Bulkhead Bashing

a-shore-thingThe December 2016 issue of Seattle Magazine has an article written by Maria Dolan on the effects of bulkheads on the environment. I’m not able to find a link to “A Shore Thing” at the time of posting this, or I’d be sharing it with you now. 🙂  If you’d like to read it now, it looks like you’ll have to pick up the December issue.

The photo is what first caught my eye since it features Beach Drive homes on bulkheads by Mee Kwa Mooks. This spot is not far from where the City has been talking about replacing the eroding seawall along Emma Schmitz Memorial Viewpoint. Our intrepid reporter, Scupper, wrote about the seawall almost three years ago…which has had band-aid repairs at most.

The article talks about how homeowners should consider removing their bulkheads. I would guess that for many of  the homes along Beach Drive, this would not be a viable option, as most the homes don’t have enough land or are do not have a high enough bank to accommodate a shore.

It will be interesting to see what winds up happening to the deteriorating bulkhead along Emma Schmitz.

Reader asks about park bench replacement at Beach Drive & Jacobsen

A very popular rest stop at the south end of Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook took a tumble from corrosion back on February 23rd (shouldn’t have eaten that last bite). Neighbors and out-of-towners have enjoyed watching the scenery under the huge “Raptor Tree” that Eagle & Osprey often use to spy on prey. Love that tree!

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Appears that the 2 legged benches are all failing at the weld just under the bench. There a few more with the same design near the drinking fountain that had caution tape applied immediately after the Jacobsen bench toppled . The tape has since come off and the older benches still stand… barely

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The newer 4 legged butt rest looks like a much better design for being near the saltwater…

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As far as replacement, we reported a few years back on plans to rebuild that entire section of the deteriorating seawall. No bench replacement or additions were to happen until the seawall issue gets solved. Construction was intended to start last Summer but the design work was never finalized. A response from the Army Corp of Engineers back in November 2015 didn’t show much progress.

 Unfortunately I don’t have any updates at this point. We are still working through our feasibility phase process before we can move into final design.

I have a current email out to the Army Corp asking for any further progress & will update as soon as they respond.  Meanwhile, the storms keep pounding it and the park department continues to backfill the erosion.

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Picture above taken on the stormy morning of 3/10/16… photo below was furnished by a Beach Drive neighbor the very next morning. Park department workers mentioned that they really didn’t like parking their heavy equipment on the slumping strip of grass which precariously covers  the 54″ sewer line carrying 50 million gallons of sewage per day!

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Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog