Council Told How Firm Plans to Remove 100,000 Cubic Yards of Dredge Material

STONE HARBOR – Stone Harbor Borough Council heard a presentation from dredging contractor Sevenson Environmental Services at its Aug. 2 meeting. 
The discussion by Sevenson and the project engineering firm, COWI North America, focused on the approaching start of Phase II of the borough’s troubled dredging effort.
Council was told that Phase I resulted in less than 15,000 cubic yards of dredge material removed as the project was plagued by problems which eventually led to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) permit being suspended for non-compliance with permit conditions and negative environmental impacts.
The borough’s long overdue dredging effort was scheduled to remove 100,000 cubic yards of material from lagoons and harbors. The plan, which depended on a dewatering site at the Municipal Marina on 80th Street, was hotly opposed by a group of residents worried about noise, inconvenience and the potential for environmental damage.
The project ran into serious problems almost from the start. A spill of treated water and dredge material caused the state to suspend the project at its beginning in December 2015.
The permit was again suspended in the spring leading to the poor Phase I results.
In a statement at the time, Mayor Suzanne Walters said, “The dredging material dewatering process has not operated as authorized,” referring to the geotube system in place at the marina.
Sevenson is proposing a different approach.
Following discussions with DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers, the borough will request permit modifications for the “means and methods” employed in the project. “The project footprint will not change,” council was told.
Sevenson wants to go to mechanical dredging and a dewatering process that relies on mixing the dredge material with Portland cement which, Sevenson says, will allow the material to be ready for transport in much less time than was true in Phase 1. This process involves mixing dredge material and cement to quickly absorb water which will allow faster trucking off site. Portland cement is a product made from limestone and clay that hardens under water.
Residents of the area adjacent to the marina continue to express concern about a project that uses a residential area for dewatering. Council gave little indication that they will change their plans. The borough argued in the past that the marina is its only viable location for dewatering.
Council approved a resolution allowing the mayor to sign the necessary application papers requesting permit modifications.
The process will require public hearings before a final ruling on the permits. The municipality continues to hope that it can begin the dredging process anew by Oct. 1 and have all areas completed by March 2017.
The contractor proposes to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., six days a week.  Neighbors complain that the work in Phase I started earlier and ended later.
Walters said some of the out-of-bounds work was from a separate project conducted in the area by the Army Corps of Engineers.
No contingency plans were discussed or presented to council if DEP or the Army Corps declines the requested permit modifications.
Hobie Cats
Hobie Cats will be returning to Stone Harbor after council approved a modified number for their traditional beach site. Damage to the beaches due to winter storms had led the borough to eliminate the Hobie Cat beach locations this season.
Council member Mantura Gallagher reported that she had been working with a group of Hobie Cat enthusiasts to see if a reduced number might be able to gain approval.
Gallagher said the “Beach was beginning to naturally restore itself.” She and resident Jack Kelleher, an informal representative of a group of Hobie Cat owners, presented the case to the council for 30 spaces at their traditional south-end beach area.
Kelleher pledged that the owners would ensure their boats were off the beach if weather reports predicted an unusually high tide or approaching storm.
The boat owners also indicated that they realized the season would be shortened on the tail-end by the scheduled beach replenishment project beginning in October.
“We will have eight weeks with a chance to sail,” said Kelleher. Council gave him and fellow Hobie Cat owners those precious weeks.
Proposed Meeting Format
Judith Davies-Dunhour, who, in June, won the Republican primary election to run for mayor in the Nov. 8 general election, has proposed a new format for council deliberations which she would like to see in place by September.
The format would keep the current schedule of council meetings on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 4:30 p.m., but it would add work sessions at 3 p.m. on each of those days.
The work sessions would bring before full council and the public discussions that now occur in private, standing committee meetings attended by no more than three council members to comply with limits set by state Open Public Meetings Act (Sunshine) rules.
Davies-Dunhour argued that open full-council work sessions would help bring greater transparency to local government and would increase efficiency.
She said she wants to start the proposed arrangement in September so that the budget process can begin in the new format.
Council will likely consider a formal resolution to consider the format at the second monthly meeting, Aug. 16.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.