OCEAN CITY — The city announced that state regulators have renewed a dredging permit for Ocean City’s bay waters, including both private and public areas, for another five years.
Set to expire in April, the permit now will extend until 2028.
According to a news release from the city, the island-wide approach to dredging is a key element to its sustainability program.
Before the all-inclusive permit was first issued five years ago, the city, individual property owners and condominium associations held a hodgepodge of current and expired permits. The renewal process required each applicant to spend time, pay permit fees and navigate a lot of red tape.
Carol Beske of ACT Engineers said dredge management at that time involved area-specific efforts to keep the waterways open for the local economy, commercial and recreational purposes and the environment.
“No unified effort was in place to meet the vast requirements for a permit to dredge multiple locations from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, New Jersey Tidelands Commission or/and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” she stated in an email. “Each specific entity — whether a property owner on the bay or Ocean City-owned property — required a costly and elongated effort to obtain a permit to dredge.”
Beske said the city decided to apply for the tip-to-tip permit, which the state Department of Environmental Protection had never previously issued. She said the proposal initially was met with resistance from permitting agencies, “but with a lot of engineering and knowledge-sharing, the agencies understood the benefits of signing the required permit.”
The initial effort in 2018 was just a first step in establishing a back bay management plan. Beske said the city now has a framework to address flood resiliency, keep waterways navigable, enhance the economy and protect the natural resources of the ecosystem.
The permit will allow the city to continue maintenance dredging beyond this winter, and it will allow private owners to dredge at their own expense without having to go through an individual permitting process.
“I want to thank ACT Engineers for their work in securing and renewing this essential permit,” Mayor Jay Gillian said. “This will continue our commitment to maintaining our lagoons and back bays. Like the beach, the back bay is a valuable asset that benefits the whole community.”
The city approved a $10.945 million bond ordinance in August that includes $2.5 million for dredging. That includes not only the physical dredging of the area, but also the permitting and engineering, as well as preparing and emptying a disposal site (dredge materials).
On Dec. 22, City Council approved the Gillian Administration’s $146 million five-year capital plan in a split vote.
The plan includes $12 million for dredging, with $1 million in 2023, $4 million in 2024 and $2 million each of the next three years.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff