Posted on October 16, 2017
By Tim Buckland, StarNews Online
Dredging of Carolina Beach Lake is on hold after the town was told by the Army to stop depositing material removed from the lake bottom onto federal land.
Town Manager Michael Cramer said the town had an agreement to place material on undeveloped land owned by the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, also known as MOTSU. Although the terminal is across the Cape Fear River in Brunswick County, the base includes a buffer zone along the western side of Pleasure Island.
“We’ve run into a regulatory wall from MOTSU,” Cramer said. “Although they had given us permission to do it, they later expressed concern about the exact location.”
Cramer said the town leases a part of the federal land, which is home to one of the largest military shipping terminals in the world, mainly for its wastewater treatment plant, wells and water and sewer infrastructure.
Cramer said he had told town council members that the contractor, Civil Works Contracting, had estimated that the delay, which began last month, was costing about $3,500 for idle rental equipment and lost employee time.
He said this week, though, that the figure likely will be lower and that the town is “actively negotiating” with the company, which as a $2.7 million contract to dredge the lake to a depth of about 6 to 8 feet. The contractor has yet to submit a claim for any costs.
“There’s nothing specific yet” that the town may have to pay for the contractor’s lost time, Cramer said. “The contract doesn’t necessarily specify something like this taking place.”
The idea behind the project is to provide more room for stormwater during heavy rains, reducing flooding. The project has proved tricky. As of earlier this year, the project was behind schedule because the contractor was having difficulty with just removing sediment from the lake bottom.
Cramer said the town does not know when it can resume the project. He said officials are “actively” trying to find another place to deposit the material dredged from the lake.
Source: StarNews Online
