In the brief six weeks of early 2015 public comment, the Army Corps received unprecedented levels of public feedback, virtually unanimously opposed to the Summers End Group project.  And in addition to that public comment five federal agencies weighed in with serious concerns about the magnitude of impacts.

Of particular note were the comments of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.  I mentioned earlier that the Army Corps was granted regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act for projects involving fill material in the waters of the US (known as a Section 404 Permit).  However, and this is crucial, if the EPA finds that the project would result in unacceptable impacts to an Aquatic Resource of National Importance (“ARNI”) then the EPA retains the right to “veto” any decision by the Army Corps with which the EPA disagrees.

This veto procedure, which involves multiple levels of escalation, is rarely used, however it is often used to assure that the Corps does not approve a project with which the EPA fundamentally disagrees.  And in the case of the Summers End Marina, the EPA strongly objected to the project and wrote a comment letter to the Army Corps, and recommended DENIAL of the permit.

Also recall that in March 2015, shortly after the extensive public and agency submission to the Corps, the US Fish and WIldlife Service rescinded the Boating Infrastructure Grant which had been awarded to SEG in 2013.  One consequence of this rescission was that USFWS was no longer the “lead agency” in the federal permit review and a second Public Notice and Public Comment period had to be initiated.

One of the side-effects of reviewing hundreds of emails and documents obtained through the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is that you become familiar with the personalities of the individuals involved, as seen through their reactions in writing.  One particularly memorable of such emails was from SEG consultant Amy Dempsey to the Army Corps reviewer at the time, Mr. Jose Cedeno-Maldonado.  Mr. Cedeno had informed Dempsey that SEG would need to withdraw their permit application and resubmit due to the failed USFWS BIG grant.  Dempsey wrote:

When the consultant admits that the Summers End principals “are not developers” and that having to follow the rules almost made Chaliese start to cry … it tells you something about the people.

In any case, the second Public Notice was issued in July 2017, and this time the public response was even greater than the first.  The Army Corps knew in no uncertain terms that the people who love Coral Bay are the people who hated the concept of a mega yacht marina in Coral Harbor!