SANDWICH After months of delay, the public comment period for the proposed Town Neck Beach renourishment project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is open.
Michael Riccio, study manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New England District, initially told the Board of Selectmen in October that the public comment period would be open by the end of the month. The 30-day period instead opened March 4 and will run until April 3.
The Section 111 Shore Damage Mitigation Study proposes to restore a barrier beach and dune system by using approximately 388,000 cubic yards of beach-compatible material that would be dredged, pumped and graded onto Town Neck Beach from a nearshore borrow site adjacent to Scusset Beach.
A long-awaited report detailing the Cape Cod Canalâs role in starving the townâs beach of sand was made public this week by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
In short, the draft report says the jetties at the Cape Cod Canalâs east entrance entrance interrupt the natural transport of sand and âstarve the downdrift littoral system of sediment needed to maintain a stable shoreline.â
The US Army Corps also concluded, after years of study, that while the jetties are not the only cause of Sandwichâs shoreline erosion, the interruption caused by the jetties âsignificantly exacerbates erosion along the downdrift shoreline and is the primary cause of the ongoing threat that such erosion poses to the shoreline and surrounding coastal community.â