By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — When the Town of Naples worked with an engineer to get dredging quotes from contractors, the initial response was as cold as the layers of snow and ice under which the town beach is covered.

Kent’s Landing needs a deeper shoreline for the swimmers and for the boaters trying to dock there.

On March 8, that dredging work started at the Naples Town Beach, which is often referred to as Kent’s Landing. While the dredging work is being done, the recreational area will continue to be open to the public. 

On Feb. 27, the Naples Board of Selectmen supported the motion, 4-0, to get the dredging job done for $57,650, using about $17,000 from Kent’s Landing and taking the remaining amount from the Causeway Reserve. Later, money from the TIF fund would be used to repay the Causeway Reserve account.

Waiting until it was approved at town meeting, which is scheduled for April 27 would be too late to wait for funds. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) only allows dredging between Nov. 15 and April 15. 

Naples Town Manager John Hawley explained how the contractor came forward, and what logistics the town had to overcome to get the job underway.

“After our last meeting, a gentleman named Rob Durant, of Durant Excavation and Barge Services, contacted me,” he said, adding Durant looked at the site and reviewed the permits provided by DEP.

“This gentleman is very well-versed and experienced in this type of work. He offered us a quote of $57,650,” Hawley said. “Part of the reason for the high price. It has been so many years that it wasn’t maintained. Typically, that area should be done every couple of years. Because of the amount of material that has washed in there, it is going to be a lengthy process.”

“That is the good news. Now, I have a contractor,” he told the board.

However, DEP deadlines and other minor obstacles could make difficult to tackle the job before the boating season. If the town waited until the fall, the price would likely increase because another summer’s worth of material would have been deposited in the already shallow water. 

“The not-so-good news is that the DEP permit only allows dredging from Nov. 15 to April 15. To get the work done by this April, Durant needs to know now to get us into his schedule. That work would have to start within the next couple weeks for him to be out of there by April 15,” he said.  

“More bad news: this is above our bidding threshold,” he said.

By the time that Town of Naples goes through the bidding process, it would be too late to meet the DEP deadline in the spring, which would push the project start date to mid-November.

The other bad news is that the town did not budget for the dredging, but Hawley had an option to remedy that problem.

“We have $17,000 in Kent’s Landing account that we could appropriate, and we could take the remainder from the Causeway Account, and pay it back with Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds,” he said.

Chairman Jim Grattelo asked if it was possible for the board to waive the bidding process, and if so, under what circumstances that was permissible.

“Yes, the board can if there is a lack of services. If this guy hadn’t come out of woodwork, we wouldn’t have found him,” Hawley said.