SNOW HILL– Worcester County officials agreed to express interest in an updated study related to inlet shoaling.
The Worcester County Commissioners this week voted unanimously to send the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) a letter outlining the county’s interest in an update to a 1998 study addressing water resources and environmental impacts.
“This does support future work,” said Bob Mitchell, the county’s director of environmental programs.
Following recent boat trips highlighting the shoaling problems near the Ocean City Inlet for state and federal officials, Mitchell told the commissioners this week the county was continuing to explore all options to address the issue.
“While shoaling has been occurring in the inlet since its creation, the pace of the accumulating sands has been accelerated after Hurricane Sandy in 2013,” he wrote in a report to the commissioners.
As a result, he said short-term solutions being explored included a more aggressive dredging schedule, removing more material from the shoals near certain buoys and relocating buoys.
He said long-term improvements being considered included exploring the potential for a third dredging boat for the region as well as a refreshment of the “1998 Ocean City, Maryland and Vicinity, Water Resources Study, Feasibility Report and Integrated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).” Mitchell said navigational and environmental conditions had changed since the 1990s. He suggested officials advise the USACE that Worcester County express interest in initiating a study partnership to get an update done.
“This would allow us to look at the issues experienced in the inlet more holistically…,” he wrote. “In other words, there are a lot of issues that should probably be looked at again 20-25 years later with a refreshed report. This report informs future project work and even assists with Corps maintenance priorities. It can be used and referenced in applications for follow-up grant funding for projects utilizing federal or state programs.”
He said seeking an update to the study did not commit the county to funding anything.
“These studies kind of support and provide the basis for a bunch of restoration work, a bunch of grant work,” he said. “I’m just coming to ask if we could submit a letter of support for this… We’re probably going to have a bunch of local and state partners in this as well as the Corps but we need a holistic study of what’s going on there to support what we want to do in the future.”
The commissioners voted unanimously to send a letter in support of an updated study.
