Destin Dredging

Over the next few days, Norriego Point will receive 30,000 to 50,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from East Pass, Destin City Manager Greg Kisela says.

The dredging project that was scheduled to start Tuesday is only expected to remove 2,500 cubic yards of sand from the pass’s navigation channel. However, Kisela told the City Council Monday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hired a second contractor to dredge sand from outside the channel.

“This will do two things,” Kisela told The Log. “It will clear for navigational purposes the East Pass coming into Destin, so that will help boaters, including the fishing fleet. In addition it will provide us some sand that we can use to help the east Destin beaches.”

Kisela told the council the dredge was traveling from Panama City to Mobile this week, so the Corps paid it to stop in Destin. That saves the

Corps the money it would normally pay to transport dredging equipment here.

It’s been almost a year since the council voted to pay the Corps $75,000 to have the pass dredged. The Corps’ district office said at the time that dredging would begin by August 2007, but the Corps’ head office repeatedly delayed the start.

Things improved after the Corps received a $229,000 earmark to carry out the dredging in the current fiscal year.

Monday, North Florida Diversified’s Gary Duncan, whose company is handling the channel dredging, crouched over a pipe-fusing machine as master electrician Tim Piggott worked to repair it. Duncan said the breakdown had kept his company from beginning the dredging last Friday, but he expected to start later that day.

Kisela said the two companies will be dredging different parts of East Pass, so if they’re working at the same time, there won’t be a conflict. He said the second dredging project will use up the remainder of the earmark funding.