Your Board of Directors voted unanimously to enter into an agreement with the Army Corp of Engineers to place sand in the area south of our pond. We wanted to fill in holes from prior sand removal. We also felt it was desirable to clean up the area, remove unwanted trees, level the entire site, and make sand available to island residents. We made our decision based on what we felt was best for our association. Please note the board received no comments or concerns until the board meeting on August 17, 2013.
The Esmann Island Board of Directors pursuant to Covenant Article V, Section I and Bylaw Article VII, paragraph 4, entered into an easement for dredged material placement and pipeline with the Department of the Army.
The Army Corp of Engineers contacted us and Abel Island in August 2012. We began discussion with them shortly thereafter. This was reflected by board minutes of 8-18-12, 9-22-12, 10-12-12, 4-27-13, 6-8-13, and 7-20-13 and a 15 day public review published in the Guttenberg Press.
The easement provides the following:
1. Placement of an estimated 50,000 cubic yards of sand on the existing sand footprint south of the pond.
2. Timeline – anticipated early August 2013, but has been postponed until late September or early October. First, site will be shaped into a containment berm with 10’ tall on average with the southern end closer to 15’ tall.
3. Several trees in the mid-section of the area will be pushed over and placed outside the sand footprint to facilitate reuse by owners.
4. After sand is placed, final site shaping will level the sand to a 5’ height across the site. The outside edges of the berm will be gradually sloped.
5. All sand will become sole personal property of Esmann Island Owner’s Association.
6. If the Corp of Engineers needs to bring in any equipment for the dredging, they would be limited to using Timberline Drive.
7. Any damage to our roads would be repaired to original condition.
8. Esmann Island will receive $2,500.00 after completion of project.
9. Every effort will be made to minimize amount of sand entering our pond and will be monitored by the Corp and DNR during the operation.
Esmann Island Board of Directors