By Donald Wittkowski
City Council is expected Thursday to award a multifaceted consulting contract that will be a crucial part of Ocean City's dredging program to clean out lagoons and channels choked with muddy sediment.
ACT Engineering Inc., of Robbinsville, N.J., will supervise the city's dredging work this year and design the next round of projects slated for 2017 as part of the $467,500 contract.
ACT will also oversee the removal of dredge spoils from a temporary disposal site that is currently loaded to capacity. Site 83, as it is known, must be emptied out before it can begin accepting new sediment that will be dredged from the lagoons and channels in 2017.
Eric Rosina, ACT's project manager, said in an Aug. 19 memo to Mayor Jay Gillian that it will take about 31 weeks to complete the emptying of Site 83.
Site 83, located near the 34th Street Bridge, is a centerpiece of the city's long-range dredging strategy. It can hold about 300,000 cubic yards of dredge spoils. In the meantime, a much-smaller disposal site underneath the Ninth Street Bridge will handle dredge spoils this year.
Construction is underway on a temporary road that will allow more trucks to serve Site 83, speeding up the removal of Ocean City's dredge spoils to a Wildwood landfill.
The road is being built on the soft soil of the marshlands. However, a section of the roadway has been sinking, which has delayed its completion by about two months, Rosina said in his memo to Gillian. ACT Engineering will supervise the road's construction as part of its new contract.
Council is scheduled to award the ACT contract at its meeting 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall. The contract will continue the city's relationship with ACT, which has already been serving as the consultant for other phases of the dredging program.
Overall, the mayor has proposed spending $20 million in the next three years to dredge the lagoons and channels along the back bays from one tip of the island to the other.
Residents have complained to the city that some waterways are so shallow that their boats scrape the bottom or are trapped at the docks, particularly during low tide.
For 2016, the city will focus on dredging three areas that are choked by muddy sediment. They include Snug Harbor, Glen Cove and South Harbor. Trident Marine Piling Co., the dredging contractor, has announced plans to begin work on Snug Harbor and Glen Cove this month and finish the projects by Oct. 1, the date that the city’s environmental permit expires for those projects.
However, the city already plans to seek an extension of the permit to December from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Snug Harbor, between Eighth and Ninth streets along Bay Avenue, was partially dredged last year by another contractor. Trident will deepen the center of the channel in Snug Harbor to finish the job.
Like Snug Harbor, Glen Cove, between 10th and 11th streets along Bay Avenue, has been clogged by sediment buildup over the years.
After the Snug Harbor and Glen Cove projects are done, Trident will begin dredging the entrance to South Harbor, a bayfront area between Tennessee Avenue and Spruce Road. The city’s environmental permit for South Harbor’s dredging runs until December, giving Trident more time to complete the work.
Trident owner Joe Stewart announced the timetable for all three dredging projects during a town meeting Aug. 20. ACT Engineering representatives, who also attended the meeting, gave residents a step-by-step overview of the dredging program.
According to ACT Engineering, residents will be able to piggyback on the city’s environmental permit to dredge their own boat slips at their cost. The city is not requiring residents to dredge their slips, so it will be an individual choice by the property owners.
While Snug Harbor, Glen Cove and South Harbor are all scheduled for dredging this year, the residents of another bayfront neighborhood will have to wait at least until 2017.
The Nor’easter Marina area along Bay Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets is considered one of the most badly clogged areas. But currently, there is no permit to allow dredging there, ACT Engineering officials told residents at the Aug. 20 town meeting.
ACT officials assured the Nor’easter residents that their area remains a high priority for dredging and likely would be among the projects recommended for 2017.
In his Aug. 19 memo to the mayor, Rosina noted that potential sites for 2017 and the dredging costs "are currently being evaluated."
"It is currently anticipated that the city will conduct an extensive hydraulic and mechanical dredging program in 2017," Rosina wrote.
In other business at Thursday's meeting, Council is expected to award a nearly $300,000 contract for six city fireworks displays in 2017 and 2018.
The fireworks shows will take place on the Fourth of July, at the annual Night in Venice boat parade in July and at the Indian Summer Weekend celebration in October.
Pyrotecnico Fireworks Inc., of New Castle, Pa., was the only bidder and will be awarded the contract, according to a resolution attached to City Council's meeting agenda.
