Mobile, AL – Dauphin Island property owners have reached a settlement with the federal government that would give the island $1.5 million to restore beaches left bare by chronic erosion.
Federal court records show the settlement was reached in a lawsuit the Dauphin Island Property Owners Association filed in 2000. The lawsuit blamed erosion and land loss on dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Mobile ship channel.
The lawsuit claimed that sand naturally flowing east-to-west on waves was trapped in the channel and prevented from replenishing the island's beaches.
The president of the property owners association, Bill Harper, said in a letter to members Tuesday that the settlement will allow projects to move forward to restore the island.
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