Posted on January 26, 2017
By Ian Thompson, Daily Republic
The City Council approved a proposal Tuesday to contract with an international company to start the planning that’s necessary to dredge the Suisun Marina.
If things go according to plan, dredging could start as early as August with work done in both the marina channel and in Whispering Bay.
The contract with engineering planning firm Moffatt & Nichol will cost the city $405,000. The entire dredging project is expected to cost $3.9 million, according to a report to the council from Building and Public Works Director Tim McSorley.
Most of the funding will come from the Victorian Harbor and Marina Village maintenance assessment district, and the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District. Suisun City still has to find away to come up with $739,000.
The marina was last dredged in 2008. Moffatt & Nichol was used the last time the harbor was dredged. Plans to prepare for dredging the marina were pushed back a year to 2017.
This time around, some of the money will have to be spent on raising the perimeter levees at Pierce Island to give that island the additional needed capacity for dredging spoils.
Once the island’s levees are raised, the city will be able to dump the spoils of two to three more dredgings there.
Councilwoman Jane Day said the city should start planning for other places to put future dredging spoils. Day also asked what future uses there could be for Pierce Island once it can’t take any more dredging spoils.
McSorley said that building on the island, which is presently outside the city limits, would be unlikely due to the soil composition.
Moffatt & Nichol is an international company with Northern California offices in Walnut Creek and Oakland. It has its headquarters in Long Beach.
Source: Daily Republic
