 Good evening. I want to thank everyone for joining us. This is our Columbia Canal Restoration Public Engagement meeting. We're doing this using a virtual Zoom platform. And just appreciate everyone joining us this evening for this opportunity for us to receive public comment and receive engagement in compliance with section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. So next slide, Leslie. We've got a few slides prepared for you this evening. We're going to share some content. There'll be plenty of time for questions and answers. But again, I want to reiterate a welcome to our interested parties that are joining us tonight. And I also want to welcome and thank our partners at FEMA, at SCEMD, the Emergency Management Division of South Carolina. I want to thank city staff for their participation in helping us develop the project to date. And I want to thank our Michael Baker team, which is our consultant that's been instrumental in helping us get to the point where we are. This has been quite a journey as time has passed since October of 2015 and our devastating flooding event. But we're just delighted to be at this point and are so pleased with the partnership that we developed with our partners. And you'll hear a little bit of a summary of what we've been doing tonight. So we're excited about sharing that information and what the path forward looks like for the overall project. And again, focus tonight on our historic preservation and receiving public comment based on some of those criteria. I wanted to go over a few ground rules. My name is Clint Shealy. I'm Assistant City Manager for the City of Columbia responsible for Columbia Water. So just a couple of ground rules I want to just mention to everyone that's participating tonight that this meeting will be recorded. And it's being recorded so that we can share it at a later date and to just record and make sure we've captured all the comments and the information that we share accurately. So by staying and participating in this meeting, you're essentially providing consent that your voice will be recorded and your comments will be recorded. And if you don't consent to that, now's the opportunity to read the meeting. But again, we welcome you and appreciate you being with us. I want to go over just a few quick ground rules before we get into the meat of the presentation and the question and answer and public comment period. We want to make sure we leave plenty of time to hear from interested parties about historic preservation and the different adverse impacts that may occur by us executing the project that we're going to describe this evening. But since we're using the Zoom platform, we're going to have a couple of opportunities and ways that you can communicate with us at the appropriate times. So after we have the chance to hear from all of our partners, we're going to open up things for that public comment period. The ways that you as the public or interested parties can communicate with us are several. So I want to go over those and spend a little bit of time talking about those and we'll reiterate those at the end of the meeting as well prior to the public comment period. If you joined us as an attendee through your computer on the Zoom application or on your tablet or cell phone, you can verbally communicate with us by selecting the raise your hand button, which should be at the bottom of your toolbar. If you're joining us just through a phone, you can raise your hand by pressing star nine, and you can mute or unmute yourself by pressing star six. So if you're joining by phone only star nine to raise your hand star six to mute or unmute yourself. And you can always send us feedback through the dedicated email address, which is FEMA FMA dash R the number for EHP 106 at FEMA dot dhs.gov. Let me reiterate that email address and repeat that one more time. FMA dash R number for EHP 106 ampersand at sign FEMA FMA dot dhs.gov. So we'll certainly give everybody the opportunity to provide that feedback so we've got the zoom application feature raising your hand the q&a feature it on your bottom toolbar. We've got star nine to raise your hand by phone star six to mute or unmute. We're going to ask someone to add that address the email address that I mentioned if someone can type that out in the chat feature. That'd be great to share that please note that because we want to give everybody the opportunity to give their feedback. We're going to allow three minutes per spoken comment period. So we've got a timer the timer will go off in three minutes. If time allows we'll have a chance to circle back. But if we've got multiple folks that want to want to give comments we're going to limit the initial comments to a three minute period per speaker and we'll help you navigate through that as well. So again, thank you. Next slide Leslie I think I've covered that material that's on the next slide but if you'll advance one for us. Okay, yeah, I think we covered all that so I'm going to turn it over to Dustin Dakota, who is with FEMA region for the Atlanta office and ask him to take over at this point. Okay. Everyone can hear me. Excellent. So good evening everyone thank you client for that. So, thank you for your time and attention, and for joining us for this public engagement meeting regarding the proposed repairs at the Columbia canal, and how they may impact historic properties. My name is Dustin Cody. I work here at FEMA environmental planning and historic preservation, or EHP for short. I will briefly introduce tonight's presenters and agenda items. And then we will have a free forum chat about what the canal means to you. So what does the canal mean to you let that start to kind of dwell in the head start thinking about that. Next slide Leslie. So these are the presenters, and I will go through the agenda items of each. So, Clint Sheila of Columbia water who just kicked off the meeting. Thank you, Clint. We'll give an overview of the canal damages. Jessica Jones of South Carolina emergency management division recovery. We'll discuss the flooding declaration and the FEMA project history. And then next would be Kirk Brown of FEMA public assistance here at region four in Atlanta will give an overview of the proposed repairs at the canal. And then it'll come back to me. Good old Dustin to Cody, I will talk about the canal's compliance review and the pending environmental assessment and where we are currently at in that process. And then we'll have Kyle Kragger of Michael Baker international will present on the project design elements and then Leslie Joe Hansen with FEMA environmental and historic preservation here in Atlanta as well. We'll discuss the focus of this meeting, which is how the proposed action will impact historic properties and cultural resources. And lastly, I want to give a shout out to Vincent April, who is also on he is FEMA external affairs here in region four in Atlanta. He is assist assistant today to monitor the questions and answers at the end of the presentation. So let's go ahead and go to the next slide. Thank you Leslie. Before we begin talking about the canal damages. I would like to ask you all to think about and list three things that come to your mind when you think of the Columbia canal. Also provide at least one way in which you currently use the canal. You can write a list on the on a piece of paper just hold it for the Q&A at the end, and then start giving those out. We really want to get your input on what this canal on the Columbia canal means to you in regards of any kind of ways that you utilize it. And we're going to give three minutes right now just for you to do that, but feel free to keep them coming, keep the thoughts coming throughout the presentation. So I'm going to give it what let's give it six to 613pm Eastern Standard Time which I think we're all at Eastern Standard Time right now. But just give you give you all a constant thoughts right here. Okay, it looks like my video sharing is taking up much of the screen so what I'm going to do is stop sharing sorry about that. Is that much better for the PowerPoint slide. Okay, we're going to get this technical technicality here solved in a second. Okay, so we gave it a little second here. Do we have the want to turn my video back on. We still having the slides showing up really small for you all. I see the Q&A. Now there might be an option at the top of your screen where you have view options. It may say you're viewing Leslie Johansson screen, maybe the view options you can click on that, or you may need to double click or enlarge the presentation on your screen. Apologies for this. Sorry about that. Okay. Thank you Elizabeth double clicking on the PowerPoint worked for her on there. Try that. But I'm going to go ahead and proceed. If that's okay with everyone. So, I hope you all had a chance but as I said, again, feel free to keep those listed items coming. If you want. And so next, Clint, Clint Shealy will take the virtual floor. It's all yours. Thank you, Dustin. Let me get my camera back on and thanks for helping us navigate through those technical issues as well. The IT team was working back behind there. I think we've got that squared away. So I wanted to just give you a quick summary of the damages that occurred to our Columbia canal but anytime I talk about the damages that we incurred as a utility. I'm remiss if I don't just talk about the overall tragedy that hurricane walking in the aftermath in October 2015 inflicted on the Midlands region and the loss of life, the loss of property. It was just a real tragedy for our community and one that we are still recovering from. But what I can say that I saw a strength from Columbia and its citizens that really made me proud to be a part of this team, working for the city and also just having to be a resident of the city. So a real tragedy for our community but we're very strong. We're very resilient and we are working our way to bounce back and be stronger than we were before. We're two feet of rainfall and we're under 48 hours loss of water service to a lot of our customers. Boil water advisory for our entire system for about 10 days and the loss of several critical components of our water system. And next slide Leslie will show just a few of the photos and touch on those damages. If you remember we've got a beautiful historic hydroelectric generating facility right below the State Museum right off of Gervais Street and it's a 10 megawatt facility that up until October of 2015 was generating good green power for our community ever since the flooding event that impacted us. It's been dry. We have not been generating that good green power and that is a key initiative we want to get back in that business. We think that's the right thing to do so restoring that hydroelectric facility to operation repairing those damages is part of this overall project. Next slide Leslie. Next is the spillway. If you come across the pedestrian bridge at Riverfront Park, our canal water plants on the city side and the embankment separates the canal and the river. There's an emergency spillway that was damaged during the flooding event. That's a key component for us to maintain appropriate levels and maintain control of the level in our canal and the operating system so that was damaged. That is part of the repair process as well. Next slide please. Their head gates on our canal embankment is about 3.1 miles long from the hydroelectric generating station at the end of the terminus of the canal to all the way up to the head gates and if those of you that have walked our canal know how beautiful it is up there. That is a gorgeous historic structure. All 12 of our head gates were damaged impacted by just mounds and mounds of debris that washed into our openings. So repairing the head gates is also part a critical component of our canal system operating problem and something that we've got to do. So right now we've got one gate that is operational and helps us operate as a water supply and that's working and that's working well. We've got to get all those 12 head gates restored and operating properly in order for us to have full water supply and hydroelectric generating capabilities. So next slide Leslie. So the final one that I'll just give is a summary of the damage. You probably all remember the breach of our canal and that's what really really impacted us. We had to work around the clock to build a rock dam perpendicular to the flow of water in the canal. We had Chenot helicopters drop in sandbags. We had over 1200 linear feet of our embankment severely damaged by the flooding event that occurred and about 1200 I'm sorry 1200 linear feet severely damaged about 100 feet just completely washed away that you can see in the photograph. So we had contractors and city staff and National Guardsmen and emergency management division and FEMA folks working around the clock to stabilize things secure our water supply. Get us back in business so that we can get clean safe drinking water to all of our citizens in a very short time frame so tonight we'll talk a good bit about these embankment repairs. One more detailed scope of what's going to be happening and then touch on the historic preservation elements that need that we need to think about as we go through these repairs that are necessary for our community. So, with that I will turn it over to Jessica Jones and with South Carolina emergency management division and Jessica is going to share her perspective. All right, hopefully you all can hear me. As I said I'm Jessica Jones, I'm the public assistance program manager for the South Carolina emergency management division. All right, next slide Leslie. Thank you. So I kind of want to take a moment to describe the who what when we're a public assistance and kind of explain what what it is. And I'll refer to it as PA so if you hear me see pics hear me say PA that just means public assistance. So PA is one of the federally funded disaster recovery grant programs available, and it's administered by FEMA. So PA projects are written by FEMA to assist state local Indian tribal governments and territories. And so when I say local that includes local governments and certain qualifying private nonprofit organizations. So funding eligibility is dependent on exceeding state level capabilities for recovery, and it's activated once we receive a presidential declaration for specific counties that are included. All right, and also FEMA administers the grant program SCMD of course is the recipient of the awards, and the city of Columbia in this case is the sub recipient managing the project. All right, next slide. All right, as Clint mentioned hurricane Joaquin was the 10th named storm kind of the second major one during the hurricane season in 2015. As a result of kind of hurricane moisture and a low pressure system that was around in the southeast combined South Carolina sustained record breaking rain and flooding across the state, leaving billions of dollars and damages that were sustained. So South Carolina received its declaration for public assistance in 35 counties across the state to include Richland County, in which the city of Columbia situated. We received that declaration on October the fifth of 2015. And it was designated as 42 41. The incident period lasted from October the first to October the 23rd, meaning that that was just the time period in which there was disaster causing incident. And next slide. All right, and the reason we're here tonight is of course talking about the Columbia canal project. The canal is significantly damaged just as I mentioned, not only were there damages adjacent to the popular river wall attraction that we all know and love. The canal was also, or is also a significant source of water to the city. So understanding the damages that occurred proposed repairs. It was a very complex and collaborative effort from both FEMA SCMD and the city and their engineering team. So FEMA was tasked to write the scope of work that's going to return the facility back to its pre disaster conditions. And then there were also some compliance requirements that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC have and so that led to a much broader scope of the work that needed to be done. So currently right now, we're looking at about 42 million in federal dollars that are going to be attributed to the Columbia canal. And then also under FEMA policy, FEMA is going to review all projects for environmental and historical preservation compliance, which triggered the environmental assessment and it is no work is recommended to commit prior to completion of the process. And so that's what led us here today. I'll turn it back over to you all. Good evening. My name is Kirk Brown and I'm an emergency management specialist with FEMA I work out of region four in Atlanta. And tonight I'm going to go ahead and give you a quick overview of the project scope of work that we wrote for the Columbia canal. Next slide please. Okay, the mission of FEMA PA program public assistance is to provide assistance to the state to territorial Indian tribal and local governments and certain types of private nonprofit organizations. So the communities can quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies declared by the president. Next slide please. Alright, the first scope of work that we had to do was the hydroelectric plant. What we're going to do is replace the water damage generators and all the electrical equipment that was damaged by the flooding. We're going to repair minor damages and erosion to the facility and the surrounding area. We're also going to perform flood proofing mitigation. Next slide please. We're going to go at the spillway and the tainter gates, we're going to go ahead and replace the stop logs which were removed as emergency protective measures during the disaster. These are the emergency measures that were taken. And that's what we're going to go ahead and replace at that for that site. Next slide please. I apologize, we're trying to fix the screen view for the viewers and I don't think we're doing too well of a job. If you can let us know in the chat if it was any better. Okay. Thanks Leslie. Alright so we've gone through site one which was the hydroelectric plant site to which was the spillway, which is going to get emergency protective measures performed. In other words we're going to replace the stop logs that were cut out. Then we get to the head gates. The head gates were going to remove the emergency bulkheads from the 12 gate openings and remove all the sand bags and debris and debris which were trapped under the actual gates. When the storm first started, the gates weren't able to close due to debris that was trapped underneath of the gates, since they are a gravity closure system. And then we had to put bulkheads in front of them to go ahead and actually physically close off the water flow through those gates. So those will be removed. Those are considered emergency protective measures and we're going to remove that material. Next slide please Leslie. Alright, the probably the major portion of the project of course will be the canal breach in the embankment area. We went up and down the embankment and found all the damages underwater and above water and so we need to repair approximately 14,000 linear feet of embankment damages and stabilize those areas with riprap which are of course larger stone, which is used to reinforce the embankment and protect it from rapidly moving water and that type of thing. We also need to repair approximately 1125 linear feet of damage levy at the hydroelectric plant. This is right below Clapman bridge where the breach occurred in the partial breach occurred. So basically we're going to restore the area to pre disaster conditions from the Clapman bridge all the way down to the hydro plant and of course remove the coffer dam that was put in and return the area back to its normal in kind type site as it was for the damages. Next slide please Leslie. As you can see from this and Kyle and Leslie going to this a little more detail. At the upper left you have the head gates, and then you see the drawing going down the canal those are repairs, embankment repairs tow repairs underwater repairs. The lower portion of that continues on until you get down to the breach area where the blue line is in the green area, and finally the hydro plant at the last of the slide on the right hand side. So that's a quick overview of the scope of work that we wrote into the project and the project worksheet for the Columbia canal. Next slide please. I'll go back over to Dustin. Okay, thank you. Apologies for the technical difficulties on there. We're going to share the PowerPoint slides with you all. So we'll get that forthcoming on there. So I was trying to in the background, fix that I think I made it worse maybe. But the virtual environment right. So on. So thank you Kirk for that overview. I'm going to do a quick, a brief overview on FEMA's compliance review, currently for the Columbia canal, as it pertains to the environmental and historic preservation laws and executive orders. So next slide. Okay. So our project is currently going on undergone a national environmental policy act aka NEPA FEMA EHP determined that the proposed repairs elevate the NEPA review to an environmental assessment to analyze the impacts to the natural and human environment or resources. These are the resources that we are analyzing the impacts to based on the proposed repairs. We have biological resources, water resources, physical resources, socio economic resources. And up there in that corner over there if you could see it on the slide is cultural resources. That's where we are right now. So biological resources. What does that entail that so broad that that FEMA is required to review for Endangered Species Act and all sorts of other biological resources. So let's look at that in that section water resources such as clean water act physical resources such as clean air act, socio economic resources such as environmental justice, and we also have other executive orders, such as floodplain management and wetland reviews on there. So again, we are currently reviewing the cultural resources and more specifically going through the section 106 process under the National Historic Preservation Act. All right Leslie, next slide. Okay. This slide shows where FEMA environmental is currently in the compliance review process today. We determined that the need for the environmental e a environmental assessment was required up at the top right there and this is a very bottom line up front overview of the compliance review. Then we did surveys completed we had a kickoff meeting before that. This is a consultation with the Historic Preservation Offices which brings us to where we are currently right there in the green this meeting tonight and the comment period that is currently open. As a reminder the focus on historic properties but any comments towards fish water economics, etc can be made an environmental assessment, aka NEPA document is fully drafted and posted for public comment. Okay, I will give Leslie Johansson the virtual floor. Leslie, please proceed. Hi, thank you everyone. Again, we apologize for the technical difficulties. This is the main crux of the presentation, where we are in the section 106 consultation process. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act FEMA is a federal agency is required to review any of our proposed scope of work against any sort of effects they may be having on historic properties. And as you all are aware the Columbia Canal is a very dynamic landscape that has evidence of living in subsistence from the archaic period which is 8000 BC through to present. The Columbia Canal and surrounding areas has multitude of historic properties site buildings structures that are eligible are listed, or are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. So as part of our section 106 compliance review we look at all the resources out there. Of course the Columbia Canal Historic District was listed on the National Register back in 1979. There is significant and 19th century engineering techniques, early to mid 19th century transportation commerce 19th century mill industry and invention of electrification of textile mills, as well as archaeological data potential. The District includes five contributing buildings 11 contributing structures, and two contributing sites, including the Columbia Canal hydroelectric plant, the Columbia Mills or duck mill powerhouse, and the Columbia Electric Street railway light and power company are the CES RL and P powerhouse ruins, as well as many other resources out there. The two previously recorded archaeological sites are also located within the proposed project area. One comprises the 19th to 20th century building and domestic debris scatter. The other is potentially a 19th century dug out canoe, or it could be a horse trough there it's up for debate. So as part of our compliance review process we've conducted three archaeological surveys out there. One was conducted by FEMA. Back in 2017. One was conducted by geo archaeology research associate thing in 2021, and the other was conducted by Michael Baker and Thomas Bodore is on the presentation today and he was out there in the field. So these excavations and site visits. They went out to revisit and document the structures that were out there within the project area, as well as identifying six new features, including a stone bridge abutment concrete abutment appears which are visible on the Columbia side of the canal. There's also a cut stone pile out there. There's a remnant of a 19th century tow path along the canal, which is on the berm side, as well as a timber bulkhead within the canal bed that you may have seen as you go out there because that portion of the canal is dry. And then there's also the potential location of the former quarry mill mill site and the associated outbuildings that were located across from the penitentiary on the canal side. And through our consultation, we have determined that the scope of work as proposed is going to cause an adverse effect to historic properties. Based on the scope of work it will be altering characteristics of historic properties which qualify them for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, and therefore we are in that adverse effect finding. The main purpose of this meeting now that we have started our consultation with Shippo and interested tribes is to open the conversation up to the public. And I haven't been looking at the question and answer section so I don't know if you're seeing the slides any better. But we're going to go through the canal going from the north down to down to the south. We're going to work with me and present with me and we're going to talk about the scope and then we're going to discuss any historic properties within that area of the project and discuss the effects and impacts that will be had to those, as well as go through proposed mitigation or treatment measures to offset or resolve those adverse effects. So what we want to do during this time we're going to definitely have a moment we're in at the end of the presentation, where we want to see the public in the city of Columbia's view of the proposed undertaking. We don't have any identified historic resources that we're not aware of or have identified during our review process, or you may have some mitigation or treatment measures you may like to see. So we want to open it up to you all to provide to us and present your voice your ideas and your understanding and concerns are ideas you have me in regard to the project, as well as in regard to the historic properties that are being affected out there. So with that, I'm going to turn the slide over to my colleague Cal Crager with Michael Baker International, and we will move through the scope of work details and discuss the historic properties out there. Hi, thank you. Good evening everybody. Next slide here. So what you see in front of you is the overall map that was shared earlier on capturing all work planned with this with this scope sites one through four as we refer to them as site one being the hydroelectric electricity site to the spillway three gates and four of the embankment repair. So this is the general assumed scope of work at this primary design stage. Next slide. This is a just one of many other canal areas where there is tow scour along the base of the embankment underwater as well as limited slip areas there on the broader river road bridge. The areas in yellow you see in front of you will be for partial embankment repair. So you will see some above ground activity as well as some below water activity. The shading in blue is mostly subacreous activity below waterline. Next slide please. This is a photo of a limited slip area of what we're referring to the upper canal embankment area for for tow repair as well as you can see some a scar there on the surface of the fissure fissure failures there. Those are scheduled for repairs will. Next slide please. This is just a typical section of what we will be performing for the what we're calling the tow repairs or the tow scour repairs. What you see in front of you is the subacreous riprap placement that we were talking about. A lot of this work will occur below water level so you won't be much ever from the surface. Next slide please. I believe this is just a duplicate of what we just talked about. There we go. This is a little more of the limited slip areas or soil slip areas. These areas will require the partial embankment repairs where activities will be going above the going on above waterline as well as below waterline. Next slide. There's a section cut of a just a typical repair of the soil slip areas. Then there's a benching above and below waterline to get back down to native good soils and then recompaction and replacement to repair and restatalize the embankment. Okay Leslie, thank you. Leslie, did you want me to keep going here or did you want to talk resources. My toolbar went away. In this section where you can see, as Kyle was talking about with the tow repairs and the embankment repairs, we're going to be close and near to the pedestrian bridge. And also some of that work is going to occur near the spillway and as well as the penitentiary old penitentiary wall. The work as proposed is not expected to impact these resources that are out there in the landscape are in the canal landscape. But what we will be doing is making sure that we're putting up either protective fencing or protective barrier fencing to make sure that any sort of equipment or staging may not impact those areas. We're getting into portions where there may be more historic features where ground disturbance is occurring very close to them. We're proposing to have archaeological monitors or architectural monitors on site to make sure that impacts are not being caused to those resources. And this is just a photograph of the same area with the embankment repair and you can see the penitentiary wall in this area. And this is a historic picture of that penitentiary. And so this exhibit here is kind of the focal point of the embankment repair. We're currently scope to completely remove approximately 1125 linear feet of the embankment and totality from the existing hydroelectric facility to approximately about 150 feet north of Clapman Bridge. So everything there in front of you shaded in dashed red will be removed and then replaced with the effort. Now to accomplish that we've got to do a couple things prior to that that you can see in the exhibit and this is all very schematic in nature at this point. But to accomplish the removal of the embankment as well as the removal of the temporary rock dam installed in 2015, we're actually planning on installing another temporary rock dam upstream as their cursor there is pointing to to remove the existing rock dam and the embankment downstream of the temporary rock dam that is in place. So this whole area here is going to be greatly impacted, greatly disturbed. Preliminary quantities show the earthwork activities on the neighborhood of 150,000 cubic yards. We've got to perform some dominion energy electric relocations in this area. This is going to be a large disturbance in this area and the resources in this area are going to be impacted and that's why we're here tonight. This is a typical section of the embankment demolition and replacement as we're calling it. Basically what you see in front of you the dashed hatch is just the embankment that will be removed. You can see there over on the river side to accomplish the replacement of the embankment we will be installing a temporary call for dam to prevent any river flooding from flooding out our construction site while we're repairing and replacing the embankment. So, again, large earthwork activity in this area and it's going to be a great impact to the resources. Next slide. Sure, thank you. In this area, we have, this is the location of the proposed quarry site, as well as along the berm there is evidence of a tow path that was put in place of course it, you can see from the hatched mark is the expected and anticipated northern most portion of where ground and they're out in the fields that they may need to and doing construction, it may need to move a bit further. So we're not at this point in time, completely expecting to impact the very deposits in this area, but we will have monitors on archaeological monitors on site just in case, especially with the placement of this temporary berm. And in this area, I'll move to the next slide but this is just kind of details where that historic quarry was across from the penitentiary. And you can see here there's the features that are across, and the quarry itself. That are on the canal side across from the city of Columbia. In this area it's a little closer in zoom we have one of the towers, the electrical towers that is going to be taken away, as well as when they're stepping down to repair the the berm in this space. The proposed most anticipated northern portion is cutting right through the CR SN SL and P powerhouse ruins. So, of course this will be an adverse impact to these resources. And we're still in discussion to see if there are ways that we may consider taking into consideration this resource. As proposed right now it's cutting the resource in half. If we were to mitigate our treat this would be documentation whether it's using digital light our photogrammetry to properly document this, this feature, as well as take proper photo documentations. If it is to be demolished and removed. One of the things we are considering is if you take it apart and systematically utilizing architectural historians and document as you go there's potential for reconstruction. There's also potential for reuse of these materials. You can see the ruins that are here are remnants. One of the things that could potentially be done is if you see here in the aerial view, you can see kind of the footprint of the ruins. So once the canal, a berm is reconstructed. There may be potential to utilize some of these materials to kind of retranslate this footprint in the landscape, and also public interpretation. This is an area that is an adverse effect and we're very, we're taking into a lot of consideration and I'd be very interested in understanding and knowing a bit more about what the community might have in mind our ideas they might have in mind for that resource. Sorry my mouse is now choosing to misbehave. I think there's a gremlin in the building. Okay, Kyle turn it back to you have to spend a lot of time here but this is again just kind of a zoomed in schematic of the preliminary design approach as documented in the project worksheet. The 2015 copper dam will be removed. There'll be some canal reshaping activities that occur downstream obviously of the temporary. 2015 dam. There's a large amount of sediment built up in front of the existing hydroelectric facility that somewhat may compromise the hydraulic carrying capacity of the canal cells. So while we're in there and performing such a great disturbance we are going to fully maximize the design intent of the canal. There's some pictures of the breach shortly after flooding primary breach there on your left the secondary will refer to secondary breach on the right. Next slide. And there's our preliminary section cut again. Next slide. So in this area where you see the primary breach. Of course we have the duck mill power plant flume in for bay runs. During recent survey out there. These were documented rather quickly in the field. It would be good to do more again full scale documentation. The scope of work is to remove these runes so that they can patch the breach and repair the embankment and they are located here on the edge of the breach. Again this is looking at recordation documentation public engage public interpretation. There are three panels out there and there could be place to places to add to this or enhance maybe with some new technology in creating ways for people to walk through the landscape and explore what was there. And also potential for reuse of those materials, if that is an opportunity. So here's some more pictures that have been taken. Some of these were from the recent site visit and somewhere from an early visit by FEMA back in 2017. And of course here's a historic view of that duck mill plant. And then also you'll see the bridge and for bay and the flumes. So this is all kind of the remnants of this this landscape and features just real quick Leslie on the city side of the canal. During the emergency protective measures obviously the contractors created a great disturbance there to place that temporary rock dam is plan alluded to the 24 seven operation there that that was an activity that was just an absolute necessity. So, once that 2015 rock dam is removed there'll be some reshaping activities that go on on that side of the environment. That was all this slide was capturing. Next slide. Okay, when we look at that reshaping. There are a couple of right here, but minutes because that reshaping is going to potentially go all the way down and Kyle will be talking a little bit more about the canal bed reshaping next. So this feature the cutstone bridge about meant that is over there is going to be impacted by the reshaping. Potentially so that again, we have the potential for record nation interpretation and potential reuse. And this slide is again just the same exhibit talking a little bit more I may have got ahead of myself a little bit on the canal reshaping and the canal bed if you will but again the the intent is to remove a lot of that of sediment there in front of the hydroelectric plant that is built up over the years, restoring the canal to its former glory. And this canal reshaping the bed reshaping of course is removing is necessary to remove the sediment but within the canal bed. If you're been down to that area. You might see some of the wooden timbers of the old timber bulkhead that was thought to be part of the earlier construction of the canal, much like when we're having this temporary cofferdam. One suspicion, our idea is that that this was a an earlier reiteration of kind like a cofferdam so that they have plugged the canal have a dry area so that they could build the, the canal features to the south. And before this and you can see it here, going kind of towards the breach and towards the site. What the proposed treatment measures as to record this to an archaeological. It's a phase three excavation so it's a full data recovery of either all our proponents of the timber bulkhead so we can understand a bit more of what this feature was in the history of the canal evolution. And it's just some more pictures of that timber bulkhead remnants. Okay. With that, we would like to open it up to see if there are any questions from the community. Also, are there any features that you as the public may be aware of or have an interest in that we have not considered in regard to our section one of six compliance review, and that you may have questions about. Also, are there any mitigations or treatment measures which you all might like to see based on the scope that's being proposed, and some of the proposed treatment measures we have on the table. It looks like Amy I'm so sorry it looks like you're still having issues with seeing the slides. That's perfectly great if you would like to email us any questions that you may have. I am the section one of six lead and HP tribal is on here in region four in Atlanta. And I'll be working with Dustin in regard to environmental assessment, but I will. I will also be able to answer any questions and respond to any thoughts or ideas you may have. Any questions from the group and does anyone would like a moment to speak in and say any comments. There's a couple hands up and the participant group so whoever's letting attendee speak. Vince. I believe you have the mic. It sounds like we might have someone open an open mic is someone that wishes to speak. Charles. Hi. I guess it's me, Charlie Lee Decker. Good evening. Hi, nice to see you all for the screen challenge zoom. I have a lot of questions and comments. So I don't want to monopolize the whole period but maybe I'm the only one to get through right now he knows. I'm talking about the work schedule and when it's going to start, how long it's going to last. That's just me as a neighbor interested. But what that goes to is. I think it's really important. It's a resource that a lot of people use recreational users, walkers, bikers, joggers, yada yada. I'd really like to see the entire topaz open to the public during the construction process and during the archaeological work. I would hate to see a big construction fence at the gate and nobody's allowed in. But doing this work to me as an archaeologist is extremely interesting. And when you start exposing some of the features, like the duck mill or whatever you call it the CRL SMP powerhouse. When that archaeological work is in progress. That's the only time that these resources are going to be visible in live 3D to the public. I've done archaeological projects in these challenging conditions and so often the resources only has like a 15 minute moment of fame and I think it's really important to make sure that there weren't the construction site is accessible, you know, using all necessary precautions. But so people can come and see what's going on, see the archaeological work, see the features as they're being exposed. And I think that's a really important thing. So that's big comment number one. I see a huge opportunity for public interpretation. And I'm curious about whether or not the public interpretation program has been even conceptualized or planned. And how do I get involved and contributing my ideas to the public interpretation program. So what is the public going to have when this is done. So, I know in the section 106 process. There's sort of a formal invitation to be a consulting party or something like that. In the public process is a little different any, you know, straight person like myself can just come to a public meeting but, you know, 106 consultation, I know it's a little different. It's not an NGO or government agency, but I would like to, you know, elbow my way into the discussions for the ultimate public interpretation program that hasn't been even conceptualized or planning on this yet. So that's in a nutshell what I'm interested in. Okay. Thank you very much. Charlie. First to speak to the public engagement and having the tow path or the walking path open. I do also think that's a really good idea when if there's a way to safely have maybe some public excavations or some tours around so that the community can see and learn a bit more about how archeologists work as well as learn a bit more about those resources. So that's something that we can when we get back to the table I can speak with the city and Kyle and see if there are ways that we can do that safely so that no one is getting hurt. I will in a moment turn, turn over to Kyle and the city in regard to timelines at the moment where we are is finalizing the section 106 consultation process. If I can say finalizing finalizing this first step of the consultation process. And then that public engagement the middle of the public engagement and public comment period. Our timeline for the environmental assessment is to have that finalized in the autumn. And then there's going to be a period of time before construction actually starts out on the canal. So there is an there's a space and time and place in there where heavy equipment is not going to be on the canal. So we can have the opportunity to look and explore things a little bit more archaeologically out there in the areas that are going to be disturbed. So that may be a space in place where we can do something like that, or it may be again like what you're saying when construction is going on but we'll carry on conversations about that that's a that's a really good idea. And I thank you for that. And in regard to public interpretation. We have seen a lot of really interesting opportunities for us to as preservationists and archaeologists and historians to create really unique and adaptive and interactive ways to do public engagement, whether it's panels or virtual recreations on iPhones or iPads. There's some really interesting things that are out there. And I can circle back with you. I think as public interpretation. If that is one of the treatment measures, it's not just going to be dictated we'll need to have a more of a public meeting with the city involving the city, and we can invite community members as well, for those who are interested to help kind of develop and come up with ideas brainstorm if you will to come up with ideas of what the public would like to see in regard to engagement. So we're in very early phases of that development. And Kyle if you'd like to talk a bit about or. I guess Kyle, if you'd like to talk a bit about like timelines anticipated timelines for construction. Absolutely. Thank you Leslie. So the construction activity itself will be in the neighborhood of 24 to 30 months. The upper canal and bangman repairs, the post gap repairs, the isolated soil slip areas. Those will take a lot less time and be somewhat isolated in nature they'll you know fix one and move to the next one and obviously try to minimize impact to the path or walk path. While that while that activity is ongoing, the longest activity will be the 1150 feet of the breach repair the demolition and the environment reconstruction we anticipate that to take approximately 24 months. So that start a lot of that's going to be somewhat spending upon the finishing of the environmental assessment and the activities that will occur between now and the end of this year. But if all goes to current schedule. We are looking at a project solicitation in the fourth quarter of next year. So Charlie, does that answer your questions. Yeah, that's fine and you brought me to another one if I can continue to monopolize this. You mentioned that there's an opportunity to do archaeological work before construction. And that's fine. But my experience in working in these urban areas and challenging areas is. The best opportunities to do our when you're working with the construction program. When the guys that have the big machines. One example is when you're going to remove that temporary, whatever you call it a dam that we put in place that removal is going to provide an opportunity for possibly more exploratory archaeology, what do you call it the breast workers, the timber. What was that feature that the timber bulkhead. Yeah, I mean, when you have heavy machines at your disposal or somebody's disposal, and you're going to take out a big, you know, temporary, you know, whatever was put in the, in the canal to plug the water. And you have an opportunity to do archaeology with, you know, heavy machinery at your disposal. So, I would not think in terms of getting the archaeology done before construction and then just having somebody standing around watching, but work with your construction contractor and see if there's opportunities to do more exploratory data recovery while they're actually pulling, you know, some of it. Recent stuff out of the way. Indeed that is that is another component we're looking at is kind of when they're starting to cut into the canal itself starting to document the stratigraphy there, looking at some of those deeper structural components. I was just thinking more in regard to public engagement. It may be safer to do. Of course, heavy equipment is going to be needed to help assist with excavating some of these things and it also, you know, it may be better to wait in part while construction is there but the concern is that we don't want to. We have an opportunity for the public to be engaged if this is an approach we're going to take to do it in a safe manner at the same time not slow down the construction process but there are all sorts of ways that we're looking to allow us to continue to do data recovery out there in and along and in between if you will, the actions that are occurring while the construction is occurring as well. And not just our approaches and just to do the archaeology beforehand but I just thinking it would be a, it may be a safer environment for, you know, if we're going to look at community to join in. Are there any other questions or comments or thoughts you all may have. I think Mike, Mike Dawson has his hand up or someone can unmute him. Well, first of all, for you guys in Atlanta. I mean if you choose to move to Columbia for this project we would gladly welcome you so the greenway that's actually out there on the canal was created by the river alliance and sadly we've got a hole in it so the river alliance as an institution strongly supports the, the initiation of this project and the completion of the repair of the canal. The historic structures have been a an interesting part of what we've done out there and we certainly applaud the recognition of those which are now uncovered and the telling of their stories. I think we've got 20 or so maybe 22 again remember now. The historic panels that we did out there in conjunction with the state museum we have seen that the power plants and the museum are connected in the cultural history of the canal and that that needs to continue. We also see that the visitation to the area which is in the music the state museum the Confederate relic room and military museum and the children museum. That needs to be connected to the Columbia canal and the three river streamway. associated with this project but not funded by it we are building a bridge above 126 across from the canal to that what I would call this the zoo side of the Broad River and then connecting that to our existing Saluta Riverwalk project so we see this is the repair of the canal is essential to connecting all of the visitors to the saluta, including the million or so folks who go to river banks to down to everybody who is downtown and to the end of the museums itself so. However, we can help with this process, we are prepared to do that and we applaud what has been considered today which is the cultural legacy of the past so. Any question for me. Thank you very much for for your comment and comment, I should say and I, I realize that the panels are out there so as we evolve into public engagement. I would like to get more feedback and have more of an discussion in regard to how our future public engagement can enhance and build upon what you all have done in the past so I know that's a big part of the green you know what I found out is there are more stories to tell than we have money to tell it with so. Okay, I will accept anybody who wants to engage with us to help tell that story, because every time our archaeologists dig up something we want to say wow that's cool now what we do with it you know so. Our, our impression from the river line standpoint is to include as much as we possibly can to tell the story of the past and the canal has got a lot of stories to tell so anybody wants to directly get with us we don't you know we're an independent nonprofit public benefit corporation. We work with the cities, we work with the state. And we're always happy to hear advice and counsel from our citizens so if they want to get us directly that's fine with me. Thank you very much. Does anyone else have any questions for us or comments. Okay, no more hands raised sorry I can't see the full participant list. Hey Leslie. Amy in the chat. Just says the State Museum says ditto to Mike's comments. They are ready to help assist as well on there. I feel like Mike Mayo has his hand raised someone can unmute in there. Yes, it's Michael Mayo. I'm the owner of Palma to outdoor. We're a local outfitter here, West Columbia, South Carolina. And we started years ago and we've developed we've seen we've always known that there's a recreational resource on the on the saloon into the confluence and then merging with fraud, and then eventually become the I'm also a resident of West Columbia and frequent the Riverwalk and that side of the river. You know we've been I've been a whitewater boat or since I was six years old so I'm very familiar with the levels of the saloon abroad and concrete. And I've wondered if there's been any type of adverse impact study on how the operation of the hydro plant will affect the residents of West Columbia, the outfitters and river users of the confluence. Has there been any studies of which because I know that when they operate the hydro plant, it reduces the flow on the on the on the salute will on the broad in the concrete. Has there been any studies done on the adverse effects of that side of the river. With that I'm going to turn that question over to my colleague Dustin, who is doing the environmental portion of the EA and I know that the, the topic is historic preservation act but this is a good opportunity Dustin if you'd like to speak to that. Sure. Okay, so this is a water resource right here. So the hydroelectric plant, the way that it's operating it's not. It is not a FEMA action for the public assistance project. We're focused on the repairs and how that would impact the resources such as the water and water levels and so forth on there. But it is a good question on here and I just want to make sure that I get it down, just to reanalyze and look at that with the water resources section of the EA. So, your question is is as a whitewater boater are there any adverse impact studies on how the hydroelectric plant will operate when it's fully operational and how that will will impact the salute of water levels is that correct. That is correct how would affect those water levels. That's correct. Okay. I will write that question down and we'll get back to you on there. We just want to keep the focus on the sector 106 but I will get back with the city and the experts with the water levels and so forth, and we will get a response. Is there a way to get into contact with you. Yes, I'll send that. Yeah, there is. Okay, absolutely. I want to take I want to take your comment down and treat it with respect and get you a response. Okay. Mike, if you want to send us an email to that. I believe they're, they put the email in the chat the section, the section 106 email. Wonderful. Yes. Thank you. Yes, yes, and all these, the resources will be covered in environmental assessment and that will to be the drafted EA will be available for public comment and review to as well. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Mike, we have Mike Dawson again with his hand up. I think he's actually unmuted so Mike, can you go. Mike, there we go. Yeah, in relation to Mike may have his time at when the, when the project was re licensed we actually looked at the recreational capacity of the outflow of the power plant. Below the power plant you could create an area that could be used for what I would call extreme kayak performance section. I looked at using that as a, as a regional attraction, you know, as seen from the duration of bridge and whatnot so I think that associated, not associated with the, with the environmental section with this regard but there is a considerable recreational capacity that we could exploit if the power plant was back in operation so closing come. Okay, thank you. Are there any more questions out there. Mike Dawson I got that down as a comment on there and a potential beneficial impact for the project on there. Okay, and I see in the chat that they're putting all the, the email, as well as where to mail any sort of questions that you may have, and that there's a full replay of the meeting with full screen view of all the slides that you can see on YouTube as well. So hopefully that will be helpful for everyone. Before we move on to closing are there any more questions or comments that the public would like to share. Please know our public comment period is open. Is that to August 11 of 2021, I was going to say the 12th. So, at any point in time, you can send us any comments or questions and just an email or write us a letter if you prefer to send it by mail. And with that, are there any other questions before we close. Okay, if not, I really appreciate everybody joining us tonight. I want to thank my colleagues with the city and with Michael Baker and with emergency management, my colleagues in PA and external affairs, as well as Dustin across the room. I appreciate that everything that everybody's doing to keep this project moving forward and I really do appreciate the public comments that we've received. I will hopefully reach out to some of you all because there are some good ideas going on and we do want to make sure that what we are considering for treatment measures are things that would be helpful for the city in regard to section 106 of the National History Preservation Act. And I thank you all for your patience with our exciting technical adventure this evening. And we hope that everybody has a wonderful evening and has a safe and cool weekend as we some really high temperature levels. Thank you everybody. Stay safe out there.