ConCom allows SBPF's bluff terracing to continue
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Whether the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund's bluff terracing project is a success or a complete failure in light of the losses suffered during last spring's storms is now the subject of a Conservation Commission review of storm damage to the project.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent It is jute-fiber bags of beach sand and pressure-treated posts against the fury of Mother Nature's nor'easters out at the Bluff on Baxter Road. Using an erosion abatement technique called terracing, the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund uses coconut fiber matting called coir, and now jute-fiber matting, rolled into large bags of sand, above, and folded over in layers going up the bluff face with sand in between and posts and planks holding it in place.

After the April 16 Patriot's Day nor'easter devastated much of the terracing installation on Bluff properties along Baxter Road, SBPF had 30 days to file a damage report with the ConCom.

If the commission reasoned that 33 percent or more of the entire project failed, it could then re-open SBPF's public hearing to reconsider its order of conditions.

April's Patriot's Day nor'easter that barked and clawed at the island's shores for three days made quick work of the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund's bluff terracing installations. SBPF is in the process of rebuilding its terracing after cleaning up the matting, posts and planks that washed up all around the island. ROB BENCHLEY/ The Independent file

SBPF filed a damage report with the Conservation Commission on May 17, but the commission still had many questions. At the ConCom's June 13 meeting, the commissioners discussed with SBPF and its engineers just how much of the 2,000 lineal feet of the project had failed, and how SBPF plans to proceed.

The terracing project is designed to hold certain sections of the bluff along Baxter Road in place until SBPF can begin rebuilding three miles of beach with 2.6 million cubic yards of sand from a shoal three miles off Sankaty.

To hold the bluff face in place, SBPF used coconut fiber mats called coir, that were folded over accordionstyle with sand in between each fold. All of it was anchored into the bluff with four-inch-by-four-inch pressuretreated posts and pressure-treated planks. But the combination of nor'easters in March and April caused much of the bluff terracing to wash down to the beach below, forcing one homeowner, Sam Furrow at 87 Baxter Road, to move his house back from the edge of the bluff.

At its June 13 meeting, the ConCom questioned the ability of the terraces to do their intended job and SBPF's cleanup of terracing materials that ultimately ended up strewn all around the island's shores.

"It's fairly obvious that the general public is not happy with the amount of debris that has ended up on the beach from the last storm and other storms in the past," said ConCom member Clark Whitcomb. "What will reduce this amount of debris on the beaches after a storm?"

Island bird expert Edie Ray reported seeing wads of coir, along with posts and planks on the outside beaches of Coatue, in front of Hummock Pond and at Eel Point. Although SBPF Coastal Engineer Mark Ritz of Epsilon Associates of Maynard, Mass. said that clean-up crews found most of the debris along Nantucket's eastern shores, some was seen at Dionis, inside Sesachacha Pond and on Esther Island.

"The majority of the material was collected between Codfish Park and Great Point," said Ritz. "Some of the material was collected in Sesachacha Pond, a small amount of material was collected in Madaket and a very small amount of material was collected on the outside of Coatue."

Since January, when the commission allowed SBPF to amend its original order of conditions, Rizt said they have cut the amount of coir used in the project by 70- to 75 percent. Additionally, SBPF switched from coir to jute fiber matting last week, which breaks down quicker than coir. And instead of folding the matting over itself going up from the toe of the bluff, Ritz said that they would be using 3-foot-by-5-foot-by-50-foot jute bags filled with sand and secured to the beach as a base for the terracing. The base bags will be held in place with duckbill anchors attached to steel cables that in turn will be attached to one-inch jute ropes that connect to the bags. And the terracing would start from these bags.

"Under the amended order . . . which you approved with jute terraces and anchoring, we're hoping, based on the new design, that there will be substantially less material broadcast into the system," SBPF attorney Bill Hunter told the ConCom.

SBPF is marking all its posts and planks with its insignia and stitching orange jute line into its bags so all of its materials can be identified.

Still, the commission needs more information from SBPF. "I don't think we can evaluate the success or failure of the project until we get a little bit more information," said ConCom Chairwoman Ginger Andrews.

The ConCom asked that SBPF drop off a sample of the jute matting and that it continue its damage assessment. I