The City of Ventura has proposed to renew their existing permit for the maintenance dredging of the Ventura Keys.
According to the Corps, the City calls for the renewal of the existing permit to maintenance dredge up to 350,000 cubic yards of material over a ten-year period, not exceeding 100,000 cubic yards of material per year.
The proposed project is required to maintain channel configurations, and to restore and assure safe navigability within the Keys waterways, providing material for beach replenishment, reported the Corps.
Deposition options include the surf zone at Cell 1 of the Pierpont Bay Groin Field (the first cell north of Marina Park) and the surf zone at the mouth of the Santa Clara River and/or the near shore waters at the mouth of the Santa Clara River.
USACE also added that the dredging and deposition activities would not commence until after Labor Day in September of any year and would cease on or before March 15 of the following year so as to avoid impacts on grunion spawning, least tern and snowy plover nesting, and recreational use of the beach.
The three channels in the City will be dredged to a depth of -12 feet MLLW plus a two-foot overdredge. It is anticipated that the channels would require dredging one or two times over the ten-year maintenance period.
The deadline for sending comments on the proposed work is November 25, 2018.