CAROLINA BEACH — It has been nine months since the Carolina Beach lake dredging project was put on hold due to a misunderstanding with the Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point (MOTSU) regarding where the town could place dredge materials.
In December the Town of Carolina Beach voted to terminate a contract with Civil Works Construction, essentially stopping the project in its tracks.
But terminating the contract with CWC only solved part of the town’s problems by ending the financial burden the town was responsible for suspending the contract. Cutting ties with CWC didn’t address the problem the lake dredging project was created to solve – flooding.
Plans for the project aimed to deepen the lake in Carolina Beach to hold significantly more stormwater. In April four options were presented to Town Council including: leave the lake as is; create a new island in the lake to store dredging spoils; remediation action plan; and, remove the remaining soil.
On Tuesday Town Council will hold a town workshop where they will hear from town staff about the different options, and their associated costs.
The preferred option of the town, to complete the dredging project poses several questions that need answering before moving forward with the plans. First, the town would need to identify a new disposal site to place the dredging materials. Second, the town is still responsible for the removal of the soils currently located on MOTSU property. The town would then have to enter into a new contract with a company to complete the dredging.
Secondary disposal site
The Town of Carolina Beach has property located behind the Coast Guard LORAN-C Station near Snow’s Cut Bridge, but getting to the town’s property is difficult. The town would first have to develop the disposal location site including the removal of trees, road grading, fencing, a temporary wetland crossing, and construction permitting.
The total estimated cost for the development is $186,673 and would take place from July 1 to Oct. 31, according to the presentation.
MOTSU
The spoils that are currently on MOTSU property must be moved from the current location to another site on the property. Depending on the amount of time given to the town to complete the work, it might be possible for the town to give the materials away.
If the town were to contract the movement of the materials to the new location 250-feet away from where it is currently, it could potentially cost $90,000 to do so. If the town were to use town employees to do the work, that cost could be reduced to $26,240.
While MOSTU is allowing the town to keep the material on its property temporarily, the town will have to remove all of the materials within 3-5 years. If town staff is used to complete the project it could end up costing more than $500,000, but it might also be possible to give the material away or have a contractor actually pay for the material.
Dredging
Continuing the dredging would require the town to accept a bid offer from a contractor. Currently, three bidders have offered to complete the work. The lowest bidder so far is Carolina Marine with the estimated cost of $1.3 million, TA Loving was the most expensive with $2.2 million estimated cost.
If contracted to complete the work, the timeline has work beginning July 1 and ending March 31 in 2019.
The total estimated cost for the completion of the project ranges from $3.1 million to $4.05 million.
Council will not vote on anything during the workshop June 26, 6 p.m. in Council Chambers, only consider its options.
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