Engineering & Construction Inspection Department
Canal Dredging
Prior to 2008, canal dredging in Ocean City was primarily the responsibility of the adjacent property owners. Because dredging permits are difficult to obtain and dredging itself is costly, most canals in the city had not been dredged in many years, if ever. Therefore, in 2008 The Mayor and Council adopted an ordinance that allows the City to take over maintenance dredging of City Canals.
The Engineering Department will be heading up the dredging program. Each canal in the city has been surveyed to determine the need for dredging. Based on the results of this survey, 18 canals with an average depth of less than 3’ were identified as the highest priority for dredging. Given the large amount of material required to be dredged from these canals, the work will be done over a period of 5 years.
The Engineering Department’s Consultant, Soule’ Associates, is now in the process of preparing the necessary State and Federal permit applications for the first round of dredging. The permit process is expected to take up to two years. Once all the required permits are received, contracts will be bid out and then dredging can begin. Work will be done in the off season hopefully starting in the late fall of 2010. Each canal will be dredged to a depth of 4 feet below mean low water.
The City will only be responsible for dredging the main channel in each canal, we will not be dredging individual boat slips. However, the City will attempt to coordinate with property owners who wish to “piggy back” on the City’s dredging contract to have their individual slips dredged at their own expense.
A major contributing factor to canals filling in is erosion from the adjacent shoreline. Therefore, prior to beginning dredge work on any given canal, the City will evaluate the canal’s shoreline. Property owners with failing bulkheads or other substandard shoreline protection will be required to repair or replace their shoreline protection.
For a list of each canal and their average depth click here: allcanals.pdf
For the list of canals to be dredged in the first 5 years, click here: workplan.pdf
For additional questions, please contact the City Engineer tmcgean@ococean.com.