St. Joseph City Commissioners have heard a presentation on possible strategies to prevent beach erosion, thanks to a $200,000 state grant awarded to the city last year.
The city used the grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to hire Edgewater Resources to conduct a Shoreline Softening Study. Edgewater President Greg Weykamp told commissioners this week much could be accomplished by maintaining deposits of sand along the shore, not necessarily through the usual Army Corps dredging, but through a series of breakwaters.
“And so the idea is what we call pre-nourishment,” Weykamp said. “Can we put sand on the beach? Then can we put in these segmented breakwaters, and when we build those breakwaters, can they actually create habitat? Can we create those features and so forth?”
Weykamp said because of the piers in St. Joseph, sand that otherwise would naturally be carried by the currents south along the coast is stopped at the structures, leaving areas to the south, like Lions Park Beach, without regular replenishment. He said having some simple stone breakwaters could prevent sand that is deposited on the beach from washing out as quickly as it usually does.
“A really cool strategy. No pumps, no machines. Once you build it, it just works. You don’t have to keep paying for it.”
Weykamp said if something like that is done, the city and partners would have to verify that fish habitat isn’t being disrupted in order to satisfy state environmental regulators.
The Shoreline Softening Study is ongoing, and Weykamp said more data is being collected. He noted because much of the area from Tiscornia Beach all the way to Lions Park Beach is public land, securing permits would be relatively simple.
No cost estimate of any shoreline softening program was provided.
