Corps Wants Answers on Factory Point Project
By Matthew Sturdevant, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.
Jul. 15–HAMPTON — The Army Corps of Engineers wants answers to a lot of questions before considering whether to allow Hampton to rebuild Factory Point, the slowly eroding peninsula at the mouth of the Back River.
On Monday, City Engineer Fred Whitley received a six-page letter naming concerns ranging from the possibility of unexploded military ordnance submerged in the sand to the impact on two endangered species — a bird and a beetle.
The corps also asked for maps showing how the city proposes to change navigation channels, an archaeological survey of "historic and/or prehistoric" artifacts in that area, and an assessment of nearly four acres of habitat for fish eggs, larvae and juvenile fish.
Hampton hopes to take a hydraulic dredge to suction up sand in the water and build a peninsula 50 to 100 feet wide. As it is, only the tip remains above water, serving as an island that is popular among boaters and kayakers.
The city also plans to put three 100-foot breakwaters on the Chesapeake Bay side of the point to reduce future erosion.
In conjunction with building up Factory Point, the city wants to dredge boat channels in that area — one to Dandy Point and the other in Long Creek.
In the past 10 years, sand on the point sank and was pulled by waves and storms into the Chesapeake Bay.
Before the city can go ahead with its plan — at approximately $3.03million, not including the channel dredging — it needs permits from both the Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Marine Resource Commission.
The corps first received a permit application in early June, said Gerald Rogers, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers Norfolk District. The letter Whitley received Monday, written by Lynette R. Rhodes, the corps’ regulatory chief for southern Virginia, was the corps’ first reaction to the project.
"Is the repair truly correcting a problem or is it potentially destabilizing an ecosystem that has achieved a dynamic equilibrium?" Rhodes asks in the letter. "What would be the result of a no action alternative?"
The city hasn’t had time to assess the corps’ list of questions, Whitley said. Hampton’s Engineering Services will meet with consultants to determine how much time and work is required. It’s not clear how this could effect the construction schedule.
Whitley said last week that the project would depend on how quickly the city is able to obtain permits. Construction is expected to take about six months, but the city also has to carefully avoid nesting season for migratory birds as well as other environmental concerns. It’s anybody’s guess if it could be done by the end of summer 2009. Councilwoman Angela Leary has asked for an update on the city’s progress.
Rogers said the speed with which the permitting process proceeds depends on how quickly Hampton provides information to the corps.
"Look at the habitat in that area," Rogers said. "It’s bound to raise some questions."
Other questions posed by the corps:
–An explanation for dredging new navigation channels for boats.
–A study of the possible impact on federally threatened (state endangered) Northeastern tiger beetles, and a separate study on the federally threatened (state endangered) piping plover.
–An analysis of the effect on fish eggs, larvae, juvenile fish, etc. Species include windowpane flounder, bluefish, Atlantic butterfish, summer flounder, black sea bass, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, cobia, red drum, dusky shark and sandbar shark.
—–
To see more of the Daily Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailypress.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.