The hauling of 50,000 cubic yards of bay mud to Wildwood has not begun.
Moving the material is one key to restarting Ocean City’s long-stalled efforts to deepen shallow and unnavigable waters on the island’s bay side.
The material is part of a filled-to-capacity site in the marshes near 34th Street, where Ocean City has permission to dump dredge spoils.
The city in February awarded a $2.7 million contract for a company to haul the material away to make room for new dredging.
But Ocean City Business Administrator Jim Mallon said Wednesday that the city is still waiting for environmental test results before Wickberg Marine Contracting gets the final green light to move the material to Wildwood. Mallon said the results are expected any day.
In the meantime, Wickberg is constructing a reinforced landing under the 34th Street Bridge, where trucks will meet a barge moving the material from the nearby spoils site. The trucks will then shuttle to Wildwood, which has agreed to accept the material to help cap a landfill.
Mallon said he did not know if the contractor would complete work by July 1 — the opening of the permitting window for new dredging projects to begin.
Bids are out for a contractor to dredge lagoons between Eighth and Ninth streets (Snug Harbor) and between 16th and 17th streets (Carnival Bayou). The Snug Harbor project would use a separate spoils site under the Ninth Street Bridge.
On Thursday, City Council will consider a resolution that changes its contract with Wickberg.
Council had authorized a $2.7 million contract for Wickberg to haul the material and agreed to pay a separate $14-per-cubic-yard tipping fee to Wildwood. But when Wickberg proposed saving the city $2 per cubic yard by hauling the material to a privately owned site, council then awarded Wickberg a bundled contract for the work and the tipping fees.
Facing the prospect of losing its partner in the shared services agreement, Wildwood dropped its price to $10 per cubic yard.
The resolution council will vote on Thursday restores Wickberg’s original contract amount. Ocean City will pay Wildwood separately, and save taxpayers $200,000 with the tipping fee that is $4 per cubic yard less than originally proposed.
