Project expected to begin in 2 years
Hull has been awarded a $239,500 Seaport Economic Council grant that will fund engineering and design services and permitting for future dredging of Nantasket Pier, also known as Steamboat Wharf, where the Steamboat Wharf Marina is located.
This project will help ensure the continuation of safe marine operations at the town-owned pier, which needs to be dredged every 10 years. The projected start date for the dredging is November 2023.
Hull is one of several Massachusetts coastal communities to benefit from more than $6.7 million in grants during this most recent round of SEC funding.
Hull Harbormaster Kurt Bornheim and Community Development Director Chris DiIorio were the driving forces in applying for the grant last May “and putting the town in a positive position to receive this stage of the project’s funding,” Town Manager Philip Lemnios told The Hull Times. “They both did a great job.”
The plan is for the town to go out to bid sometime in the late fall for the design and permitting phase of the project. Hull’s share of this part of the work is about $45,000, which will come out of the town’s waterways fund. “Once phase one is completed and we have a shovel-ready project, the town will apply for a 50 percent match from the state for the dredging of the area around the pier,” Lemnios said.
The waterways fund is the account into which all the town’s boating-related revenue is deposited annually (including mooring fees, lease revenue from Nantasket Pier, and other marina-related income). The fund is used to pay for harbor-related costs to the town. The account’s expenditures are voted each year at town meeting.
The amount of material to be dredged is approximately 10,000 cubic yards at a cost of $900,000 to $1.2 million. “The town’s share, if we are awarded the 50 percent match, would be bonded and paid for out of the waterways fund,” Lemnios said.
The SEC’s goal is to help the state’s 78 coastal communities, including Hull, to use their unique assets to strengthen their local economies, create jobs, and prepare for the impact of climate change.
“Investing in our coastal communities is vital to our collective success,” state Sen. Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth) said in a press release. “Dredging is a vital part of the efforts underway to restore and maintain Nantasket and the surrounding area. The announcement builds on the funding we were able to secure earlier this year for seawall repairs and dune nourishment, and I’m looking forward to seeing these projects move forward.”
Seaport Economic Council grants “are critical to our efforts to maintain and install vital infrastructure in Hull,” said state Rep. Joan Meschino (D-Hull). “By investing in these projects that build resilience to climate change and foster economic growth, we are investing in the future of our coastal communities.”
The SEC was relaunched in August 2015, with a mission to boost the maritime economy, promote economic development, and support resilient infrastructure in the state’s coastal communities while preparing them to respond to the challenges posed by rising sea levels and increasingly powerful coastal storms.
