Ever since spotting the news the other day about The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund's granting money to the Town of Dauphin Island we've been wondering what was funded. The answer is revealed today in the Mobile Register. The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund will be picking up the local match for the $2million berm project.
The fund chose to fund the berm on Dauphin Island project because of its potential to have a positive effect on economic opportunity and the quality of life on Dauphin Island.
The Dauphin Island Property Owners Association and the Dauphin Island Foundation have collected approximately $250 thousand in funding toward the berm. The Town of Dauphin Island had earmarked $300,000 to make up the other half of the estimated $600,000 required match.
With funding solidly in place the project can be let out for bid. Dauphin Island officials are optimistic that bids for the berm project are not significantly higher than the estimated $2million project cost. If so, some portion of the collected and earmarked funds could possibly be used to enhance the berm project and/or to bring about additional public improvements to Dauphin Island.
DI berm gets boost from Bush, Clinton
Nonprofit relief fund led by former presidents will pay $600,000 toward restoration of sand on Dauphin Island
A nonprofit Hurricane Katrina relief fund will pay Dauphin Island's $600,000 match for the controversial federally funded $4 million sand berm project designed to protect privately owned west end beaches, officials said Monday.
Organizers for the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, an organization named for the two former presidents, chose to help fund the berm project because it would serve as a safety measure for the town, where almost a third of the 500 homes on the west end were wiped out by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, spokesman Bill Pierce said.
"Sometimes things like this do get wiped out by the next hurricane, but by doing so they help protect the land," Pierce said.
All beach property on the 3½-mile stretch of the developed west end is privately owned by members of the Dauphin Island Property Owners Association.
A $2 million fix would replace some lost beach and provide a foundation for a $2 million man-made sand wall, known as a berm, which would mitigate future damage, officials have said.
"It certainly is a big boost and a big benefit," Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier said. "It gives us a little more money to work with."