SWG-2003-01546 - Texas Parks and Wildlife Department - Aransas County

Full Public Notice          Project Plans

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:  The applicant proposes to elevate an approximately 300-foot-long section of Park Road 13 (Trout Street) approximately 12 to 24 inches within its existing footprint, and construct a 624-foot-long sheet pile seawall with a concrete cap that would tie into existing seawalls on either side of the proposed project site.  The area between the seawall and the road would be backfilled with a combination of smaller riprap/oyster shell/shell hash.  There would be no temporary or permanent construction impacts north or northeast of the current asphalt edge of the road.  Approximately 450 cubic yards of stone riprap would be placed in front of the seawall to dissipate wave energy and compensate for ecological impacts to waters of the United States (U.S.).  In order to maintain pedestrian access to the water for recreational activities, the seawall would have two openings and stairs leading to the natural bay bottom, approximately 2 feet below the top of the seawall.  Riprap would not be placed in front of the access stairs.

The purpose of the project is to provide dependable access to and from the camping area and fishing pier, and to prevent a breach of Goose Island, which would potentially destroy valuable salt marsh and seagrass habitat found on the leeward side of the island.  The project as proposed would impact 0.261-acre of unvegetated bay bottom and 0.083-acre of vegetated estuarine marsh for a total of 0.344-acre of impacts to waters of the U.S.  Construction would require placing 295.47 cubic yards of fill material in unvegetated bay bottom habitat and 71.39 cubic yards in vegetated estuarine marsh for a total of 366.86 cubic yards of fill placed into waters of the U.S.