The town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, has announced that the officials are seeking to modify a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, related to the dredging of the town’s harbor entrance channel and disposal of the dredge material.
The modification is for an existing permit issued in 2008 and will allow for the maintenance dredging of the mid-entrance channel located within Barnstable Harbor using mechanical methods (barge-mounted excavator or crane) with offshore disposal of approximately 3,492 cubic yards of sediments at the Cape Cod Bay Disposal Site.
The town is planning to conduct the required maintenance dredging in the fall of 2016/winter of 2017 season.
The existing Corps permit currently authorizes the hydraulic dredging of this section of the entrance channel with the placement of sediments within the adjacent Blish Point Sediment Containment Basin.
Since the town last dredged this portion of the entrance channel in 2008-2009, the containment basin has been impacted by significant erosion and is therefore no longer considered a stable or viable site for placement of dredge sediments.
Accordingly, the town is seeking a permit modification, to allow the maintenance dredging to proceed using mechanical methods as required for the disposal of sediments at the Cape Cod Bay Disposal Site.
Deadline for sending public comments on this work proposed by the town is August 18, 2016.