News
Apr 04 2008
Dredging to get under way in East Pass
DESTIN — An eroded beach is finally getting some sand, although not as much as expected.
The Destin City Council voted last year to pay the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers $75,000 to dredge East Pass’ navigation channel and deposit the sand on the eroded tip of Norriego Point. The city expected the work to start by late summer, but the Corps didn’t approve the work until earlier this year after the agency received a $229,000 federal earmark for the project.
Dredging company North Florida Diversified on Wednesday began setting up pipes on the end of Holiday Isle to carry the sand to the point from East Pass.
The Corps of Engineers “contacted us seven or eight months ago,” said Gary Duncan of North Florida Diversified. But the Corps wasn’t been able to get the dredging approved at the time.
Jim Breitenfeld of the Destin Harbor Association asked the city a little more than a year ago to help shore up Norriego Point, which shields the north shore of the harbor from waves from the Gulf of Mexico. When the city proposed paying the Corps to dredge, the Panama City office of the Corps agreed, but the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters said to wait.
Last year, the city anticipated dredging 5,000 to 10,000 cubic yards of sand, but City Engineer Chuck Meister said the Corps’ survey found only 2,500 cubic yards in the channel.
Meister said the dredging will take about a week.
Charter boat captain Mike Eller said dredging the channel is a good start, but a permanent solution is needed.
“We are always happy when a dredge comes to town because it is always needed and the effects of dredging, or lack of it, affects us on a daily basis,” he said. “The point has always been fairly dynamic and fluid, and it waxes and wanes from year to year. That being said, we are very alarmed at what appears to be ongoing and devastating changes to Norriego Point.
“We will have to come up with a solution to fix the problem that was created. Dredging to open a depth in a channel is a good thing. Dredging to replace eroded sand is different and cannot be sustained.”
The Destin City Council voted last year to pay the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers $75,000 to dredge East Pass’ navigation channel and deposit the sand on the eroded tip of Norriego Point. The city expected the work to start by late summer, but the Corps didn’t approve the work until earlier this year after the agency received a $229,000 federal earmark for the project.
Dredging company North Florida Diversified on Wednesday began setting up pipes on the end of Holiday Isle to carry the sand to the point from East Pass.
The Corps of Engineers “contacted us seven or eight months ago,” said Gary Duncan of North Florida Diversified. But the Corps wasn’t been able to get the dredging approved at the time.
Jim Breitenfeld of the Destin Harbor Association asked the city a little more than a year ago to help shore up Norriego Point, which shields the north shore of the harbor from waves from the Gulf of Mexico. When the city proposed paying the Corps to dredge, the Panama City office of the Corps agreed, but the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters said to wait.
Last year, the city anticipated dredging 5,000 to 10,000 cubic yards of sand, but City Engineer Chuck Meister said the Corps’ survey found only 2,500 cubic yards in the channel.
Meister said the dredging will take about a week.
Charter boat captain Mike Eller said dredging the channel is a good start, but a permanent solution is needed.
“We are always happy when a dredge comes to town because it is always needed and the effects of dredging, or lack of it, affects us on a daily basis,” he said. “The point has always been fairly dynamic and fluid, and it waxes and wanes from year to year. That being said, we are very alarmed at what appears to be ongoing and devastating changes to Norriego Point.
“We will have to come up with a solution to fix the problem that was created. Dredging to open a depth in a channel is a good thing. Dredging to replace eroded sand is different and cannot be sustained.”
