By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The shallowness of the water at the Naples Town Beach has prevented larger watercraft from launching there, and has concerned citizens operating smaller boats. 

Over the years, constantly shifting sand has caused the water to become even more shallow. It has gotten to the point that it is a public safety problem. The solution lies in getting a permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to dredge, or remove the sand thus making the water deeper. 

“An engineering plan needs to accompany any new permit request,” according to Naples Town Manager John Hawley.

The Naples Board of Selectmen voted to hire an engineering firm, which is the first step toward applying for a permit to dredge. 

The board awarded the contract to Main-Land Development Consultant for a price of $11,500. The vote was unanimous with all five selectmen accounted for; Kevin Rogers joined the group via Zoom. 

Last month, the state denied a permit that would have allowed the town to dredge in order to make the water deeper. The reason cited by the DEP is that the town has not beendredging regularly as part of maintenance plan, Hawley said. 

“Because the town hasn’t done any dredging there in the last five years, it requires review as if it were a first-time application. Because it’s not considered maintenance, it falls under a different category, essentially the construction of a new boat launch area. So, the new application requires that a dredging plan be engineered, and the engineering plans then have to be reviewed by the Army Corp of Engineers and then submitted to DEP for review and permitting,” Hawley said.

“The goal was to get this done sooner than later because we all know that the boat launch is exceptionally shallow and needs to be dredged,” he said. 

The town sent out four invitations to bid and received three responses, he said.

The three companies vying for the job were: Main-Land, Sebago Technics and Gorrill Palmer.