Coastal Solutions

by John Ramsey

The North Atlantic Division “Denial with Prejudice” (April, 2008) of the individual permit application for the Winthrop Shores Reservation Restoration , a much needed beach nourishment project at Winthrop Beach, MA is a precedent setting decision that will likely impact the future of beach nourishment throughout the United States. The denial has been appealed by the project proponent (the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation). After nearly a decade of borrow site assessment, scientific research, meetings, and negotiations with various regulatory agencies and interested parties, the project applicant had received all of its state and local approvals for the project. (See: http://www.mass.gov/czm/chc/meetings/present/orfant_winthrop_4-10-06.pdf ) During this process, the applicant had assessed numerous upland borrow site options, as well as 14 offshore borrow sites. The sole remaining road block to the project was the Army Corps 404 individual permit. On October 1, 2008, the Chief of Engineers determined that the appeal had partial merit and the denial decision has been remanded to the North Atlantic Division for “further review of the reasons for appeal where merit was found.”

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