Mayor Jeff Collier said that Douglass' report, expected this fall, should help advance efforts of the past two years to rebuild the barrier island, which has lost hundreds of feet from erosion in recent decades.
"The island needs a unified voice so that we are all on the same page," the mayor said.
The Town Council agreed to pay Douglass up to $29,970 to "explain the island's erosion problems along the southern shoreline, the available engineering and management solutions, including rough cost estimates ... and the available external funding mechanisms," according to the contract.
Barrier islands naturally change shape and move as sand travels east-to-west with the coastal waves. But a recent U.S. Geological Survey report found that the Mississippi-Alabama chain of barrier islands -- including Dauphin Island -- are disappearing because of higher sea levels, more frequent and intense storms, and a lack of sand caused by dredging of nearby ship channels.
Douglass said his work for Dauphin Island is on a private consultant basis. In 2002, the University of South Alabama professor wrote a book titled "Saving America's Beaches: The Causes of and Solutions to Beach Erosion."
Douglass said he'll be looking at all possible solutions for seven miles of Gulf beach on the inhabited portion of the island.
"Sand is your problem and sand is probably your solution if you want to live on that western three miles," Douglass said, describing the west end of the island, where some property owners' lots along the Gulf are under water.
"The rest of the island will always be there," he said, although pointing out that the east end will have problems "because it's going to want to migrate west."
He said that he plans to meet with state and federal officials and collect all of the recently published scientific data about the island as part of his research.
Beach nourishment projects usually call for large amounts of sand to be added back to the beaches along with erosion-fighting additions such as building dunes or planting vegetation.
Such projects can cost $1 million to $4 million per mile, depending on the scale and where the sand comes from, Douglass said.
He said he would give a presentation to the Town Council in late September or early October.
Douglass has long maintained that sand coming from the east falls into the Mobile Ship Channel, where it collects until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredges it up and dumps it offshore. Nearly 10 years ago, the Dauphin Island Property Owners Association filed a lawsuit against the federal government blaming erosion on the dredging.
The litigation is close to ending after a proposed settlement was filed in U.S. Court of Federal Claims this month. Under its terms, Dauphin Island property owners would receive $1.5 million from the federal and Alabama governments to help fund beach rebuilding.
A judge must give approval before the settlement is final.
Last year, Hurricane Gustav wiped out a 3-mile protective sand berm along the west end. The berm was designed to block the force of waves during storms in the Gulf.
"Hopefully, he will be able to help us," Councilwoman Mary Thompson said of Douglass. "We're going to be in serious trouble if a storm comes through. ... It's not just us that's going to take a hit. It's going to be Bayou La Batre and Coden, because that water is going to come zooming in."
THE TOWN of Dauphin Island has taken another critical step toward saving the rapidly disappearing west end of the barrier island.
With the hiring of Scott Douglass, a noted coastal engineer and professor at the University of South Alabama, town officials have staked the island's future on the development of a comprehensive plan to control and offset beach-destroying erosion.
Dr. Douglass, the author of a book titled "Saving America's Beaches: The Causes of and Solutions to Beach Erosion," will study the island's erosion problem and recommend solutions. He also will have the crucial task of estimating the cost of saving the beaches and suggesting possible sources of funding to cover that cost.
Until recently, Dauphin Island officials had relied on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fund the application of the engineering equivalent of a Band-Aid to the devastation on the west end. From 2000 to 2007, FEMA paid $4.5 million for sand berms that provided temporary protection for homeowners. The berms were swept away by storms, while the sand on the west end continued to disappear at an alarming rate.
Last year Dauphin Island residents turned a corner in dealing with the severe erosion. The Dauphin Island Property Owners Association, which owns the west end beach, opened it to the public. This was the essential first step in qualifying for state and federal beach renourishment funds.
Beach renourishment has worked well in other coastal areas, but it takes a lot of public money to pay for a large-scale restoration project. Town officials now recognize they must build their arguments for state and federal aid on issues larger than saving houses on one part of the island.
A key part of the argument for saving Dauphin Island is the value of the tourism it generates for the state. But, even more important, Dauphin Island is a barrier island — or, to borrow a term from a Mississippi official — it's a "speed bump" that softens the impact of storms on heavily developed coastal areas.
Mississippi's speed bumps — Ship, Horn and Petit Bois islands — are being restored with $439 million in federal funding. U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., makes the point that the restoration of the barrier islands could save taxpayers money in the long run by helping to limit the damage from storm surges caused by hurricanes.
That is a very good argument for including Dauphin Island, which is part of the same geological chain as the Mississippi barrier islands, in the federal restoration project.
Dauphin Island officials, First District Congressman Jo Bonner and U.S. Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions need to present a united front on the renourishment issue. Dr. Douglass' work should provide the foundation for a common-sense appeal for federal assistance.
DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. -- After nearly a decade of legal proceedings, Dauphin Island property owners and the federal government have reached a proposed final settlement over erosion that would give the island about $1.5 million toward restoring the beaches, according to court records.
The Dauphin Island Property Owners Association filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2000 that blamed chronic erosion and land loss on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dredging activities in the Mobile Ship Channel.
The lawsuit claimed that sand naturally flowing on westward currents was trapped in the channel and prevented from replenishing the island's beaches.
A lawyer who represents the Property Owners Association and a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.
"The settlement agreement reached...if approved, will put an end to years of litigation and will likely avoid more years of litigation and uncertainty," said Bill Harper, president of the Property Owners Association, in a letter to members. "This lawsuit and other litigation has been an obstacle to moving forward with efforts to secure projects that will restore Dauphin Island.
According to the proposed settlement, the federal government would pay $1.44 million and Alabama's government would pay another $60,000. The funds -- after legal fees -- would have to be applied to a phase of a beach restoration project: a feasibility study, engineering or putting sand on the beach, according to court records.
Because it is a class action lawsuit, a hearing for property owners to voice their opinions about the proposed settlement has been scheduled in federal court on Sept. 15. A federal judge must approve the settlement.
Erosion has plagued the island and hundreds of feet of beach have been lost in some areas on the Gulf of Mexico side. Barrier islands naturally grow, change shape and move with the currents, but the lawsuit claimed land loss was caused by the Corps' dredging practices.
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