Port Bay

The Port Bay REDI project goes back to the 2014 partnership kick-off between Port Bay Improvement Association and the District.  Now realities of 2021 and the Resiliency Economic Development Initiative (REDI) has 27 partners made up of State, Local and Non-profits are working together to find a balanced approach to the barrier bar system under the most current Lake Level Management plan (Lake Action Management Plan) in hopes of building resiliency for both economic and environmental sustainability.

Below are the most recently developed documents to support this project that began in January of 2020 and has worked through all the turmoil of a pandemic. These REDI projects have milestones and a guidance document to guide the actions of the planning process.

The first milestone was the 10% Professional Engineer Report due February 2020 that was recommended by RAMBOLL Engineering, as the State had advanced this project as a priority to expedite the review of the potential scenarios. This report was finalized in April. At the same time, the District was also reviewing the other project assigned at Blind Sodus Bay and realized quickly it was imperative to address the specific project needs.

Bergmann Associates were selected after a thorough procurement process and fortunate enough their professional engineers had previous knowledge with the East Barrier Bar Report completed in 2018 (Bergmann Report) in partnership with NYSDEC, Great Lakes Program. The report outlined many science-based scenarios that would aid in the redevelopment of the bar through an adaptive management process.  However, the Bergmann Report didn’t cover the channel or the western bar which is also included in the REDI project.  For this reason, additional study and review of these other areas were needed to come up with an alternatives analysis that would meet the needs of the regulatory review for environmental safety and security.

The State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) is a stipulation enacted by the state of New York that all local and state government agencies must uniformly reflect the environmental impacts when considering taking social and/or economic factors into action. Read more about the  SEQRA process (Click here)

The District is proud to announce, the consultant team at Bergmann Associates, agency partners at NYS Department of Office of General Services (OGS), NYS Department of State (DOS), NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Dormitory Authority of NYS (DASNY) – the funder,  the REDI Commission, Port Bay Improvement Association and the District have completed the final part of the SEQRA Act requirements for environmental equality and are now working through scenario modeling with a goal of completing 90% by the end of 2021.

( All links open in new tabs)

• Port Bay REDI SEQR: Forms
• Port Bay REDI SEQR: Design Plans
• Port Bay REDI SEQR: Technical Report 60%
• Port Bay REDI SEQR: Comments & Responses

Port Bay REDI Project 65% Materials

• Port Bay Basis of Design Report
• Port Bay Coastal Engineering
• Port Bay Barrier Bar Design Plans Preliminary 65%

Port Bay REDI Project Questions & Answers Document

Comments may be made on this project by emailing Lindsey Gerstenslager, District Manager (and Project Manager) at Lindsey@WayneNYswcd.org; Subject line: REDI Port Bay  Comments. These questions will be answered in 5-7 business days and will then be transferred to a continuing Q & A Document to continue to share good questions with the public on the project.

REDI projects in Wayne County, NY