Posted on January 30, 2018
By Nanette LoBiondo Galloway, ShoreNewsToday
The city is slowly moving toward obtaining all the necessary state and federal permits needed to dredge the backbay, which has become filled with silt and is dangerous to boaters.
On Jan. 11, the Board of Commissioners approved several professional services contracts to do the preliminary work necessary to file for approvals with the state Department of Environmental Protection for what could be a 5- to 10-year project to dredge the inland waterway.
Officials have said dredging the backbay would not only improve safety for recreational boaters and fishermen, it would also preserve the real estate values of expensive bayfront properties.
Planner James M. Rutala of Rutala Associates of Linwood and Robert J. Catalona & Associates were awarded contracts not to exceed $5,000 to provide assistance with obtaining permits and governmental approvals for a marine habitat restoration.
Stewart Farrell of Stockton University’s Coastal Research Center was awarded a $36,371 contract to provide technical assistance in obtaining the permits.
Remington, Vernick and Walberg engineers was awarded a $60,000 contract, half of the amount in the firm’s proposal, to help get the permits. The commission will consider a proposal for additional compensation after April 30.
Solicitor John Scott Abbott has been spearheading the effort to obtain permits, and has suggested using dredge materials to restore marine habitat at the Shelter Island site, which is owned in conjunction with Ventnor City. Abbott has repeatedly reported to the commission that the process of obtaining permits from federal and state authorities is moving along slowly, “but we’re getting there,” he said. The city started the process in 2015.
The contracts, which were awarded without competitive bidding, are being funded through what remains in a $125,000 grant awarded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2014, and a $3.5 million capital bond ordinance approved in 2017. The grant is due to expire at the end of February and all funds must be expended by then, officials said.
“We are trying to get every dollar out of that grant,” Abbott said.
Source: ShoreNewsToday
