Seawalls, Geo-tubes, Beach Scraping and Beach Nourishment. What is the answer?

[aquaticbiology]

>>Geotubes were installed in Galveston, Texas, during turtle season by Hydraulitall. Turtles were found nesting behind the dunes created by Geotubes. Local officials conducted three daily turtle checks to make sure they were not intrusive to turtles, Edgar said.

while they were installing the tubes, no less - any new nesting? shouldn't matter really - dunes is dunes to turtles as long as theres's a foot deep dry sand above the high tide line

 

[Miss Kitty]

Geotube v. Protectube? Help me here!

 

[aquaticbiology]

same thing - just the brand name, like saying 'motor oil' vs 'Valvoline(TM)'

 

[Paula]

If a 25-30 foot waves comes will the geotube protect the dune under the house and thus protect the house? It seems to me that unless a geotube is 25-30 feet high, a wave could still come in and take the sand out from under the house. It seems like it would work with storms maybe up to cat 3 but would it work for a 4 or 5 (I realize not much at all would work for a 5)?

 

[Rita]

From Walton Sun
...... The county can issue temporary permits to property owners to install Geotubes, seawalls and other armoring structures. Owners have to then apply for a permanent permit from the Department of Environmental Protection within 60 days after completion of their armoring structure, according to Demers. The county has issued over 150 temporary permits.
If a permanent permit is not granted by DEP homeowners will have to remove their Geotubes. ..........

Is it likely that most of these seawalls, geotubes, and other structures will get their permanent permits? What determines which will?

If they do not, how long do they have to remove the seawall? :?:

 

[aquaticbiology]

I suppose it would act sort of like a seawall if the waves were up to the top of the tubes - and we have seen the data of what happens after the water gets behind a seawall

 

[SGB]

Geotube v. Protectube? Help me here!

Protectubes are more wedged shaped. Geotubes are oval. Other than that I don't know the difference, although the salesmen apparently say that there is.

The salespeople for the geotubes say that they aren't going to protect against a hurricane. They are designed to protect against a tropical storm where the water won't go above the tube.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Protectubes are more wedged shaped. Geotubes are oval. Other than that I don't know the difference, although the salesmen apparently say that there is.

The salespeople for the geotubes say that they aren't going to protect against a hurricane. They are designed to protect against a tropical storm where the water won't go above the tube.

The proposal at WC is for two Protectubes stacked to a height of 12 ft. Another homeowner and I have asked why not three of these things for a total height of 18 ft. We are responsible for the vertical of the dune while the gov't is responsible for the horizontal (beach). It does have a wedged shape and has different levels of coverings "supposedly" to protect from debris. It "supposedly" has held up at Longboat Key since 1988. The other option is to truck in more sand (I believe the cost was close to $1,000,000 last year) which WC (St. Joe) paid for. This more "permanent" solution will be an assessment, which I will gladly pay IF it is the best idea.

 

[Rita]

The proposal at WC is for two Protectubes stacked to a height of 12 ft. Another homeowner and I have asked why not three of these things for a total height of 18 ft. We are responsible for the vertical of the dune while the gov't is responsible for the horizontal (beach). It does have a wedged shape and has different levels of coverings "supposedly" to protect from debris. It "supposedly" has held up at Longboat Key since 1988. The other option is to truck in more sand (I believe the cost was close to $1,000,000 last year) which WC (St. Joe) paid for. This more "permanent" solution will be an assessment, which I will gladly pay IF it is the best idea.

It would seem from an aesthetic standpoint that the geotube type structures would be far and above the looks of the seawalls.

 

[aquaticbiology]

stuff a sock full of money, erm, I mean, sand, and place it in the water where the waves are breaking and see what happens

if it was me and were permitted by DEP, I'd have trucked in loads of big rock and covered the exposed and broken face of the dune line throughout the county then covered it up with a foot or so of white sand and had a nice jetty-type surface across the whole county. natural, simple and asthetically pleasing to look at as opposed to exposed seawalls and eventually exposed geotubes. plus, if the water does get behind the rocks and washes away some sand, the rock just falls back due to wave action to fill the hole - can't see a geotube moving to fill a void, but it ain't me and probably isn't permitted to have multiple ton-sized boulders protecting your exposed dune surface and the hodge-podge look seems to be what they are after at the county government level. jetties don't leak brown sand either.

I'm so sorry, I know it isn't right and it isn't fair - especially when they put the burden on the homeowner for the 'vertical' section of the dune when the failure to renourish the 'horizontal' area of the beach after each storm led to the loss of the 'vertical' area of the dune in the first place.