FENWICK ISLAND – A review of conceptual designs and cost estimates highlighted a committee meeting this week to discuss potential dredging projects in Fenwick Island.
On Tuesday, members of the Fenwick Island Dredging Committee met to discuss options for a long-awaited dredging project in the neighboring Little Assawoman Bay. Following directions from the committee, Anchor QEA’s Steve Bagnull presented officials this week with conceptual designs and cost estimates for three deposit sites – Seatowne, the nearby kayak launch and Seal Island.
“These three cost estimates are all pretty similar …,” said Councilman Bill Rymer, committee chair. “Each is within roughly $200,000 of each other.”
Late last year, committee members began exploring sites on which to deposit material from a proposed dredging project. While the committee first proposed a project with Seatowne, a nearby community which would use Fenwick’s dredged material for a wetland restoration project, officials agreed to also gather cost estimates of using areas such as Seal Island or the nearby kayak launch as a proposed deposit site.
“Today is not the day to pick or the other,” Rymer told committee members this week. “I think we have to have conversations with Delaware Parks to make sure they are brought into this discussion … I just want to make sure everyone saw these conceptual designs and cost estimates first.”
In addition to a project at Seatowne, Bagnull also presented committee members with conceptual designs for a project at Seal Island and a project at the kayak launch.
“We were left with the charge of putting together conceptual cost estimates for Seal Island and material placement at the kayak launch area …,” he explained. “In order to come up with costs, we had to come up with conceptual-level design.”
Bagnull told committee members this week the proposed project at Seal Island – located in the Little Assawoman Bay – would restore roughly eight acres of state-owned land using dredged material. He noted that rocks and dredged material would be used to develop a high marsh, low marsh and beach area.
“We feel that would help keep material in place in the long term,” he explained. “We want this to be a resilient island and have habitat variability.”
Bagnull said the project cost of Seal Island would total an estimated $1.75 million, which includes a $150,000 tipping fee imposed by Delaware State Parks.
“The biggest difference is the tipping fee, which is the requested fee from state parks to be able to dispose of materials within their own property,” Rymer added.
Bagnull also presented committee members with a proposed deposit area at the nearby kayak launch. He said dewatering and depositing the material along the bayside property would cost an estimated $1.85 million.
“The cost estimate assumes the material gets mechanically dewatered and beneficially reused, he said. “That process is pricier than pumping into bags or even into a marsh … That pushes the unit cost up.”
Rymer noted he was surprised a deposit site at the kayak launch would cost more than the restoration project at Seal Island.
“It makes the kayak launch option C, which is a surprise,” he said.
In discussions this week, officials and residents pointed out that the town would most benefit from a proposed restoration project on Seal Island, as it acts as a storm barrier, provides wildlife habitat and contributes recreation value. Fenwick resident Steve Ross, commodore of the Fenwick Island Yacht Club, said his organization also supported the idea of focusing on Seal Island.
“The club is willing to do whatever it can to contribute to the project …,” he said. “The town is paying for all this dredging. I think we need to pick a project that most benefits the town.”
Committee members ultimately agreed to reach out to Delaware State Parks to discuss conceptual designs at the two proposed deposit sites.
“The next big step is we will line up a meeting with Delaware Parks to go through these analyses, get more detailed feedback and come back to the committee,” he said.
Committee members this week also reviewed possible grant opportunities to fund the dredging project. Rymer noted that the town had recently applied for a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, seeking $100,000 to reimburse the town for permitting and engineering costs.
“It is specific to just Seal Island,” Rymer said. “Basically, we had to take a stance. If we are fortunate enough to win, but the committee decides Seal Island is not the right direction, we will have to contact them.”
Committee members noted they could also explore the costs of hiring a grant writer.
“Before we start heading down the grant writing process, we need to actually identify what the project is,” he said.
Plans for a dredging project in the Little Assawoman Bay began in earnest in 2018, when the town hired Tony Pratt, former administrator for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), to guide them through the funding and permitting processes. By the following year, Anchor QEA, a Lewes-based engineering firm, was brought on board to provide design, bidding and construction management services.
