Hatteras Inlet dredging is on BOC agenda for Monday
By IRENE NOLAN
At its meeting on Monday, July 18, at 5 p.m., the Dare County Board of Commissioners will consider an agreement with Coastal Planning & Engineering of North Carolina (CPE-NC) to obtain permits for dredging to maintain the Hatteras Inlet navigation channels.
The board selected the Wilmington company at its June 20 meeting to assist the county in obtaining the needed permits for long-term maintenance of the sand-clogged channels that allow vessels to transit from the Hatteras docks into the ocean.
On Monday night, the commission members will be asked to approve a $55,524 contract with the company.
Under the contract, CPE-NC will provide engineering, environmental, and geotechnical services to the county to produce an environmental assessment, essential fish habitat assessment, and biological assessment of the project, along with a Major CAMA permit application and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit application.
The permits would seek authorization from the Army Corps and the state for maintenance of the “West Channel” — also known as the Connecting Channel — with the Army Corps sidecast dredge Merritt or hopper dredges Murden and Currituck. It would also seek a permit for dredging on the Ocean Bar Channel if necessary to move from the West Channel to an offshore spoil area for disposal of the dredged sand.
CPE-NC estimates that it will take six months to produce the environmental documents and permits. The company would provide monthly updates to the county.
More details of the CPE-NC proposal — and a complete agenda — are available in the agenda packet for the board meeting on the Dare County website. Go to http://www.co.dare.nc.us/video/agendas/agenda.pdf and scroll down to pages 70 through 83.
Among other items on the agenda for Monday’s meeting is an update on the county’s economic development project from representatives of contractors N.C. State University and RTI International.
Also, the commissioners will consider a request from homeowner Hilda Bundy to allow golf carts on two streets in the St. Waves subdivision — Sea Vista Court and Sea Vista Drive.
Citizens who want to comment on agenda items or any other topic can do so at the Commissioner’s Meeting room at the Dare County Administrative Building in Manteo or at the Fessenden Center in Buxton. The public comment period is scheduled for shortly after the beginning of the 5 p.m. meeting.
