Posted on April 5, 2023
Greenwich Harbor is long overdue for dredging, but this week the town got one step closer to actually moving earth.
The federal government has agreed to pay $500,000 to test the sediment in Greenwich Harbor for contamination, which is required before any dredging can start. The results of this environmental review will dictate when the dredging will start and where the soil will be moved or if it will happen at all.
Greenwich Harbor is a federal channel, so the government has a duty to maintain it. This environmental review money specifically is coming from the Army Corps of Engineers, but not until Fiscal Year 2024 which starts on October 1. That means testing is likely months or possibly more than a year away.
The harbor sees traffic from police boats, large yachts, town ferries and more, but silt and sand has built up considerably near Grass Island. At low tide, the water is only about 7 feet deep in some places.
The harbor has needed this dredging for decades, but the project did not move forward until Bernard Armstrong was elected chairman of the town’s Harbor Management Commission last April.
He said getting this dredging done was a top priority when he took the leadership role.
“Quite often, commissions and committees like this to do a lot of talking, but they don’t do a lot doing,” he said. “I just felt that if I’m going to be charged to this commission, we have to start doing doing and getting things done.”
Armstrong said if the sediment is not highly contaminated, then he hopes it can be dredged and moved to “local waters” out in the Long Island Sound.
If the sediment (also called “spoils” in this context) is contaminated or toxic, then it will cost more money to move it. Potentially, the price could be so high that the project does not move forward, though Armstrong thinks that is unlikely.
Armstrong is optimistic that the spoils will be clean enough to dump in the Sound, but it will have to wait.
Armstrong credited Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan with helping the dredging process along. He said she was instrumental in engaging Representative Jim Himes, which resulted in him sending a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers last year asking for the funds.
“I’m extremely pleased that we succeeded in securing critical funding – $500,000 from the Army Corps of Engineers,” Himes said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the Town to ensure they have the federal money they need to cross the finish line and successfully complete the project.”
It is still unknown how much this dredging will cost in total, but the figure will likely be in the millions. In the past, town officials have said it would cost between $8 and $10 million, but, on Wednesday, First Selectman Fred Camillo said it would likely cost more than that.
The federal government is expected to pay for most of this dredging cost, but the town of Greenwich has already set aside $2 million to chip in.
The dredging was delayed in the past because there was a question about whether Greenwich was in violation of federal rules in and around the harbor.
Specifically, there was concern that Greenwich Harbor and Grass Island were not sufficiently open to the public. After years, the Army Corps of Engineers finally said the harbor is indeed in compliance with federal rules late last year, which cleared the way for the sediment testing.
