The Army Corps of Engineers Wants You

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Collier County Coastal Storm Risk Management Meeting was held Wednesday, June 21, in the community room at Marco City Hall. The meeting was designed to encourage public input to help find solutions to mitigate the destructive impact of landfalling storms on developed coastal areas in Collier County, including Marco Island. 

The Army Corps is seeking public input that will help them secure federal funding for a feasibility study. Possible county-wide mitigation solutions to be investigated in a feasibility study include floodproofing commercial buildings, inland flood walls at U.S. 41 and 111th Avenue in Naples, elevations of residential homes, updating county building code ordinances, a levee east of Clam Pass, beach berm/vegetated dune nourishment, Doctors Pass storm surge barriers, mangrove restoration, floodgates at Caxambas Pass, and a breakwater south of Caxambas Pass. Restoring oyster reefs is part of the study.

“The feasibility study is at no cost to the sponsor,” said Abby Preddy, planning lead and project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). "It's fully federally funded. Once the study is completed with the chief's report, the study would need to be congressionally authorized and appropriated, which means that Congress writes the legislation authorizing us to design the study.”

The USACE requires a non-federal sponsor for the study. Collier County is filling that role.

Chris Mason is the director of community planning and resiliency for Collier County. The division is only about six months old.

"We're looking at learning a lot from the public as to what is desired for this project going forward,” Mason said. “This is one of our first large projects. We'll be working hand in hand with the Army Corps of Engineers. We've established an ad hoc committee for this project that is comprised of seven members from the public that we'll be working with going forward. They will act as an advisory board to our Board of County Commissioners and will also work with county staff. I've been involved with this project now for about 60-plus days. It's taken in a lot of good information."

 Marco Public Works Director Justin Martin didn’t mince words.

"Marco Island has intense development directly on the coast that is susceptible to storm surge,” Martin reminded the audience of around 50 people. "Ian completely devastated Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach by washing away buildings, bridges, roads, sinking boats and pushing them inland, and caused catastrophic economic impact that will take years to recover.”

Martin then hammered home a warning about future hurricanes.

"We had a glancing blow,” Martin said, "what happened during Ian wasn't even a direct hit. We ask that you keep an open mind while learning about the proposed mitigation measures. Remember, this is being done for you, not to you. And anyone that is not convinced that protective measures need to be taken should search YouTube for Hurricane Ian: Damage to Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach. That could have happened to Marco Island with a direct hit. We were spared."

One goal of the study is to figure out how to manage coastal storm risk to existing development and natural resources by reducing economic damages that result from coastal storm surge in Collier County over a 50-year period of analysis. A second goal is to find solutions to managing risk to life, health, and human safety that results from the storm surge inundation of development and critical infrastructure during coastal storms in Collier Counter over a 50-year period of analysis.

Michelle Hamor, USACE planning and policy branch chief out of Norfolk, laid out the Army Corps’ plan, making it clear that local input is not only desirable but vital to their ability to secure a federally funded feasibility study.

"The risk of coastal storms can be exacerbated through sea level rise and maybe in this case, higher groundwater,” Hamor said. “The problem we're trying to solve is the risk to structural commercial structures and residential structures.”

“When we think about reducing storm risk,” said Burton Suedel, principal investigator in the Engineering with Nature Program in the Army Corps of Engineers, “the beaches offer us a really good opportunity to identify how we can reduce that coastal storm risk through that line of defense. The beach that's already there we call natural infrastructure. Sand is nature, and it provides natural infrastructure. Humans are putting it there. But how do we put sand there to help not only nourish the beach for tourism and recreational and social aspects but how can we nourish that beach to help reduce flood risk? And that's where the berms are. The sand dunes come into play. And so that's one of the lines of defense that we are thinking about implementing here."

Hamor said the Army Corp is not planning to come in to take everything over. They might be better thought of as a conduit.

"How do you improve your resilience? I will be the first to tell you we will not be able to do everything,” Hamor said. “We won't be able to justify everything within our project. But if we can be a part of that, if we can be a tool in Collier County's toolbox, if we can be a layer of resilience and improve the resilience of Collier County, that's really the goal for this study.”

"Collier County, of course, has its own resilience program,” Hamor said, "and they have been conducting beach nourishment since 1996, but there is currently no federal beach nourishment in the area.”

The feasibility plan also requires a study authority, which is section 4033 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. It’s described in part as "a study to determine the feasibility of carrying out a project for hurricane and storm damage reduction and flood damage reduction.”

The USACE chief of engineers, Lieutenant General Scott A. Spellman, is the signing authority for all feasibility studies in use. He's the last signature before it goes to Congress.

Preddy said Marco has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to weathering hurricanes compared to other parts of the county.

“The disadvantage of Marco Island,” Preddy said, "is that it is an island. So as far as coastal storm risk, you kind of have risk on all sides. There are some unique challenges and design considerations. I would say an advantage is, first of all, there's a very wide and healthy beach on Marco Island. And in studies like these, beaches kind of act as the first line of defense. So that's something good that Marco Island has going for them. They also have a lot of really good existing environmental resources, some that we could look into expanding or restoring or modeling somewhere else in the project area. And then we're also considering oyster reefs, adding one breakwater or one system of breakwaters. And that's just a conceptual measure. There's a lot of consideration and discussions to have over that, but it could be an opportunity to do a hybrid - natural and nature-based feature with oyster reefs or some kind of hybrid green-gray structure there. So that's one of the things that we're starting to look into."

Suedel also weighed in on how the feasibility study might impact Marco Island specifically. He said the islands to the south of Marco are a huge advantage. And like Preddy, he said Marco’s beach is a huge asset.

“The first thing that I noticed coming in relatively new to the project is all that natural infrastructure that you have on the south side of the island,” Suedel said. “Look at all those islands that are already there. And I understand that you may be trying to nourish one of those islands, and that could provide a really good opportunity for us to increase our aspects of trying to reduce flood risk. That natural infrastructure in the form of those islands on the south side of Marco Island is a huge advantage to Marco Island, particularly from storms and natural hazards that are coming to the island from that general direction. So it's a really, really big deal. The other thing I noticed is you've already got a lot of beach there. It's been nourished in the past, and it creates a really good opportunity for us to find ways that we can enhance that beach again as part of this project to help reduce flood risk. So that’s another great opportunity for Marco Island. Those are the first two things that come immediately to mind."

Suedel elaborated on the possibility of the addition of oyster reefs. He looks at them as a unique triple-win situation.

“Are the conditions still favorable in the habitat that we have now to help restore some of those oyster reefs?” Suedel said. “Think of oyster reefs from the economic perspective. Certainly, it would help economically because you would get that oyster fishery back. But you have to think of oyster reefs also as natural infrastructure. That infrastructure helps improve water quality because that's what oysters do as filter feeders. But also, those oyster reefs can help blunt, in certain instances, storm surge and other aspects of natural hazards. The idea of restoring oyster reefs provides another potential line of defense to help reduce flood risk from seaside. And so you can look at oyster reefs from different angles and realize they can provide the economic benefits, they can provide the social benefits, and they also can provide the environmental benefits. And from an oyster reef perspective, that's the triple win outcome that we'd like to achieve in terms of the Engineering with Nature Program within the Army Corps of Engineers.”

Suedel said locals can be valuable in determining the right placement of oyster reefs.

“We're looking for local expertise to help us understand where those areas might be,” Suedel said, "and where we could potentially restore those oyster reefs. We're looking to get local input on where that might be so that is an exciting aspect that we're considering as part of our Coastal Storm Risk Management Study."

Both Preddy and Suedel like the idea of a breakwater south of Caxambas Pass, on the south end of the island.

“The breakwater south of Caxambas Pass,” Preddy said, "we think it would be a really cool opportunity.”

"We have been in discussions with the county and others about the idea of placing some additional infrastructure,” Suedel acknowledged, "particularly on the south and southwest side of Marco Island, to help reduce those natural hazard forces coming from that direction. And so the idea of perhaps considering the design and location and functionality of a living breakwater may prove to be a really good idea in certain locations. So we're looking at that possibility right now.”

Mangroves are another key component to an Engineering with Nature approach, according to Preddy and Suedel.

"Mangrove restoration,” Preddy said, "That's the big one."

"I see mangroves similarly to what you would consider oyster reefs,” Suedel said. "Mangroves are maritime forests. And maritime forests provide a lot of value as natural infrastructure. What you’re trying to achieve is not only to provide the environmental benefits associated with that mangrove forest but also looking for ways for that mangrove forest to help reduce the forcings coming from those natural hazards in that general direction. Mangroves, as natural infrastructure, can provide a lot of benefits to people if we think about what those benefits truly are and how we can place that natural infrastructure in ways that help not only people but also help nature at the same time."

Suedel can see mangroves being planted on Marco.

"I think we have to consider it,” Suedel said. "This is my very first trip to Marco Island. You can step almost anywhere on the island and see mangroves. Mangroves have been here for a very, very long time. They're natural infrastructure that I think local residents should consider about how they can help people as well as think about helping the environment. Mangroves in a lot of situations can be part of that solution.”

Hamor wants to keep the public involved in the process.

 "One of the things we are investigating starting next month,” Hamor said, "is that we'll have virtual public meetings. So once a month we will have a one-hour meeting where you can come and we can have some questions, some informal question and answer. We'll do a 15-minute brief of where we are in the study. And then the remaining time is really for public comments and questions.”

For the most current information, please visit https://colliercsrm-usacenao.hub.arcgis.com/.