City of St. Augustine seeks $3M flood study from Army Corps. (SAR)

St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver's visit to Washington, D.C. last week showed government at its best, in a Nation's Capitol presided over by the worst of the worst, DONALD JOHN TRUMP.  Mayor Shaver and the city have the support of U.S. Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL-4) for the study of feasibility of storm surge gates, tidal gates, dredging, pump stations, flood walls and other improvements.  

Good work!

Meanwhile, an apparent climate change denier in our midst -- other-directed Vice Mayor LEANNA SOPHIA AMARU FREEMAN -- mutters about matters beyond her comprehension and behaved like a proverbial Pavlov's Dog in response to the City Manager JOHN PATRICK REGAN, P.E.'s Reflecting Pool -- his maladroit South Davis Shores purchase of land for more than it's worth on Coquina Avenue from real estate salesman, A.D. Davis Construction employee and WFOY Hate Radio personality Troy Blevins (whose real estate license lapsed several years ago for lack of continuing education credits).

Mayor Nancy Shaver has done the research, taken the water course in the Netherlands, and is working to preserve and protect St. Augustine from ocean level rise.   

We need more real leaders like Nancy Shaver and fewer like camp followers like LEANNA FREEMAN, long the favorite of disgraceful former Mayors LEN WEEKS and JOE BOLES, and now possibly their preferred candidate for Mayor in 2020. 

Ideas have consequences. 

When We the People defeated Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR. in 2014, there was no turning back.

Data-based decisions. 

Respecting human rights.

Asking questions, demanding answers, expecting democracy.

This is what our City government is becoming, before our very eyes.

The days of the City's evil City Manager, WILLIAM BARRY HARRIS, secretly dumping a landfill in a lake and thinking it was cute, escaping criminal prosecution -- those days are over.

We're dealing with climate change, and as Sir Winston Spencer Churchill told the British House of Commons in 1936, we're now entering a period of consequences. 

(Folio Weekly)

Mayor Nancy Shaver shows 2030 ocean level rise maps to Senator Marco Antonio Rubio (R-Florida) 

(Senator Rubio's office via Facebook)

(HCN)

From St. Augustine Record:

City of St. Augustine seeks $3M flood study from Army Corps


The city of St. Augustine has asked for federal funding for a $3 million study by the U.S. Army Corps to address flooding and sea level rise. The study could look at the feasibility of storm surge gates, tidal gates to reduce the impact of high tides, dredging, pump stations, flood walls, and more. [PETER WILLOTT/THE RECORD]

By Sheldon Gardner
Posted Jan 18, 2019 at 5:58 PM
Updated Jan 18, 2019 at 10:09 PM
St. Augustine Record

The city of St. Augustine is pressing to receive federal funding for a $3 million study by the U.S. Army Corps to address flooding and sea level rise.

Mayor Nancy Shaver recently visited Washington, D.C., to ask for support from U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. John Rutherford and others.

The city has already received a letter of support from Rutherford.

“The way for us to be successful is to constantly remind people who can influence priorities,” Shaver said. “It has a political element.”

In October, City Manager John Regan sent a letter requesting funding for the study to the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works.

Jason Harrah, project engineer for the Army Corps, said the city requested the study by the Army Corps. He’s talked with city officials, and the Corps backs the project — but it’s up to Congress to appropriate the funding.

The study would look at all options for curbing flooding in the city and come up with the solutions that provide the greatest benefit for the cost, Harrah said.

The focus would be both on flooding from major storms, rain events and nor’easters as well as high tides, he said.

The study could look at the feasibility of storm surge gates, tidal gates to reduce the impact of high tides, dredging, pump stations and flood walls, among other things.


Other options include things like living shorelines that can absorb floodwaters, Shaver said.

Though it’s not clear how much any of those options would cost, Harrah said the range can be from $5 million to $50 million.

The city’s entire budget for this fiscal year is about $58 million.

Aside from the cost, St. Augustine’s historic resources are a major consideration, he said.

″(In) St. Augustine, whatever we do has to be very culturally sensitive,” he said.

But, again, it all depends on money.

The Army Corps gets thousands of study requests every year across the country, Harrah said, but added the St. Augustine study is a priority for the Jacksonville district.


A pot of money set aside for studies related to major storm events could still be used for the St. Augustine study, Harrah said. Failing that, federal officials could include the St. Augustine study in the Army Corps’ 2019 work plan, which will come out in the spring. But it hasn’t been decided.

If approved, the Army Corps would pay 50 percent of the cost of the feasibility study and would share the cost of design, permitting, construction, operation and maintenance of anything the Army Corps builds, Harrah said.

The scope of the study would be hashed out with city officials if approved, and the Corps would ask for public comments on any project ideas to make sure they’re right for the city, he said.

Sea level rise and flooding are on the radar of both local, state and national elected officials.

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced he’s creating an “Office of Resiliency” to help protect the state from sea level rise, according to the Associated Press.