By Maddy Vitale
Huge mechanical claws are pulling sludge and sediment out of the Somers Point bay in dredging project that is part of a major beautification of the bayfront which will include a city marina.
By mid-February dredging should be finished and crews will have removed an estimated 8,000 cubic yards of gunk out of the waters, Somers Point City Engineer Greg Schneider explained Monday.
“It is definitely in the tons,” Schneider said of the materials being removed from the bay.
Schneider, of Mott Associates in Egg Harbor Township, may know more about the dredging project, better than most.
“It’s been five years securing the grants and all the permitting,” Schneider pointed out. “It took a long time.”
In the fall, the city announced that it had secured approvals to construct a marina complete with 22 transient boat slips. Two of the slips would be used for a tour boat and emergency vessel.
The end result, Schneider said, will make it all worth it.
“It will revitalize the bayfront,” he noted. “I think it will be really neat when it is all done.”
Officials said the hope is to have the marina constructed by Bayfest, a big spring celebration in Somers Point held in April with the final touches by the summer of 2019.
Various grants were secured to finance the marina. A $550,000 grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation is being used for the dredging. About $200,000 of a $1.45 million National Boating Infrastructure Grant is being used for the dredging, the rest will be used to build the marina, Schneider explained.
Rutala Associates, a local planning firm, secured the grants on behalf of the city.
Wickberg Marine Contracting Inc. of Belford, N.J., is doing the dredging work. The contract was awarded by City Council back in September.
Schneider said the dredging began Jan. 7 and there has only been one day where the crews did not dredge because of the cold temperatures.
Dredge materials are being taken to a disposal site off Route 559. Once the spoils are deposited, soil will create an overlay and grasses will be planted. It will also keep the tide back, so the road doesn’t flood.
“They are bringing it to Somers Point Mays Landing Road to make a living shoreline,” Schneider said. “It is basically a berm to protect from flooding and also to get rid of phragmites, which are invasive, and we are replacing them with native plant species.”
He explained that the area that the city for the dredging materials is in a county right-of-way. Specifically, it is on the north side of Somers Point Mays Landing Road from the Garden State Parkway to the bridge over the Patcong Creek.
Additional materials are going to the old Gateway Marina to raise the parking lot, which is privately owned, he noted.
“The project is neat because we are reusing the material for another purpose,” he said. “It is beneficial reuse dredge material.”
The idea of reusing the dredge materials is fairly new.
“That is why we got the grant. The state is looking for other ways to use the material,” Schneider said. “It was all tested and it is all clean material.”
Chris Mellon, an inspector with Mott Associates in Somers Point, watched Monday as the heaps of sludge and sediment were scooped out of the bay by the heavy machinery.
“It’s going very well,” Mellon said. “I am making sure the roads are staying clear and clean and counting how many tucks are hauling out the sludge.”
