Voters in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, will decide on October 26 whether to authorise up to US$3.8 million, including through borrowing, for preventive maintenance dredging of the town's inner harbour.
Article III on the fall town meeting warrant covers Area I of Wellfleet Harbor, the waterways on both sides of the town pier, and the harbourmaster's office that give slip holders access to the wider harbour.
The Select Board voted unanimously on September 15 to recommend the article, which it backed over a separate citizens' petition on dredging.
Select Board member and charter captain John Wolf said part of the channel had shoaled to less than two feet (0.6 metres) at low tide from eight feet (2.4 metres).
"There are 10,000 cubic yards (7,600 cubic metres) of silt, otherwise known as ‘black mayonnaise’, flowing into the harbor annually," dredging task force chair Joe Aberdale told the board.
Aberdale said the buildup could impede the harbourmaster's search and rescue work, damage nearby shellfish beds, and push boaters to other harbours.
The harbour serves 150 commercial and recreational boats, and Area I was last dredged in 2021.
The town's dredging account contains about US$2.9 million, against Aberdale's US$6.7 million estimate for the work. The new funds would first pay Foth Engineering to help prepare an application to the US Army Corps of Engineers, with contractor bids invited after approval and work beginning as early as October 2027, Aberdale told the Provincetown Independent.
Aberdale said routine maintenance dredging, estimated at about US$4 million, should happen every four years. The proposal excludes Area II, the wider mooring field, which has not been dredged since 1957.