with the modified changes. Sue Colson said, “We had an opportunity to do things years ago and we didn’t. I have a grave fear that we will not go forward again. Somehow, we must get some consensus to do something this time. I can’t imagine we would do this a third time….I just want to do something this time.”
It was decided to go forward with the new design. Appropriate permits will be applied for by UF with the City of Cedar Key as a co-applicant. Hopefully the permits will be approved by September 2019 with initial construction to begin in May 2020. The grant calls for a set amount of living shoreline. The change in design means that another part of Cedar Key will have to be identified as a suitable replacement.
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