WEST WILDWOOD — Prop dredging might be a convenient way to clear out the silt from around a dock, but it’s not permitted in New Jersey. A local marina has been fined for the practice — tying a boat to a dock and using the boat’s propeller action to dredge out the silt and mud.
Gallo’s Marina here was cited Oct. 16 by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for illegal dredging and for maintaining an unpermitted 11-foot-by-32-foot personal watercraft dock without a permit.
DEP’s Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement issued an Administrative Order and Notice of Civil Administrative Penalty Assessment based on a prior Notice of Violation from June 19, 2006, complaints dating back to 2005, and subsequent inspections and investigation by Bureau officials.
Fines for the illegal dredging and dock have been set at $3,000 with an additional penalty of $100 per day for every day the violation continues.
The owner of the marina has requested a hearing.
“Our marina back here is the only one that has been dredged; all I did was make a big hole back here,” said owner Luke Gallo.
Gallo, 65, said he has been at the marina for 31 years and is currently in the process of selling the property at 10 Lake Road. A potential deal fell through recently in which a developer planned on building town homes on the site, because the dock lease which is paid to the state, according to Gallo, could not be carried over from a commercial to a residential use with enough slips to make it profitable.
The personal watercraft dock was made from a permitted dock, he contends.
“I have one pier that goes out from my bulkhead that has finger piers that extend out from the main dock, and boats tie up to the finger piers. I took off all the finger piers, and made one straight dock out from the bulkhead. Then I can get four bigger boats, a couple 25-footers, tied up; and what I did with the finger piers, I put them together and brought them to the end of my bulkhead and made a wave runner dock. I can’t see why I need a permit to do that,” he said.
Gallo complains the state’s restrictions make it difficult to make the best use of his property.
“I pay the state money every year to use their water. I don’t have a grant it’s a lease. Every seven years they up my rate and I have no say in that. The state makes a lot of money off of marinas and they don’t help us,” he said.
Gallo said that with the tidal action of Post Creek Basin – the creek that runs between Wildwood and West Wildwood where his marina is located – the silt over the winter months fills up his dock area by about two feet, making it next to impossible for boats to dock.
“At low tide it keeps filling me in,” he said.
Gallo said he uses a 74 horsepower engine small boat to move the silt.
“I just run it around the marina and blow the silt out. It’s not mud, it’s not sand, it’s just silt that travels in and out with the tide,” he said.
Neighbors along this narrow waterway reminiscent of Venice’s canals have complained about the practice, noting not only that it’s illegal but that it moves the mud and silt out into the narrow channel.
“When Gallo prop dredges, he does so with complete disregard for the effect it has on other people’s tidal areas,” said one neighbor who declined to be named. “We pay a lease to the state for the right to have a dock in our area, and we do not appreciate Gallo or anyone else at the marina dredging up his sludge and dumping it on everyone else.”
Under New Jersey administrative regulations, dredging requires a permit. Gallo did not obtain a Waterfront Development permit to dredge, according to DEP records. Prop dredging is not a permitted activity.
A spokesperson for the DEP was asked how frequently his department fields complaints about the practice of prop dredging – also known as prop washing. It is either not common in New Jersey marinas or is under the official radar.
“It’s difficult to say – we do hear reports of it from time to time,” said Larry Hajna. “Other than that it’s not a frequent occurrence.”
Contact Avedissian at (609) 886-8600 Ext 27 or at: savedissian@cmcherald.com.
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