Margate received a national fish & wildlife grant about 2 years ago. The money must be used for wetlands restoration.
According to Margate Zoning Officer, Roger McLarnon & Margate Solicitor, John Scott Abbott, there’s also a major need for dredging the back bay docks of Margate. Dangerous shoaling gets worse each year. Hurts boating and fishing.
Where will the dredge spoils be dumped? Maybe Shelter Island. The former sewer dump / plant once operated in the back bays of Margate & Ventnor.
Shelter Island, 27 acres, is co-owned by Margate and Ventnor.
Margate wants Ventnor to see this idea….as a shared services project. One day, Ventnor may need a place to dump its dredge spoils.
VIDEO: Margate Zoning Officer, Roger McLendon & Margate Solicitor, John Scott Abbott Ask Ventnor To Join In.
NJ Senator Cory Booker endorses the effort, according to Margate solicitor, John Scott Abbott. So does the ACOE. But, the NJ DEP is not so enthusiastic about the plan. Those dredge materials, more accurately known as ‘spoils’, likely contain a toxic mix of who knows what.
In the 1920’s, Shelter Island was dug out in order to use that material, to build up portions of Margate & Ventnor.
Margate officials see this as restoring the wetlands. Other view this effort as dumping spoils and dredge materials into a giant hole, on Shelter Island. Some thinks this shoaled sand, clogging the docks along Amherst Ave, comes from regular ACOE dredging along the front beaches.
Resident John Sewell asks about dredging costs. What will they be? Sewell says dredging and sand pumping on the front beaches ultimately ends up in the inlets, channels and shore towns south of Margate.
Sewell is not a fan of the Margate dunes. The life expectancy of a so-called ‘protective’ dune is only 45 minutes, says ACOE research. Thus, there’s real, potential need for a master jetty at Longport. Trap the sand. Keep water ways open. Reduce shoaling in the back channels and bays. Make boating more safe.