Multi-Agency Meeting Held at NE Marina Seeking Resolution to the Sand Problem

Representatives from several state and federal agencies, local legislators and the marina authority board met on Thursday trying to resolve the very costly issue of moving sand as the marina is currently required to do. In attendance were representatives from the PA Fish and Boat Commission, the PA Department of Environmental Protection, the Army Corps of Engineers, the US Coast Guard, PA State Representative Jake Banta, PA State Senator Dan Laughlin along with Tim Truitt, Amy Burniston and Ed Mascharka of the marina authority board, Nick Mobilia and several others. The purpose of the meeting was to get everyone who has decision making authority on this matter into the same room, eliminating the all too common long chains of emails and phone calls between individuals and multiple agencies.

The problem

After a presentation by Amy Burniston on the timeline of the problem from marina construction to the present day, there were additional comments from Ed Mascharka and Tim Truitt and others covering a wide range of options for sand movement and replenishment, up to and including everything from removal of the entire marina to letting the sand go wherever natural littoral flow around the marina takes it and all of the options in between. Building structures in the lake to interrupt and direct the flow of sand and trucking sand in from an external source to fill in east of the marina were discussed, but it was also asked whether the current permits and legal requirements could be modified and if so, how? PFBC, DEP and Army Corps all offered input.

Dredging and the DEP

A separate issue was the dredging of the marina basin. Tim Truitt made the point that what had been done for many years, moving sand over the wall and returning it directly to the lake suddenly became illegal, requiring the removal of the sand, draining it on land in the parking lot then moving it to a landfill, a very costly operation on its own, above and beyond the issue of sand movement and replenishment on the shoreline. He asked, but no one in the DEP was able to answer what changed, even suggesting it may have been illegal all along. Also, oddly, the individual from the DEP Tim referenced as having known of and given permission for the “over the wall” process, is now unknown to the agency and it can’t be determined how the process was suddenly discovered to be illegal.

Unsustainable costs

The Fish and Boat Commission has agreed to shoulder the costs of sand movement next year, but this problem must be solved or the marina will cease operation. The most recent dredging of just one quarter of the basin cost almost $200 thousand dollars. Added to the cost of the sand replenishment, the total cost every year is more than $800 thousand dollars, more than the marina earns in a good year. The authority cannot take ownership from the PFBC until and unless this problem is dealt with which is why this meeting was held.

What does this all mean?

The regulations on dredging and the court decision on sand replenishment as they exist make the marina financially unfeasible, but a marina facility that’s not operating doesn’t disappear, it physically remains as does the need to move sand. Who will pay for that? Well, then just remove the marina. That would cost many millions of dollars, who would pay for that? Pennsylvania? If money exists for that purpose, why not spend it to correct whatever issues exist, building whatever barriers or offshore breakwalls or artificial reefs that would fix the issue on a long term basis? Of course, removing the marina or just shutting it down, also destroys an enormous economic benefit to the entire community and tax revenues from that economic activity to the local and state governments.

What can’t go on forever, won’t

The various agencies exhibit little sense of urgency, perhaps, thinking if ignored long enough the problem will just go away, but it won’t. Current demands will kill the marina while leaving the problem intact. The various agencies say they understand and want the marina to succeed, but when the authority asks for clear guidance on what they can do next, the agencies have no answer, because, in reality, it’s not their job to come up with solutions, they exist to enforce regulations and approve permits.

There was even more in the meeting, but for all of that, it remains unclear what the authority can do next, results of the meeting were somewhat mixed. On a positive note, the marina will be in operation next year, that much we know, though clarity on the issue of sand movement and dredging was not yet achieved. The authority board is hard at work looking for solutions and as soon as more information is available, you’ll be able to read about it here.