Posted on October 16, 2017
By Jessica Iannetta, Cecil Whig
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract for the dredging of the Chesapeake City Basin, with the project expected to get underway this fall.
The Corps announced earlier this month that the contract to dredge the basin and parts of the C&D Canal has been awarded to Jade Creek Construction LLC, of Manassas, Va., in the amount of $2,199,856.09.
The work will involve dredging the area owned by the Corps, roughly half of the basin, to a depth of 10 feet, as well as dredging an additional 10,000-linear-foot stretch in the C&D Canal east of the basin to a depth of 35 feet.
“I guess the word that would best describe everything would be ‘finally,’” said Chesapeake City Mayor Dean Geracimos. “We are just very grateful that the Army Corps of Engineers came through and we are moving full steam ahead on the project.”
Gavin Kaiser, C&D Canal project manager for the Corps’ Philadelphia District, said Thursday that a timeline for the project has not yet been determined but that the Corps is currently working with the contractor to develop a schedule. The Corps has already obtained a water quality certificate using nationwide permit 16, one of the permits the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers renews every five years that can be used to provide faster review of projects that have a minimal impact on the aquatic environment.
Chesapeake City, the Chesapeake Inn Marina & Restaurant, and other businesses on the basin will also need to obtain a water quality certificate for their part of the dredging, which will piggyback off of the contract awarded by the Corps. Sandra Edwards, town administrator, reported that the town will partner with the other local businesses to jointly apply for a water quality certificate.
During Tuesday night’s Chesapeake City meeting, the town council approved $1,500 for its portion of the work McCrone, an engineering firm, will do to prepare the necessary water quality certificate.
To pay for the actual dredging, Chesapeake City secured a $100,000 grant from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Waterway Improvement Fund last year to cover the dredging of town docks. The Corps plans to pay for its portion of the dredging using federal funds, meaning a $620,000 grant secured from that same fund will not be needed, Kaiser reported.
After it was last dredged in 2010, the roughly 1,500-foot-wide basin had a maximum depth of 10 to 12 feet, but now parts of the basin are as shallow as 4 feet at low tide. Gianmarco Martuscelli, owner of the Chesapeake Inn, reported Wednesday that the depth didn’t change much over the summer but the increased traffic did loosen the sediment up a bit.
Martuscelli said he’s pleased the dredging is moving forward and expects to attend a meeting next week with the town and other neighbors in the basin to coordinate with Jade about moving pilings and docks and other items needed to get the project underway.
The timing of the dredging has also worked out well, he added. The project will likely get underway in November, he said, which is already the end of boating season, meaning there will be less disruption to those using the basin.
“A lot of the seasonal boaters have taken their boaters out already for the season at that point so it’s less coordination in regards to getting them moved around,” Martuscelli said.
Source: Cecil Whig
