Harwich Gets Key Approvals For Comprehensive Dredge Program

by William F. Galvin

            HARWICH – Good news along the waterfront came from two fronts this week, with both the Army Corps of Engineers and the state of Massachusetts giving approvals for the town’s dredge and beach nourishment comprehensive permit.

            “It takes a lot of weight off our shoulders,” Harbormaster Thomas Leach said on Tuesday of approvals that will go a long way to allowing the town to establish a dredging and beach nourishment plan.

            The town has been working for three years with its consultant, Coastal Engineering Company of Orleans, to put in place a comprehensive permit for dredging its harbor channels and placing spoils on both public and private beaches. Presently the town has several permits which expire at different times and can be cumbersome when addressing immediate dredging needs.

            The comprehensive permit requires multi-agency approval.  The addition of the Herring River to already existing permits triggered an environmental notification form filing with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act unit. Review of the comprehensive permit was made and there were concerns MEPA might require an environmental impact report, which would delay the permitting process and cost the town an additional $20,000.

            Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles issued a decision on Friday determining no environmental impact report will be necessary.  That news came on the heals of a decision by the Army Corps of Engineers earlier in the week approving a Massachusetts Programmatic General Permit.

            That permit allows removal of up to 20,000 cubic yards of material from each of the four channels along Nantucket Sound, including the Herring River, and allows its placement as beach nourishment. The permit allows dredging of channels to a maximum depth of eight feet.

“Based on the information your have provided, we have determined that the proposed activity, which includes a discharge of dredged or fill material into waters and wetlands, will have only minimal individual or cumulative environmental impacts on waters of the United States,” stated Karen Kirk Adams, Army Corps of Engineerins chief of  permits, enforcement branch regulatory division.

            The Corps permit contains lengthy protections for the piping plovers and requires a management plan for the birds following state guidelines. The permit also cites requirements for protection of winter flounder and other anadramous fish.

            Leach said these approvals should bring the permitting costs to the town to an end. The harbormaster also said issuance of the comprehensive permit will allow the town to talk freely with private beach associations about nourishment projects. He said the town does not have enough dredge money for needed projects and placement of material on private beaches will allow more dredging.

            He said residents of the Old Mill Point association began talking to the town about the use of dredge material from Herring River. He said that project is planned for 2010. Other associations, including Wyndemere Bluff, have expressed interest in accessing dredge spoils.

            There is presently a plan to dredge Allen Harbor channel, which could take place as early as this fall, Leach said. But he is trying to put it off until spring so winter erosion does not begin filling in the channel. The sand from that project will be placed along town beaches such as Atlantic Avenue, Earle Road and likely Grey Neck Beach, the harbormaster said.

            Leach said the news is good and while he does not know for sure when the comprehensive permit will be issued, the sooner, the better.

7/31/08