Approved Minutes
Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC)
Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters
Wellfleet, MA
October 11, 2012
9:30 am-5:00 pm
Members Present: Tim Smith, Eric Derleth, Hunt Durey, Steve Spear, Steve Block, Hillary Greenberg-Lemos, Charleen Greenhalgh
Others Present: Margo Fenn, Nils Wiberg, Peter Boyle and Dean Audet of Fuss and O’Neill and Kirk Bosma of the Woods Hole Group
Administration/Coordination:
Approval of Minutes: The Committee voted with one abstention to approve the minutes of the September 13, 2012 and September 25, 2012 meetings.
Schedule of HRRC Meetings: The Committee agreed to the following meeting schedule:
Thursday, November 1, 2012 (regular meeting 9:30 am to 5:00 pm)
Thursday, November 8, 2012 (special meeting 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm)
Thursday, November 8, 2012 (public hearing on DEIS/EIR 6:30 pm)
Wednesday, November 28, 2012 (regular meeting 9:30 am to 5:00 pm)
Thursday, November 29, 2012 (workshop with Fuss and O’Neill on CNR dike design 9:30 am to 5:00 pm)
The Committee also considered several possible meeting dates for December including the 12th, 13th, 19th, and 20th.
Hillary Greenberg agreed to check with Wellfleet Town officials to determine the best date for a workshop with them and Fuss and O’Neill on the CNR dike design options. The Committee will schedule its regular December meeting to coordinate with the workshop date.
Informational Updates:
Project Coordination Funding/Contracting: Margo Fenn reported that the timeframe of the APCC contract with the Cape Cod Conservation District had been extended until November 30, 2012. The Friends of Herring River (FHR) has submitted a proposal through the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) to RAE-NOAA for a grant of $25,000. With matching funds from the MA Division of Ecological Restoration (DER), this grant would be used for ongoing project coordination over the next year.
Other Grant Opportunities: The FHR also submitted a grant application to the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET) for $50,000. These funds would be used to prepare the 20% design plans for a new Chequessett Neck Road dike. The FHR also submitted a grant application to the Massachusetts Bays Program (MBP) for $20,000 to fund additional hydrodynamic modeling.
The Committee discussed how to manage the existing CLF grant from RAE-NOAA, noting that the matching contributions have to be matched with each invoice from the engineering contractor (Fuss and O’Neill). The group agreed that Tim Smith and Steve Block would review the Fuss and O’Neill invoices to ensure that the work has been properly performed. Margo Fenn and Hunt Durey agreed to follow up to develop a tracking system for matching funds for the CLF RAE-NOAA engineering grant.
Cultural Resources: At the August HRRC meeting Jim Harmon from NPS suggested that the HRRC contact the Public Archaeology Lab (PAL) to request assistance with refining the proposed Programmatic Agreement with the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC). There is some remaining funding at the Coastal America Foundation (CAF) that could be used for this purpose. HRRC will contact PAL soon.
Tim Smith, Mark Husbands and Bill Burke had a conference call with the Regional NPS Office about the DEIS/EIR Cultural Resources analysis. They agreed that the NEPA process should be separate from the Section 106 process under the National Historic Preservation Act. However, the Section 106 process still needs to be completed before the Record of Decision (ROD) can be filed.
DEIS/EIR Schedule and Next Steps: The DEIS/EIR is due to be released for public review on October 12, 2012. The Committee discussed the logistics of conducting the public hearing and collecting comments on the DEIS/EIR. The group agreed that it would be helpful to have a handout at the hearing that explains where people may submit written comments to NEPA and MEPA. The first page of the DEIS/EIR could serve as this handout.
Mark Husbands joined the meeting by phone. Margo Fenn reviewed the usual procedures for a Cape Cod Commission hearing. Given the joint review process, it will be important to introduce all the participants and explain their respective roles at the beginning of the hearing. This includes representatives of:
-The National Park Service (George Price, Superintendent, Tim Smith, HRRC representative and Mark Husbands of the Environmental Quality Division of NPS)
-MEPA (Holly Johnson)
-The Towns of Wellfleet and Truro (Selectmen and/or town managers, if present)
-The Herring River Restoration Committee (We will provide a list of members and their affiliations)
-The CCC Subcommittee and staff
The hearing will be chaired by the CCC Subcommittee Chair. It will include:
-An overview presentation from the HRRC (20 minutes)
-A CCC staff report (20 minutes)
-Q & A from Subcommittee members
-Public testimony with federal, state and local officials first
The Commission will provide a sign-up sheet for persons wishing to speak and will tape-record the hearing. There will likely be a 2-3 minute limit on public testimony, especially if there are many people wishing to testify. There will be summary minutes prepared of the public testimony, but the Subcommittee Chair should encourage participants to submit their comments in writing, to make sure they are included in the official NEPA and MEPA public record.
Tim Smith agreed to prepare a draft presentation for the hearing and review it with the full HRRC at the November 1, 2012 meeting. At that meeting, HRRC will decide who will participate in making the presentation at the hearing.
Margo Fenn offered to work with the CCC staff to develop an outline for the Subcommittee Chair to use in conducting the hearing. She also agreed to take notes during the public hearing and request a copy of the tape recording of public testimony. Using her notes and the tape, she will prepare a summary of the comments received during the hearing.
The HRRC agreed to prepare a handout for the hearing that explains where people may submit written comments to NEPA and MEPA. The first page of the DEIS/EIR could serve as this handout.
Outreach Strategy with Low-Lying Property (LLP) Owners: During the morning session of the meeting, HRRC members prepared letters for mailing to all the LLP owners, notifying them about the DEIS/EIR process and providing them with specific information about potential impacts to their properties. During the afternoon session, a few LLP owners joined the meeting to discuss the outreach process. Given that there are over 375 properties involved, contacting all the owners is a significant undertaking. The HRRC plans to send a letter, which provides an email address for owners to contact the Committee with any questions that they might have. Committee members will follow up and set up meetings with owners who are interested. Committee members noted that this is just the beginning of the process of working
with affected landowners. Margo Fenn agreed to track email inquiries from LLP owners and assign HRRC members to follow up with those owners.
Workshop with Fuss and O’Neill re Chequessett Neck Road (CNR) Dike Options:Nils Wiberg, Dean Audet, Peter Boyle and Kirk Bosma joined the meeting to discuss their ongoing engineering contract through the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE-NOAA). Nils Wiberg presented a revised topographic survey of the dike area. He agreed to send Tim Smith the CAD plans. Kirk Bosma noted that the survey plans might still need to be adjusted to refine the tide gate invert information.
Nils Wiberg distributed a revised draft matrix showing comparative constraints for different CNR dike configurations. This includes:
-Natural Resources and Water Quality Criteria
-Construction Phase Criteria
-Long-Term Operation and Maintenance Criteria
-Physical Process Criteria
-Public Use and Enjoyment Criteria
He noted that these criteria could be weighted according to their relative importance, but those weights do not need to be assigned now.
Nils Wiberg also distributed a list of CNR Structure Menu Items-i.e. physical features that will need to be decided for each of the dike configuration options.
Peter Boyle presented an overview of the structural options for both the dike/bridge and the tide gates. Options under consideration for the dike include:
-Pre-Cast Concrete 4-Sided Box Culvert
-Pre-Cast Concrete 3-Sided Box Culvert
-Pre-Cast Concrete Deck Beam Bridge
-Box Beam Bridge
Options for the Tide Gates include:
-Weir Gates
-Flap Gates
-Slide Gates
-Combination Slide and Flap Gates
-Dual Leaf Slide Gates
-Inverted Weir Stop Logs
Peter Boyle reviewed briefly the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the different design approaches, noting that lateral stability is a key issue. The Committee discussed the merits of manual tide gate operators versus automatic operators. The latter would require electricity and would be more costly. Peter Boyle noted that it is a slow process to operate the gates manually, but FEMA requires that the gates be exercised at regular intervals to ensure that they are working properly.
The Committee reviewed several different layout alternatives including features such as:
-Travel lanes
-Adjacent parking
-Accommodation for flow control structures
-Bike path
-Fishing pier
-Surface treatments (aesthetics)
Adding bike lanes and parking would require changing the centerline offset of the road. This would require construction of retaining walls along the approaches to the dike. The Committee discussed the various design features and agreed that it would be good to have a sidewalk for pedestrian access across the dike, but that there was not a need for a bike lane. Members also noted that DEP Stormwater Management requirements must be addressed.
The Committee and the consultants agreed that three dike options should be considered for further analysis:
-Pre-Cast Concrete 4-Sided Box Culvert
-Pre-Cast Concrete 3-Sided Box Culvert
-Pre-Cast Concrete Deck Beam Bridge
Fuss and O’Neill will check lateral loading calculations for the two different bridge options. The next step is for Fuss and O’Neill to prepare a draft technical memo, engineering drawings and cost estimates to evaluate three selected options. The HRRC will meet with Fuss and O’Neill again on November 29, 2012 to review this work, and select the preferred option. The Committee will set up a special meeting with Wellfleet Town Officials in December to review the options and recommendations.
Hillary Greenberg agreed to check with Wellfleet town officials about a preferred meeting date. Nils Wiberg agreed to provide a revised set of documents to Margo Fenn for distribution to the HRRC.
The Committee briefly discussed with the consultants the question of how to manage traffic during the construction phase. Options to manage access to Griffin Island during construction include: A temporary bridge at Chequessett Neck, staged construction or a by-pass road (likely along High Toss Road). The Fuss and O’Neill analysis should evaluate the comparative costs of these options.
Other Business:
Funding Sources for Future Project Needs: Hunt Durey noted that there are two upcoming funding opportunities that the HRRC should consider: The American Rivers Program and the NOAA Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) Program. The American Rivers Program could provide a grant of up to $150,000. The deadline for applying is in early December. The NOAA FFO Program is a multi-year funding program, with a 1:1 match requirement.
The Committee agreed that it would make sense to pursue additional funding from the NOAA FFO Program. Hunt Durey noted that funds would be needed for more detailed survey research for LLPs. Margo Fenn and Tim Smith agreed to update the funding needs list for the Restoration Project.
Hunt Durey reported that the Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) would be doing some studies about the value of ecosystem services including such things as carbon sequestration, water quality and property values. The Herring River may be a case study for the property values analysis.
Documents Referred to in the Meeting:
-Minutes of the September 13, 2012 HRRC Meeting
-Minutes of the September 25, 2012 HRRC Meeting
Respectfully submitted,
Hillary Greenberg-Lemos
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