Posted on April 16, 2018
By Katie Frankowicz, The Daily Astorian
The group steering development of the Hammond Marina must look elsewhere for money to dredge the increasingly silted property.
A grant application to the Oregon State Marine Board for dredging funds has been denied, Warrenton City Commissioner Pam Ackley announced at a City Commission meeting Tuesday.
The city set aside some money for dredging, but was told the work — identified as the top priority for the marina — may cost as much as $1.3 million.
Grants and other funding will be necessary to bridge the gap. City Manager Linda Engbretson said staff is looking at a variety of options. Harbormaster Jane Sweet said she is now looking at smaller grants available through the Oregon Business Development Department, also known as Business Oregon.
Either way, the city missed the window for dredging the marina before the busy summer fishing months on the Columbia River. Hammond is an especially popular spot for anglers participating in the Buoy 10 salmon fishery.
“We should have gotten it,” Ackley said about the grant, commending Sweet for her hard work.
Ackley, who serves on the Hammond Marina Task Force, believes the fact that Warrenton does not yet own the marina complicated the grant application. Warrenton is still waiting on a promised transfer of ownership from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Corps representatives plan to be on site today for an environmental assessment, one of several assessments required before the agency will pass on ownership to the city.
The Hammond Marina had one of its best years in 2017, hitting several revenue records, and was on track to exceed its budget thanks to camping and launch fees alone. Behind the success looms concerns about what happens if Warrenton can’t dredge the marina soon, however.
Last year Ackley and Sweet said they couldn’t wait for the city to have full ownership before dredging takes place. Fishermen had reported that at the docks there were sometimes only a couple of inches of water under their boats at low tide.
“If we don’t dredge that marina, we’re not going to have a marina to put boats in,” Ackley said in March when asked for an update on the work. Dredging, she said, is the “first and foremost thing that we need to accomplish in order to expand and do all the other things we’d love to do there.”
An engineering firm is continuing to develop a feasibility study for dredging. The marina task force has until November to update a master plan for the site and hopes to have a completed feasibility study in hand before then.
Source: The Daily Astorian
