DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997              TAG: 9703050440

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: KITTY HAWK                        LENGTH:   90 lines

CHANNEL DREDGING STUCK IN MUD FOR NOW PROJECT'S DELAY PUTS USE OF BOAT BASIN IN DRY DOCK FOR THE SUMMER

With just weeks of work left to complete the dredging of the boat channel to Kitty Hawk Bay, a series of mishaps and miscommunication has prompted the state to shut down the project.

Dare County officials have about given up hope that the dredging can be done, and this week ordered the removal of machinery at the High Bridge Creek site.

State marine and coastal management officials had told the county that the $250,000 project would damage fish feeding grounds if it was allowed to continue much beyond the Feb. 15 deadline.

Meanwhile, frustrated Dare County officials say the stop work order is needlessly costing taxpayers money and will prevent boaters from launching at the ramp.

``The bottom line is that nobody is going to be able to use that boat basin again this summer,'' Planning Director Ray Sturza said. ``If you apply a good dose of common sense, the loss to the fisheries was minimal compared to the loss to the boating community.''

About 2.2 miles of the channel bottom was scheduled to be pumped to increase its depth from about 3 feet to more than 5 feet. It's about 1.5 miles from the boat ramp to Kitty Hawk Bay.

Sturza argued that juvenile and larval marine life in the channel were not in amounts to be significant, and that the state was being unreasonable in light of all the factors.

``They refused to exercise any discretion and consider the cost to the taxpayers. . . . The reason we were upset is that we were so close to finishing, and if they had only exercised a little discretion the people could've had their boat ramp.''

But state officials say the county not only missed the dredging deadline, but failed to apply for an extension until five days after the project was supposed to be completed. And when it did get around to requesting an extension, it asked for up to 30 days.

``I don't know of any cases where we granted over a month into the moratorium,'' said Richard Watts, district manager for the state Division of Coastal Management in Elizabeth City. By state law dredging is banned between Feb. 15 and Oct. 31 every year to protect fish hatcheries.

``Again, someone dropped the ball with the county in not requesting an extension,'' Watts said.

Project engineer Bob Stewart, an engineer with Kill Devil Hills Performance Engineering, attributed the delay in submitting the request to an ``administrative oversight'' by either himself or the environmental consultant. But both thought the other took care of the detail.

As it was, the project was already behind the eight ball because of delays in funding and a dredge spoil spill that is blocking access to the boat ramp. Contractor Danny Burrus of Cape Dredging is taking full responsibility for the spill cleanup, Sturza said.

The state provided about three-fourths of the project funds, and the county picked up the rest, the planning director said.

``There was a one-month delay in getting started, which we could certainly use right now,'' Stewart said. ``The most practical solution would be to have the dredgers dredge up to that boat basin.''

About 3,000 feet remain before the dredger would reach the ramp. The state and the county still have not concluded how the spill by the boat landing will be removed, he added.

Harrell Johnson, district manager of the state Division of Marine Fisheries in Elizabeth City, said because of the wetlands surrounding the Kitty Hawk channel, there is a ``high degree of biological activity'' that indicates the presence of marine and estuarine life.

``That project would have an impact on those resources,'' Johnson said. ``The question is, what is the state of the biological activity. It would probably do some damage to the resource if it was continued.''

Stewart said the contractor indicated that he is willing to work 24 hours a day until the project is completed, which would cut the time from three weeks to one week to get to the boat ramp. The remaining 3,000 feet or so beyond the landing could be dredged when the moratorium is again lifted in the fall.

But a native waterman who grew up in a house across from the creek believes the state is wrong about this project.

``They just want to look at rules and regulations and refuse to look at what's best for the people,'' said Clifton Perry, mayor of Kitty Hawk and a crabber and fisherman by trade. Perry said dredging will enrich the fisheries, rather than deplete them - as he said he witnessed in the 1950s when he used to play in the waterway.

``It's so stopped up now . . . the condition of the canal is so bad. What they're doing is backward. They would produce far more if they'd let them dig them out. Fish would live in it better - they would just produce a lot more in the long run than they would now the way it is.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

A crane sits idle after the state ordered Dare County to put the

brakes on its dredging project in Kitty Hawk until late this year to

protect young marine life.

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