SANDWICH – The North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently gave a verbal agreement to provide aid to Town Neck Beach’s nourishment.
If the plan is formally approved, roughly $12 million worth of sand would be dredged from the area by Scusset Beach and brought to Town Neck Beach.
That would amount to about 388,000 cubic yards of sand being transferred to Town Neck Beach in order to limit the impact of erosion.
Sandwich Town Manager Bud Dunham said that the town worked with both the New England and North Atlantic divisions to get this plan in motion.
“Both Corps offices said if the town hadn’t done those two permitting efforts that took us a really long time and a lot of money, they would never be able to move as quickly as they have, and I think we all scratch our heads because we don’t know how quickly it’s all been, but we’re making the best of it,” Dunham said during a recent teleconference meeting.
The plan still needs to be formally written and approved by the federal level of the Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C. A formal plan, Dunham said, should be made available to the public around August. Environmental permits also still need to be secured.
Public comments will be accepted once the plan is formally presented, and amendments will be made as needed before it is submitted to the nation’s capital.
“Then they have to finalize certain things, but by the end of the calendar year, we should be looking at formal approval from the federal government,” Dunham continued.
The project does have a $12.5 million cap from the Corps of Engineers, and Dunham mentioned the proposed solution is the only one that would fit under the cap.
About Brendan Fitzpatrick
