Posted on September 4, 2018
It’s been a banner couple of weeks for Swansea and its waterfront revitalization project for the 9-acre town beach.
SWANSEA — It’s been a banner couple of weeks for Swansea and its waterfront revitalization project for the 9-acre town beach.
After several years of pursuit, they have in hand the the final permit needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Cole River and adjacent Mount Hope Bay, to renourish the town beach with more than 15,000 cubic acres of sand as the foundation of the Swansea waterfront restoration project.
On Wednesday afternoon on Hyannis, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced Swansea had been awarded a $728,184 state “navigational pilot dredging program” grant to remove river sediment.
“This project will support the Swansea waterfront revitalization initiative, which aims to stimulate tourism and related businesses along the Cole River through enhancements to navigation, public spaces, and recreational opportunities.
Soft waves ripple along a sandbar in Mount Hope Bay adjacent to Cole River channel. Both areas will be dredged to re-nourish the town beach as well as improve boating and fishing access. Swansea received a $728,000 state grant for dredging on Wednesday.
Jack Wakeman, left, and Mark Carvalho head out on a fishing expedition aboard “The Chalupa” from the Swansea Boat Ramp. [Herald News Photo | Jack Foley]
“The project will nourish a public coastal beach, build capacity for public mooring space and restore all-tide navigation for commercial shellfishing and recreational boating,” said a press release from the Baker-Politio administration.
Swansea’s dredging grant was among 10 awarded totaling $3.6 million, and the second largest behind Barnstable, which received $1 million.
“Dredging is essential to ensuring that the commonwealth’s harbors grow in a safe, environmentally sound, and economically prosperous manner,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton.
“Wonderful! … It finally came through,” Carole Hyland said Tuesday about the Army Corps permit to proceed.
An original member since 2010 of the waterfront committee charged with revitalizing the beach, she returned ecstatic from the Cape with fellow member Fran Kelly and Town Administrator John McAuliffe on Wednesday.
“We were so happily surprised,” Hyland said. “It gives you such a good feeling when you do apply and are rewarded … It will be so wonderful for the children to have a bigger beach.”
She said with dredging the first priority of the project, the grant should help ensure landscaping, walkways and “little extra things” can be done.
“It’s exciting for the community. It’s exciting for the waterfront project,” said Selectmen Chairman Derek Heim, who’s strongly supported its progress. He praised state officials for the funding and a persistent committee led by Chairman Christopher Sampson.
“I’m extremely excited that the project continues to breathe some life,” Heim said.
Referring to one Town Meeting revote when funding was not approved and a lesser amount later was, Heim said, “This is what the taxpayers asked us to do.”
He was hopeful the full-scale project would be developed, which would include a 5,000-square-foot, open-air pavilion.
Selectman Christopher Carreiro, the former board chairman, said Polito strongly encouraged the town to apply for this dredging grant. It’s administered by the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.
“We’re in a really excellent position,” Carreiro said of prospects to fully fund this project that had been estimated at upward of $5 million.
Source: The Herald News
