From left, Margate solicitor John Scott Abbott shows Ventnor Commissioners Lance Landgraf and Tim Kriebel maps of Shelter Island, which is co-owned by the two municipalities.
VENTNOR – The Board of Commissioners is considering a request from neighboring Margate to partner on an application to obtain state approvals to dredge the backbay area in both municipalities. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection is responsible for reviewing environmental documentation, while the Department of Transportation issues dredging permits.
Margate has greater urgency to dredge its lagoons and canal has become clogged with sand after Hurricane Sandy. The bay has become impassable in spots, and canals have filled in with silt. Margate officials are hoping a long-term dredging project will prevent existing marina businesses along Amherst Avenue from losing navigational waters.
It’s been nearly five years since the Margate Board of Commissioners started discussing a 5- to 10-year dredging project. The project would not only improve safety for recreational boaters and fishers, it would also preserve real estate values for expensive bayfront properties, they said.
Margate Solicitor John Scott Abbott and grant consultant James Rutala presented the partnership plan to the Ventnor commissioners at their June 13 meeting.
Abbott said Margate has been pursuing approvals for several years and has met with state DEP officials on Margate’s recommendation to use Shelter Island as a dredge material disposal site. The site, located in Ventnor, is a former common sewer plant and is co-owned by Ventnor and Margate.
Shelter Island has a 28-foot deep hole in it that was dredged in the 1920s to build up the Ventnor Heights area. The hole is currently too deep to sustain marine life, so filling it with dredge materials to about 6-10 feet below the surface would allow the restoration of marine habitat, Abbott said.
“Now, nothing lives at the bottom,” Abbott said.
Additionally, the cost of dredging would be contained if the dredging company could hydraulically pump the sand into the hole rather than truck it to an off-site location, if one can be found, Abbott said.
The hole is large enough to accept about 470,000 cubic yards of dredge material, more capacity than both communities would ever need, he said. Margate needs about 166,000 cubic yards for its project, he said.
“There’s strength in numbers and we both own this island,” Abbott said about partnering with Ventnor. “We want to restore marine habitat.”
He requested the city file a joint application to obtain approvals from the DOT to dredge the area, with Margate as the lead agency. The only cost to Ventnor would be incurred when it decides to apply for a permit to dredge the Ventnor area.
Having the approvals would allow homeowners to voluntarily dredge their own lagoons and dispose of the materials in Shelter Island, as well. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is also eyeing the site for dredging the Intracoastal Waterway, Abbott said.
Commissioner Tim Kriebel said the city should think about the future and partner 50-50 on the capacity of dredging material.
If approvals are granted, dredging would take several years, and need to be repeated every 5 or 10 years, Abbott said.
“The last time they dredged in Margate was in the 1950s,” Abbott said. “It would be a several-year project. We have seasonal limitations with the winter flounder population and crab spawning.”
Last year, Margate awarded a $36,371 contract to Stewart Farrell, Ph.D. of Stockton University’s Coastal Research Center contract to provide technical assistance needed to obtain the permits. Remington, Vernick and Walberg engineers was also awarded a $60,000 contract, half of the amount in the firm’s proposal, to help get the permits. The contracts are being funded through what remains of a $125,000 Hurricane Sandy Coastal Competitive Grant awarded to Margate by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2014.
Some environmental investigations have already been forwarded to the DEP for approval, Abbott said.
Abbott has repeatedly reported to the Margate commissioners 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 next step is for Ventnor to offer Margate a letter of support signed by the commissioners to present to the New Jersey Department of Transportation, which issues dredging permits. Margate would have to pass a resolution to submit the application, Rutala said.
Action may be taken at a future meeting.
