Dike 14 offers suggested comments for USACE on new CDF, information and a petition

This came via email today. I urge citizens to read through the Dredged Materials Management Plan, or if you are already convinced that a new 200 acre port at E55th is not the solution, send the comments below. Add your voice to a rising chorus that does not see the efficacy of this ill concieved plan. Ed Hauser can no loger add his voice, we must speak.

In an earlier informational email, Dike 14 member states: "The key idea from the Army Corps DMMP/EIS is that it identifies as its "tentatively selected CDF site" exactly what the Port Authority wants:  a 157-acre CDF at East 55th that is constructed for future industrial port use.  This CDF would wrap around the East 55th Lakefront State Park and Marina.  It is to be build as three cells, and the first to be built would be the easternmost cell - which will destroy in the short term (possibly as soon as 2012) the East 55th St. State Park and the public bikeway/fishing access that links East 55th St. State Park to Gordon Lakefront State Park at East 72nd Street.  At a later date, the Port (not the Army Corps) would then fill in the 43-acre East 55th State Marina to create a total landmass of 200 acres." 

You may also reference the attached information sheet and if you are so inclined, print out the attached petition and gather signatures to stop this plan.

1)  If you know of groups who might want to schedule with us for our 45-minute PowerPoint presentation (to which we add another 15 minutes of Q&A - or more depending on the group's interest), please let me know.  The title of our presentation is "Why the Port's plan at East 55th is NOT in the public interest."   

 

2)  Help us with signatures on our PETITION. Attached is the PETITION & our main HANDOUT.  Please copy these docs and circulate for signatures on the PETITION.  Return your signed sheets to the P.O. box given at the bottom of the petition sheet, no later than Friday, Dec. 4th, so that I can include your signed sheets as part of the Committee's comments to Army Corps.  

 

To date our PETITION has been signed by more than 1,100 Ohio citizens.  Following in the tradition of Ed Hauser, we want even more, so we hope you can help us out.  The signed petition sheets will be copied and made part of our submission of comments to the Corps on the DMMP/EIS.  We have already sent 875 signatures to Governor Strickland and ODNR Director Logan, and will continue to send them signed sheets as they come to us.  

 

I have been so mindful of Ed throughout the past 11 months, as I'm sure you have.  As we approach the first anniversary of Ed's death, I really hope for a concerted effort opposing this destructive Port/Army Corps plan at East 55th Street.  

 

To:       Dike 14 Nature Preserve Committee & Friends

From:  Barbara A. Martin, Chair, Dike 14 Nature Preserve Committee   

            Bill Gruber, Vice Chair, Dike 14 Nature Preserve Committee

Date:   October 25, 2009

Re:    ArMY CORPS EXTENDS PUBLIC COMMENT period TO December 7, 2009

          suggested comments below

The Army Corps has issued a new deadline of Monday, December 7, 2009 for submitting written comments to the Corps on the Draft DMMP/EIS for Cleveland Harbor.  Please consider submitting comments to the Army Corps! 

As we’ve mentioned previously, Army Corps’ Draft DMMP/EIS for Cleveland Harbor is online at http://www.lrb.usace.army.mil/missions/cleveland/index.html [1].  You can also find this document at the Cleveland Public Main Library, 325 Superior Ave. and the Cleveland Public Addison Branch Library, 6901 Superior Ave.

DMMP/EIS = Dredged Material Management Plan & Environmental Impact Statement. 

The Army Corps’ Draft DMMP/EIS for Cleveland Harbor sets forth three alternative locations for constructing Cleveland’s next CDF, namely: “Site 2,” “Site 3” and “Site 4,” and two concepts for each location.  These are identified as:   

         1)  “Site 2/2A” located at the West Breakwall near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River,

         2)  “Site 3/3A” located at the East Breakwall near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and

         3)  “Site 4/4A” located at Cleveland’s recreational shoreline from East 55 St. to East 72 St., four to five miles east of the Cuyahoga River.

        Throughout the 200-page Draft DMMP/EIS, the Army Corps states that “Site 4A” is the “tentatively selected CDF site” because that’s what the Port Authority wants.  

         However, “Site 4A” (the “tentatively selected CDF site”) would:

                     a) impose excessive and ongoing costs to the citizens and taxpayers of Cuyahoga County and Ohio;

                     b) destroy the East 55th St. Cleveland Lakefront State Park & Marina; 

                     c) environmentally, aesthetically, and functionally degrade all surrounding shoreline uses, including the Gordon Lakefront State Park, InterCity Yacht Club, Dike 14 Nature Preserve, the Lakefront bikeway and fishing access from East 55 to East 72 St., the residential complex of Quay 55 (a property that is on the National Register for Historic Places), and the private yacht clubs to the west of Quay 55; and 

                     d) destroy more than 157 acres of protected waters for recreational boating within the U.S. East Breakwall.

         Thus, the Port’s wishes (in our researched opinion) should NOT be the determining factor in site selection. On all counts, we conclude that “Site 2/2A” and “Site 3/3A” are far less damaging and costly than “Site 4/4A.” 

SUGGESTED COMMENTS TO SUBMIT TO THE ARMY CORPS

         Below are our suggested comments on the Draft DMMP/EIS that you may use verbatim (i.e. copy, paste, sign and send) or use to inspire your own comments to the Army Corps.

         WE URGE EVERYONE TO SUBMIT COMMENTS TO THE ARMY CORPS!

              E-mail your comments to:  Christine [dot] M [dot] Cardus [at] usace [dot] army [dot] mil

              or

              U.S. mail your comments to:  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

                                                                 ATTN: Christine M. Cardus

                                                     1776 Niagara Street

                                                                Buffalo, New York  14207    

        Please contact us if you have any questions about the DMMP/EIS or the suggested comments. 

        Barbara Martin at 440-243-9070 barbaramartin2001 [at] juno [dot] com

        Bill Gruber at 216-371-3570 GruberWL [at] aol [dot] com   

_____________________________________________________________________

To:  Army Corps of Engineers

       ATTN: Christine M. Cardus, Christine [dot] M [dot] Cardus [at] usace [dot] army [dot] mil

       1776 Niagara Street

      Buffalo, New York  14207    

Subject:  Comments to Army Corps on the Draft DMMP/EIS for Cleveland Harbor

Dear Army Corps,

       I strongly object to the Army Corps’ "tentatively selected 157-acre CDF site at East 55th" identified as “Site 4/4A” for the following reasons:

       1)  Site 4/4A will destroy 157 acres of protected recreational Lake Erie waters within the U.S. East Breakwall, waters that surround our Cleveland Lakefront State Park and Marina at East 55th Street.  Such a huge loss of recreational waters will destroy and degrade recreational boating in Cleveland’s East Harbor and negatively impact the sailing clubs, public boat ramps, marinas, and yacht clubs.  

        2)  Site 4/4A will destroy public use and enjoyment of the East 55th St. Lakefront State Park even before it destroys public use and enjoyment of the State Marina, because the Park will be impacted by phase one of construction for Site 4/4A. The East 55th State Park is a small but vital urban lakefront park, where people can experience Lake Erie close up, with spectacular views, a great promenade, fishing access for recreational and subsistence fishing, and convenient and ample parking.

        3)  Site 4A is being constructed for and intended to be used by the Port Authority as an industrial port facility, which will ultimately destroy the East 55th St. State Marina and what's left of the State Park, and destroy the recreational shoreline from Burke Airport to the Village of Bratenahl.  This CDF/industrial use will destroy the entire East 55th St. Lakefront State Park & Marina, the 157 acres of protected recreational waters within the East Breakwall, as well as the beautiful views of Lake Erie.  It will also significantly and negatively impact Dike 14 Nature Preserve, InterCity Yacht Club, Gordon Lakefront State Park, Quay 55 residential complex (a property that is on the National Register of Historic Places), and private yacht clubs to the west of Quay 55, as well as destroy the Lakefront bikeway and fishing access between East 55th and East 72nd Street. 

         4) While Site 4A is the Corps’ “tentatively selected CDF site” because of its designated “industrial port" end use, the DMMP/EIS fails to provide any evaluation of the environmental impact of an industrial facility on surrounding properties and uses, both on land and water, and to the water and air quality. The document does not address any of the significant and negative environmental, social, economic and cultural impacts of an industrial end use. And further the document fails to consider the full public costs of imposing an oversized CDF and an industrial end use on the recreational district from Burke to Bratenahl.  

          5)  The DMMP/EIS fails to reveal or consider the many hidden public costs of Site 4A, which include:  (a) the cost of constructing special outer structural walls of the CDF for future industrial port use; (b) the annual cost of filling the CDF, and the added cost of hauling dredgings from the 6.5 mile Cuyahoga Ship Channel to a CDF site that is 4 to 5 miles east of the mouth of the Cuyahoga; (c) the annual costs for dredging the 5-mile East Harbor channel, made necessary by the industrial port end use; (d) the costs for constructing a 2,000-foot extension to the U.S. East Breakwall to protect the CDF and/or the industrial port facility from damage caused by wave action; (e) the costs for infrastructure and construction of an industrial port facility; (f) the costs for building a railroad bridge over I-90; (g) the costs for building new roadways and highway access ramps; (h) the costs for filling in the 43-acre East 55th Marina; (i) the costs for building a replacement State Marina; (j) the costs for relocating the InterCity Yacht Club and the Gordon Lakefront State Park fishing piers and public boat ramps, and (k) the costs for building vast parking areas. Such costs to taxpayers would be excessive and unfair, and all such projects would be to the detriment of Cleveland’s east side recreational Lakefront.   

          6)  Site 4A totally contradicts the Cleveland Waterfront District Plan of 2004, and all agreements and plans (from 1946 to 2004) by the State of Ohio and the City of Cleveland, which have consistently pledged to protect, preserve and enhance Cleveland’s near east side recreational Lakefront, specifically the East 55th St. Lakefront State Park & Marina and the Gordon Lakefront State Park. 

           Therefore, as a citizen and taxpayer, I request that the Army Corps discard “Site 4/4A” and select instead “Site 2/2A” for Cleveland’s new CDF, as is depicted in the DMMP/EIS and on the Cleveland Waterfront District Plan of December 2004.

                        Name:

                        Address: