Posted on June 30, 2023
Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Wellfleet are remote only, but some are held in person. Go to www.wellfleet-ma.gov/calendar and click on the meeting you want to watch, then follow the instructions on the agenda.
Thursday, June 29
- Natural Resources Advisory Board, 4 p.m.
- Cultural Council, 5:30 p.m.
- Shellfish Advisory Board, 7 p.m., Adult Community Center & Zoom
Wednesday, July 5
- Social and Human Services Committee, 7 p.m., Adult Community Center
Conversation Starter
About That Dredging
It seems that the town’s mitigation plan for dredging the harbor is still a moving target. Dredging task force members Chris Allgeier and Curt Felix informed the select board on June 20 that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had agreed to eliminate the first phase of the plan that would place 14 acres of the Herring River under mitigation.
The town’s initial plan was to start with placing cultch and seed in the Herring River for one year before permanently moving restoration efforts to 28 acres of Blackfish Creek. But Allgeier told the board that the Corps understood the town’s “reluctance to having a site in the Herring River even temporarily,” given how productive the river is for wild oyster harvesting, which would be restricted under mitigation. Allgeier said the town could begin mitigation in Blackfish Creek as early as October.
The task force had been racing to finalize the plan in order to meet a June 30 deadline for a $2.5-million MassWorks grant. But Town Administrator Rich Waldo told the board that the state agency had agreed to repackage the grant for fiscal year 2025, eliminating the June 30 deadline.
Another deadline looms, however: the town has received three dredging bids and is required to award a contract within 45 days of receipt, which means it faces a deadline of July 15 on that decision. Waldo said the town would have the option of extending that deadline to 90 days.
The three bids are from Burnham Associates, Jay Cashman, and Coastline Consulting and Development. The lowest bidder is Burnham Associates with a price of $4.3 million. The town’s consultant for the project, GEI Consultants, recommended that the contract be awarded to Burnham. —Sam Pollak
