Dredging Project Update
You may have noticed activity at the Sunset Beach Town Park. The park area, on the Bills Seafood/Crabby Oddwaters end, is being prepped to be the offloading site for the dredge material from Mary’s and Turtle Creek. In the next week or so, you will see their water equipment starting to arrive. The project deadline is March 31st. During this time, that end of the park will be closed. Please be mindful of the project and avoid that area of the park.
On Thursday, November 16, 2023, R. E. Goodson Construction Company Inc. will begin dredging the finger canals and the Bay area to a dredge depth of -5' mean low water (MLW). The finger canals and the Bay area will be dredged simultaneously using two (2) different dredge operations. One dredge will begin in the Cobia Street canal first, followed by the Dolphin, Sailfish and Marlin Street canals. They anticipate that it will take 2 - 3 weeks to dredge each canal. The material from the finger canals will be offloaded at Cobia Street. The second dredge will begin in the Bay area with the material being offloaded at the Majestic Oaks Park property. All of the material will be hauled by dump trucks to the Ike Williamson compound on Old Georgetown Road.
The dredging project has been fully approved and permitted by the USACE, CAMA, and DWR. The permits/certificates were issued on: USACE - April 14, 2021; CAMA - February 18, 2021 and DWR - February 24, 2021. Also, the Town requested an extension for the dredging project grant set to expire on June 30, 2021. On April 14, 2021 the NC Department of Environmental Quality amended the grant to change the contract end date from June 2021 to June 2023.
In January and February 2021, the portion of the dredging project to place the South Jinks Creek beach compatible material in the near shore placement area, was advertised to solicit bids for the project. The bid opening in which two (2) bids were received was held on February 11, 2021, after a second advertisement was provided as per NCGS requirements because no bids were received during the first advertisement. The bidders were Coastal Dredging LLC $1,524,955 and Next Generation Companies LLC $1,585,842. During the March 1, 2021 Meeting, the Council voted 4 to 1 to award the contract to Coastal Dredging LLC for $1,524,955 with a start date of November 16, 2021. Mr. Neal, Moffat and Nichol, was instructed to hold the Notice to Proceed until the USACE permit was received.
Now that the permits have been issued, Mr. Neal can move forward with preparing the bid documents for the remaining portion of the dredging project including the Feeder Channel, Finger Canals, the Bay Area, Mary’s and Turtle Creeks. The project is expected to be advertised in May/June 2021 with an anticipated start date of November 16, 2021.