Dredging Projects Scheduled for Next Month

Three Mile Harbor and Montauk Harbor will get some much needed relief next month when two government agencies commence dredging projects.

In October, the , while Suffolk County also plans to dredge Three Mile Harbor's channel, according to Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson. Both major fishing hubs have suffered from sand build-up.

At a town board meeting on Thursday, the board approved an add-on resolution to the agenda that would allow the use of Marina Lane for the deposit of sediment from Three Mile Harbor.

The county's public works department advised town officials that same day of the scheduling to dredge the channel from the inlet to the south end of the harbor during October.

Wilkinson said he was advised that the sediments that will come from the south channel are "too silty" to be placed on the designated area, on the outskirts of the Sammy's Beach.

"The town owned Marina Lane site adjacent to Three Mile Harbor has been the receptacle for channel sediments during the previous dredgings," a resolution from the board said.

Only a small portion of the property will be used for deposit and de-watering of the silty sediments.

Since the town has been waiting on the county to dredge Three Mile Harbor, Wilkinson said he did not want "to cause undue delay to the start of the project, now that it's scheduled."

Larry Penny, the director of the town's Natural Resources Department, will monitor the use of the property.

Initially planned for 2013, the Corps moved up the project in Montauk due to an at the mouth of the harbor that has safety and economic impacts if commercial fishing boats, as well as the Coast Guard's cutter, could not freely move through the channel.

Wilkinson said he did not the exact date the dredging would begin at either locations.