Many Oppose Pilot Town Marina Project
Sunday, January 01, 2006
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter
GULF SHORES -- A large-scale marina development proposal for a Fort Morgan tract that includes the site of the 19th century Pilot Town settlement received nearly uniform opposition from government regulators, conservation groups and the public this fall when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sought opinions on the designs.
Chicago-based PRM Realty Group Inc. has asked the corps for permission to dredge 55 acres of water bottoms to establish a 21-acre marina basin capable of docking 290 boats and create an 8,831-foot-long channel to allow large vessels to traverse shoal-like St. Andrews Bay and reach the Intracoastal Waterway.
Using the dredged sand, the company proposes building a 38-acre beach that would stretch nearly 2,400 feet along Navy Cove and serve a medium- and high-density residential development, according to plans filed with the corps.
The designs also show that PRM seeks to fill about 2 acres of wetlands, surround a small grassy island with riprap, solidify the marina's western edge with 810 feet of bulkhead, and protect the deepened basin with a wave fence nearly 1,300 feet long.
That's all a bad idea that could ruin the area's ecology and unique history, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Alabama Department of Environmental Management, other groups and agencies and more than 40 individuals, according to written responses to the proposal, which were acquired from the corps by the Mobile Register via the Freedom of Information Act.
"The proposed action will impact approximately 93 acres of coastal habitat currently used by fish and wildlife species for foraging, reproduction and as a nursery area," wrote Larry Goldman, a Daphne-based Fish & Wildlife Service supervisor, in his agency's comments. "The disruption of this ecosystem by a commercial development of this magnitude could cause the permanent loss of habitat that sustains commercial and recreational fisheries of significant economic value."
The Fish & Wildlife Service runs the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, part of which -- 1,990 acres of piney woods, saltwater marsh and tidal creeks called the Little Point Clear Unit -- sits across St. Andrews Bay from the proposed development site.
George Crozier, director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, began his written response: "I don't think that I have seen a proposal for a residential development that I thought would have a greater impact on natural features than this one. This action will virtually obliterate the ecological services of Little Point Clear for all time."
Jennifer Urquhart, senior vice president of marketing for PRM, said last week that the project manager working on the Fort Morgan development is no longer with the company and that all of PRM's plans along the Gulf Coast are under re-evaluation following Hurricane Katrina. At the moment, PRM is looking for a new project manager for the area, tying up loose ends on the property's title and mulling the responses generated by the corps request for public comment, she said.
"It's not dead in the water," Urquhart said, "but we're not moving aggressively on it."
Urquhart, based in Washington state, said PRM is considering several projects in the Mobile area and would "be sensitive to ecological and cultural issues" at the Fort Morgan property.
In March, PRM paid Mobile lawyer Mike Langan and a group of his family members $18.85 million for 148 acres, according to Baldwin County Probate Court records. The entirety of the tract is within the wildlife refuge's congressionally outlined acquisition boundary, which means that the undeveloped Pilot Town property could become part of the sanctuary if it were purchased by the government or donated by a preservation group.
In 2001, the Fish & Wildlife Service offered $2 million to the Langans, who three years earlier outbid local preservationists in an auction of the land by paying $620,000.
Formerly a sort of communal settlement for mariners who guided seagoing vessels around the sandbars of Mobile Bay to port, Pilot Town was destroyed in a 1906 hurricane.
Today, traces of the town are plainly visible by boat. What appears to have been a red-brick cistern hugs the Navy Cove shoreline, emblazoned in fresh white lettering with "Pilot Town," and a corner of what was likely a fireplace juts from the still water just offshore.
The property, like the refuge land nearby, plays host to, most notably, marsh birds such as king rails and seaside sparrows as well as osprey, which roost in dead trees, according to Wildlife Service officials. The shallow bay and marshy inlets shelter a range of aquatic species from infant fish to shrimp and crabs.
The corps records indicate that PRM faces an uphill battle to see its marina plans materialize.
Considerable opposition comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which wrote that the project would result in "substantial and unacceptable" impacts to the bay and violate the Clean Water Act. The EPA contends that using the dredged sand to fill an aquatic environment when other disposal options are available breaches federal rules.
State agencies and the public also raised questions about allowing the Chicago-based company to use the water bottoms, which are state lands, to create a private beach.
On Oct. 24, after reviewing the public comments, corps project manager Munther Sahawneh wrote PRM and its local engineers, Volkert & Associates, asking them to address the concerns, particularly those of the federal agencies, before the corps could decide whether to allow the requested dredging, filling and bulkheading.
"The corps and commenting agencies do not feel that you have given serious consideration to less environmentally damaging on-site alternatives," Sahawneh wrote.
On Nov. 16, in the most recent correspondence released by the corps, Volkert's Adrienne Paige Collins e-mailed Sahawneh asking for more time to examine "alternative marina locations" and resolve "archaeological issues on the site" with the corps and the Alabama Historical Commission.
Nearly all of the 45 individuals who wrote to the corps stressed opposition to the project in their letters. None indicated that he or she favored the marina designs, though some -- including U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile; state Sen. Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose; and state Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Gulf Shores -- merely requested a public hearing on the matter.
Marilyn Phipps, a corps spokeswoman, said last week that there's been no decision regarding a public hearing.
PRM's Urquhart said that no aspect of the project would move forward without the company, which has developed high-end real estate in Hawaii, Monaco and the Virgin Islands, meeting with local stakeholders. "You can count on us to listen and to go on with caution," she said.
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter
GULF SHORES -- A large-scale marina development proposal for a Fort Morgan tract that includes the site of the 19th century Pilot Town settlement received nearly uniform opposition from government regulators, conservation groups and the public this fall when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sought opinions on the designs.
Chicago-based PRM Realty Group Inc. has asked the corps for permission to dredge 55 acres of water bottoms to establish a 21-acre marina basin capable of docking 290 boats and create an 8,831-foot-long channel to allow large vessels to traverse shoal-like St. Andrews Bay and reach the Intracoastal Waterway.
Using the dredged sand, the company proposes building a 38-acre beach that would stretch nearly 2,400 feet along Navy Cove and serve a medium- and high-density residential development, according to plans filed with the corps.
The designs also show that PRM seeks to fill about 2 acres of wetlands, surround a small grassy island with riprap, solidify the marina's western edge with 810 feet of bulkhead, and protect the deepened basin with a wave fence nearly 1,300 feet long.
That's all a bad idea that could ruin the area's ecology and unique history, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Alabama Department of Environmental Management, other groups and agencies and more than 40 individuals, according to written responses to the proposal, which were acquired from the corps by the Mobile Register via the Freedom of Information Act.
"The proposed action will impact approximately 93 acres of coastal habitat currently used by fish and wildlife species for foraging, reproduction and as a nursery area," wrote Larry Goldman, a Daphne-based Fish & Wildlife Service supervisor, in his agency's comments. "The disruption of this ecosystem by a commercial development of this magnitude could cause the permanent loss of habitat that sustains commercial and recreational fisheries of significant economic value."
The Fish & Wildlife Service runs the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, part of which -- 1,990 acres of piney woods, saltwater marsh and tidal creeks called the Little Point Clear Unit -- sits across St. Andrews Bay from the proposed development site.
George Crozier, director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, began his written response: "I don't think that I have seen a proposal for a residential development that I thought would have a greater impact on natural features than this one. This action will virtually obliterate the ecological services of Little Point Clear for all time."
Jennifer Urquhart, senior vice president of marketing for PRM, said last week that the project manager working on the Fort Morgan development is no longer with the company and that all of PRM's plans along the Gulf Coast are under re-evaluation following Hurricane Katrina. At the moment, PRM is looking for a new project manager for the area, tying up loose ends on the property's title and mulling the responses generated by the corps request for public comment, she said.
"It's not dead in the water," Urquhart said, "but we're not moving aggressively on it."
Urquhart, based in Washington state, said PRM is considering several projects in the Mobile area and would "be sensitive to ecological and cultural issues" at the Fort Morgan property.
In March, PRM paid Mobile lawyer Mike Langan and a group of his family members $18.85 million for 148 acres, according to Baldwin County Probate Court records. The entirety of the tract is within the wildlife refuge's congressionally outlined acquisition boundary, which means that the undeveloped Pilot Town property could become part of the sanctuary if it were purchased by the government or donated by a preservation group.
In 2001, the Fish & Wildlife Service offered $2 million to the Langans, who three years earlier outbid local preservationists in an auction of the land by paying $620,000.
Formerly a sort of communal settlement for mariners who guided seagoing vessels around the sandbars of Mobile Bay to port, Pilot Town was destroyed in a 1906 hurricane.
Today, traces of the town are plainly visible by boat. What appears to have been a red-brick cistern hugs the Navy Cove shoreline, emblazoned in fresh white lettering with "Pilot Town," and a corner of what was likely a fireplace juts from the still water just offshore.
The property, like the refuge land nearby, plays host to, most notably, marsh birds such as king rails and seaside sparrows as well as osprey, which roost in dead trees, according to Wildlife Service officials. The shallow bay and marshy inlets shelter a range of aquatic species from infant fish to shrimp and crabs.
The corps records indicate that PRM faces an uphill battle to see its marina plans materialize.
Considerable opposition comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which wrote that the project would result in "substantial and unacceptable" impacts to the bay and violate the Clean Water Act. The EPA contends that using the dredged sand to fill an aquatic environment when other disposal options are available breaches federal rules.
State agencies and the public also raised questions about allowing the Chicago-based company to use the water bottoms, which are state lands, to create a private beach.
On Oct. 24, after reviewing the public comments, corps project manager Munther Sahawneh wrote PRM and its local engineers, Volkert & Associates, asking them to address the concerns, particularly those of the federal agencies, before the corps could decide whether to allow the requested dredging, filling and bulkheading.
"The corps and commenting agencies do not feel that you have given serious consideration to less environmentally damaging on-site alternatives," Sahawneh wrote.
On Nov. 16, in the most recent correspondence released by the corps, Volkert's Adrienne Paige Collins e-mailed Sahawneh asking for more time to examine "alternative marina locations" and resolve "archaeological issues on the site" with the corps and the Alabama Historical Commission.
Nearly all of the 45 individuals who wrote to the corps stressed opposition to the project in their letters. None indicated that he or she favored the marina designs, though some -- including U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile; state Sen. Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose; and state Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Gulf Shores -- merely requested a public hearing on the matter.
Marilyn Phipps, a corps spokeswoman, said last week that there's been no decision regarding a public hearing.
PRM's Urquhart said that no aspect of the project would move forward without the company, which has developed high-end real estate in Hawaii, Monaco and the Virgin Islands, meeting with local stakeholders. "You can count on us to listen and to go on with caution," she said.
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