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Rehoboth Beach resident Rob Tunnell has requested a permit to replace and reinforce a deteriorating bulkhead, construct two breakwaters and extend a pier 250 feet into Herring Creek. More than 25 people turned up at a Wednesday, April 30 public hearing on the project, but only two speakers were opposed.
Tunnell said he wants to reinforce his property line and extend the pier to have better access to deeper water. He said the work he proposes will help protect wetlands and will offer his property a buffer against storms.
Tunnell consultant Kelly Wright told Laura Herr, section manager for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s (DNREC’s) Wetlands and Subaqueous Land Section, that his client would be willing to consider an alternative to bulkheading.
“Bulkheading was obviously a means of shoreline reinforcement used in the past, especially in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Around the ‘90s we got away from it because of its detrimental effects,” Herr explained to the public hearing audience. “We try, when bulkheads need to be reinforced or replaced, to move toward more environmentally friendly options.”
Speaking after the meeting, science and technical coordinator for the Center for the Inland Bays Chris Bason said shoreline stabilization degrades the aquatic community. Bulkheading is the most detrimental practice, followed by rip rap on shore and rock sills offshore, he said.
“The abundance of aquatic life significantly declines in these areas when they are stabilized, and if the stabilization is continuous, then aquatic life have a severely reduced capacity to access the marsh,” Bason said. This is especially true concerning in the Inland Bays where natural shoreline is disappearing at an alarming rate, he said. “Building so close to the water that you have to stop the natural migration of the shoreline is great for a few people who want the view, but it negatively impacts the ecology and fishery of the bays and everyone else who enjoys them.”
Some of Tunnell’s neighbors turned out to support the project. Jay Staniszewski said there is nothing wrong with a person trying to keep his real estate. Betty Zitlow, Tunnell’s 82-year-old neighbor, said she launches her kayak from his property. “He promised me the slip I use won’t be affected,” she said.
Only Barbara Lifflander of Oak Orchard and Robert Maegerle spoke against the idea. She said approval of Tunnell’s plan would set a dangerous precedent for the fragile Inland Bays. “This proposal has serious implications resulting in habitat loss and fragmentation of the natural ecosystem in this environmentally sensitive waterway, which is already under attack,” Lifflander said.
She recommended the permit be denied because it failed to address the proposed plan in an environmentally sensitive way.
Maegerle said he was concerned that bulkheads may be built with chemically treated wood, introducing more pollutants into the bay. His recommendation was that the shoreline be stabilized with stone only.
“I understand there will be lights. I don’t know what assurance we have the lights will be on,” Maegerle said. Tunnell said his current 80-foot pier has lights, which go on by a daylight sensor. He said he will have the new pier, if approved, lit as well.
Another of Tunnell’s neighbors, Dan Wien, said the work Tunnell wants to do on his property would help protect wetlands from storm erosion. Wien criticized DNREC for saying 40,000 acres of wetlands have been lost in the last 40 years and doing nothing to stop it.
Wien said efforts to improve the health of the bays are paying off. “These bays are getting better because people are taking time to protect them, like Mr. Tunnell is,” Wien said.
“I’m trying to save the wetlands,” Tunnell said as the hour-long hearing wrapped up. The proposed pier is well within state regulations, he said, and will not be a navigational hazard.
The record was closed to public comment on Wednesday but will be kept open an additional five business days so Tunnell’s consultant can supply DNREC with additional study information.
The permit application and record will be sent to DNREC Secretary John Hughes, who will decide whether to approve the permit.
“Your comments carry weight with the secretary,” Herr said.
Contact Leah Hoenen at leah@capegazette.com
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