The Edgartown dredge has been called in to help remove a large delta of sand that was Hurricane Sandy's legacy to the Great Pond last year.
On Thursday, Sept. 26, the Tisbury Waterways, Inc. will hold its annual meeting at 5 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre. The meeting will include a presentation on inshore dredging projects and what to do with the collected spoils. The program is a joint effort by the Tisbury Waterways Inc. and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
Dredging in Vineyard Haven harbor will be postponed until after Labor Day due to broken equipment. The project was scheduled to begin last week and be completed before July. Tisbury town administrator John (Jay) Grande reported at Tuesday’s selectmen’s meeting that the contractor, Barnstable County, had to repair their dredge, causing work to be pushed back.
“It certainly comes as a big bombshell to everyone to learn five days before they were supposed to start that the dredge won’t be operating,” dredge committee member Nevin Sayre said.
The town of Tisbury will be able to start one of its planned dredging projects ahead of schedule. Dredging on the small harbor entrance will begin June 1.
The projects, approved at town meeting earlier this month, were not scheduled to begin until after fiscal year 2014 began on July 1.
Voters approved a $500,000 borrowing item at the April 9 annual town meeting to approve the dredging of the harbor and Lake Tashmoo. Town treasurer Tim McLean said the town will borrow $260,000 at this time to dredge the harbor, the more pressing of the two projects.
Many remember the last time the small (west) entrance to Vineyard Haven harbor closed in 1997, and you could smell the decay far and wide. The small entrance is nearly closed again and in desperate need of dredging. The entrance is environmentally vital to water circulation and a clean harbor. It is also imperative to keep open for safety, so small boats and children can use this back channel entrance and avoid the commercial ferry channel.
A meeting called to discuss long-range management for the Menemsha Pond system took a surprise turn when a spokesman for the U.S.