887-Slip Marina Proposal for Weaver Cove is Revived

A plan for an 887-slip marina in Weaver Cove off Burma Road in Portsmouth that was previously-approved in 1995 but never came to fruition has resurfaced.

The Army Corps of Engineers is now asking for public comments on the work proposed by Melville Associates, which entails dredging of about 26.2 acres in the cove, 3.9 acres of fill put waterward on the high tide line of a coastal beach and 4,000 square feet of fill put in a coastal wetland.

The plan itself includes 887 slips of varying sides, from 20- to 100-feet long in four main sections.

The dredged material, which would be about 146,000 cubic yards, would be dewatered on a barged and used as fill to construct the land-based elements of the marian, which includes parking areas, marina buildings, mix-use space, residential multi-unit buildings, commercial retail space and a coastal greenway.

The project will require 1.95 acres of fill beyond the high tide line, according to an Army Corps of Engineers plan summary.

In addition, the plan calls for the installation of a 2,870 linear foot steel sheet-pile seawall with a 2-foot wide concrete cap beginning at the coastal wetland on the northern edge of the site and continue along the coastal beach to the southern end of the site.

There will also be timber walkways, a 24 by 560 foot floating wave attenuator, a wave fence and will occupy about 92.4 acres in all.

The dredging project will likely affect fish species but the adverse effect would be “minimal,” the Army Corps said. But the project itself is likely to have “substantial” impacts on acres of Essential Fish Habitat.

The Corps said it has determined that it will submit an expanded review of the EFH to the National Marine Fisheries Service, who will in turn provide conservation recommendations. The Corp “will coordinate with the applicant regarding implementation of those recommendations.”

The public comment period will be open until Sept. 5. Anyone with comments is asked to write to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Regulatory Division (ATTN: Lindsay Flieger), 696 Virginia Road, Concored, Mass., 01742-2751.

To see the plans, go here: http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Portals/74/docs/regulatory/publicnotices/NAE-2014-569.pdf