About Twice as Much Dredging Needed as Previously Thought in Ocean City

After years of waiting, a much-anticipated dredging of back bays and lagoons in Ocean City is likely to begin just after Labor Day.

The bad news is that only Snug Harbor can be dredged this year, and it appears that the problem is twice as bad as previously anticipated.

Representatives from ACT Engineering and Anchor QEA LLC met with members of the public at the Ocean City Community Center Tuesday night.

City Council authorized a two-phase contract with ACT Engineering, which will work with Anchor QEA on a Dredging Strategy that includes a review, development, scope and budget proposal.

ACT conducted recent field surveys, and found that Snug Harbor had 50 percent more bay mud than previous estimates indicated.

“What does this say about the rest of the island? The volume we need to dredge is probably greater than we know,” Project Manager Eric Rosina said.

The current permit allows for the dredging of 542,000 cubic yards of mud. It expires on July 24 of next year, but the city will seek an extension, as well as an application for a new five-year permit.

The 542,000 cubic yards number was determined by a survey conducted in 2011, prior to Superstorm Sandy.

“Sandy did more damage than I knew,” Mayor Jay Gillian said.

A “tip-to-tip” bathymetric survey of the island will begin soon, in order to gauge just how much dredging is needed. Once the total volume is determined, ACT will know exactly what it needs to do and a complete timeframe can take shape.

What residents do know now is that work is likely to begin Sept. 9 in Snug Harbor, pending council’s approval of a $937,900 contract to Wickberg Marine Contracting out of Belford at Thursday night’s meeting.

About 14,000 cubic yards needs to be dredged from Snug Harbor, and 8,600 cubic yards is available at a site off Route 52. The plan is to fill that site. Once it is full, it will be emptied and the spoils will be sent to a site in Wildwood.

The rest of the mud that needs to be dredged from Snug Harbor will then be dredged and put in the Route 52 causeway.

Two rounds of dredging will take place, in order to catch anything that falls back into the water during the initial round of dredging.

There is no limit on what can be dredged, and residents who pay their own money to maintain their docks will be able to “piggyback” on the permit, officials said.

Residents in the area are advised to clear the area of boats, slip covers, docks and anything else to make the process move faster.

For future dredging, a site near Roosevelt Boulevard being referred to as “Site 83” is at capacity. It can be used for the dumping of dredged spoils, but needs to be emptied.

A temporary road needs to be built from Roosevelt Boulevard to Site 83. City Council approved a resolution to build this road was approved at the Aug. 12 council meeting.

The road would be 1,300 feet, and would be placed where a similar access road was built for a project in 2010, pending approval from NJDEP, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the county. It would be between 20 and 30 feet wide.

The city has received a $2.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior to use some of the dredged materials as part of a wetlands restoration program. About 6-12 inches worth of the spoils would be spread over a wide area of the marshes. This would add a layer of protection for Ocean City against big storms, and would be beneficial to the wildlife in the area.

“We can use the dredged materials as an asset,” Dredging Engineer Ram Mohan said, of Anchor, said.

The strategy is new, with similar projects taking place at Baltimore Harbor in Maryland, Galveston Bay in Texas and, on a smaller scale, at Rehoboth Bay in Delaware.

“The Army Corps of Engineers in Philadelphia is very interested in this project,” Mohan said.