File Photo/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 in June of 2019.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – The city is inching closer to obtaining the necessary permits to dredge the back bay along Amherst Avenue. The Board of Commissioners Thursday, March 3 approved a resolution authorizing an agreement with Ventnor City to share in the cost of obtaining a permit to place dredge materials into a 28-foot deep hole on Shelter Island.
Shelter Island, located off Ventnor Heights, is a 4.5-acre site jointly owned by the two cities. Margate has been seeking approvals from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge its back bays, which have become impassable in spots and so clogged with silt and sand that it is difficult to traverse at low tides.
Margate started the approval process back in 2015 with the hopes that a long-term dredging project will preserve existing marina businesses along Amherst Avenue, help the city maintain its navigational waters and preserve property values for bayfront property owners.
The city approached its neighbor to the north to use the site to safely dispose of dredge materials and restore marine habitat currently unable to survive in the dredge hole, currently referred to as Dredge Hole 90.
Sand from Shelter Island, a former sewer plant, was excavated in the early 1920s and used to raise the elevation of land in Ventnor Heights and the upper end of Margate.
Although the state would like Margate to use another site, the city is seeking permission to use the Shelter Island site instead of trucking it off-site, which will save hundreds of thousands of dollars on the cost of disposing dredge materials for two reasons: the city already owns the land, and it is close to the area that needs to be dredged.
The dredge hole has the capacity to hold 470,000 cubic yards of dredge material if it is filled to 6 feet below mean low water, “more capacity than both communities would ever need,” Margate Solicitor John Scott Abbott said previously
Margate needs about 166,000 cubic yards for a 5- to 10-year dredging project. The last time Margate dredged its backbay was in the 1950s, he said.
According to Ventnor Commissioner Lance Landgraf, Ventnor does not have a need to obtain a dredging permit at this time because most of the back bay in Ventnor is controlled by the Army Corps, which is responsible for keeping the Intracoastal Waterway navigable.
“In fact, we’re not even allowed to do any dredging there,” Landgraf said.
He said the Army Corps has plans to dredge West Canal, but nothing has been finalized.
To be “fair and equitable” the agreement calls for Margate to reserve half of the available space for Ventnor’s future use, and obtain reimbursement for the cost of obtaining the permit at a future date.
Margate has already spent about $145,000 and plans to spend another $10,000 to obtain the permits from federal and state authorities. A formula has been developed for Ventnor to reimburse Margate at a rate of 33 cents per cubic yard within 60 days of Ventnor placing materials in the hole up to 235,000 cubic yards.
“At first, they wanted us to share in the cost of obtaining the permit up front. But Ventnor said we shouldn’t have to pay until we need it,” Landgraf said.
Margate is in the process of completing the necessary investigations, including fishery surveys and water quality studies, to submit to the state for a citywide dredging permit that will include permission to dredge for private property owners who live along the canals. Remington & Vernick Engineers is nearly ready to submit the NJ DEP and Army Corps permit applications pending dredge material samplings being performed by Stockton University Coastal Research Center.
Landgraf said the city would approve a similar resolution approving the interlocal agreement at an upcoming meeting.
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