Stone Harbor Scrutinizes Bulkhead Height Rules

STONE HARBOR – “We are getting closer,” said Stone Harbor Council Member Raymond Parzych, referring to the borough’s efforts to arrive at the best bulkhead height designation as the community struggles to combat rising seas and more frequent large storms. 
Reviewing work to date, Wetlands Institute Executive Director Lenora Tedesco explained how data from a bulkhead survey done for the borough by the Coastal Research Center had been massaged to provide a view of bulkhead heights by individual property along the bayside.
With caveats that some of the conversion of the data could still have some small errors, Tedesco told the council that the vast majority of bulkhead heights are below the current ordinance level of 6.2 feet from mean sea level.
This can get confusing before one even starts to consider changes. Looking at the bulkhead regulation online will show a requirement that the bulkhead be 7.5 feet above mean sea level. 
According to Construction Official Michael Koochembere, that was based on an older “datum,” defined by the state as “a base elevation used as a reference to measure heights or depths.”
The newer datum has a conversion down of 1.3 feet, meaning that the 7.5 feet becomes 6.2 feet above mean sea level.
Whether that is understandable or not, the impact is that all numbers are calculated in the new datum context. 
In short, the current ordinance level is effectively 6.2 feet measured by the new datum and any change up to the discussed 8-foot level would mean an increase of almost 2 feet in the required bulkhead height.
This is important when one considers the data presented by Tedesco. Only about 30 percent of the borough’s bulkheads are at or above the 6.2-foot level of the current ordinance even though that requirement has existed for decades.
This reality shows that requirements to upgrade the height of a bulkhead only when a property has new construction or major renovation can mean a very slow transition to new heights.
The data shows that a full third of the property bulkheads are below 5.5 feet, a level at which some flooding will occur each year even at present sea levels.
“Flooding will obviously increase as seas rise,” Tedesco said.  She told the council they might have to consider a time trigger for any new bulkhead height requirement. “You may need to say that a bulkhead needs to be redone by a specific time in order to stay ahead of it,” she said.
Tedesco did not get involved in the policy decisions. Her task was to show the data that will inform those decisions.
The borough still has to arrive at a final consensus on the new required height, on triggers that will require homeowners to convert their bulkheads to the new height, on potential ways to help property owners in need handle the expense of a transition, and how to deal with enforcement.
The discussion, one of many at the borough council sessions recently, shows that the governing body is taking the issue seriously, but it also displays the many complex aspects of how to create local regulations that are fair to property owners and still protect the unique lifestyle of an island community threatened by a rising sea.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.