College of Houston
For the primary time within the metropolis’s historical past, Jamaica Seaside officers this week started discussions a couple of undertaking to revive seashore dunes after Hurricane Beryl broken the group’s coastlines.
Components of Texas’ shores have been unrecognizable after the Class 1 hurricane wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast over the summer season, destroying dunes and instantly inflicting the shore to develop into largely inaccessible, drone survey photographs present.
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Massive channels opened up alongside the shoreline in some locations after the storm surge retreated on July 8. Photographs captured by College of Houston researchers alongside the shoreline of Galveston Island confirmed a washed-out beachfront with broken dunes.
On the shorelines of Jamaica Seaside, situated on the east finish of Galveston Island, protecting dunes have been utterly destroyed, metropolis planners stated.
“Clearly after Beryl the panorama of our seashore has modified dramatically, most notably the elimination of our dunes and the dune fencing that was there,” Kendal Francis, a Jamaica Seaside metropolis administrator, stated throughout a council assembly on Thursday.
What’s left alongside the seashore’s panorama are solely fence posts.
The Jamaica Seaside metropolis council is now weighing choices to deal with the broken coast by establishing a everlasting dune restoration web site on the seashore, doubtlessly utilizing hay bales, hauling in additional sand to revive the dunes, and eradicating outdated signage.
One of many first priorities, Mayor Sharon Bower stated, ought to be eradicating the remaining posts earlier than spring break to reinforce security and the aesthetics of the seashore. Francis advised utilizing the remaining sand fencing holes for the long run bollards to save lots of on prices.
“All that barbed wire on the market, it’s harmful,” Bowers stated. “I’m in favor of pulling the outdated poles and dune fencing at this level.”
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If metropolis planners pursue a plan to dedicate a everlasting dune restoration web site, the realm can be roped off to forestall automobiles from parking throughout the space. The council may also nonetheless have to determine if it needs to pursue further dune restoration tasks that will cross over with that one, council members stated.
“Proper now the signal says no automobile past this level or one thing, however continuously you’d see automobiles effectively past that time parked within the dunes or within the dune fencing simply to attempt to maximize the house relying on how extensive the seashore was that day,” Francis stated.
Earlier than the undertaking can start, and earlier than planners can look into funding sources for the pricey undertaking, they’ll want a blessing from the Texas Normal Land Workplace.
“The conversations I’ve had with the consultant, they really need it to be as far landward as cheap,” Francis stated. “They don’t need you to only minimize your seashore in half and say, ‘Hey, that is all dune restoration.’ “
Francis stated representatives of the state workplace have been scheduled to go to Jamaica Seaside in January, however the go to was pushed again to late February or early March. The town put aside a steadiness of $75,000 for the potential undertaking, in response to metropolis council agenda paperwork.
