The applicant, Tilcon New York, Inc., has requested Department of the Army authorization for dredging, with 10-yr maintenance, at their facility on Hempstead Bay at 139 West Shore Road, Port Washington, Nassau County, New York. The facility processes and distributes sand, gravel, and crushed stone used in a variety of construction projects.
The work would involve dredging approximately 59,000 square feet (~1.4 acres) in two berthing areas to a depth of 12-feet below the plane of Mean Low Water with no overdepth dredging. Approximately 4,000 cubic yards of gravel, sand, and silt, would be annually dredged by a barge-borne, mechanical bucket dredge, with dredged material placed into scows, and no scow overflow. Dredging and scows would be contained within a silt curtain. Loaded scows may be retained onsite for settling of dredged material and dewatering, with decanted water pumped back into Hempstead Bay prior to scows being transported to an upland placement facility.
Berthing area A, at “Gotham Dock”, is approximately 80-feet wide by 360-feet long, approximately 29,000 square feet (~0.7 acres). Approximately 3,000 cubic yards of dredged material would be removed from berthing area A.
Berthing are B, at “Barker Dock”, is approximately 80-feet wide by 370-feet long, approximately 30,000 square feet (~0.7 acres). Approximately 1,000 cubic yards of dredged material would be removed from berthing area B.
The applicant has stated that they have avoided, minimized, and mitigated for proposed impacts to the maximum extent practicable by limiting dredging to the area required for safe navigation and mooring of vessels, by using a silt curtain around the dredging equipment and scows, and by limiting the period of dredging to less than three weeks.
The purpose of the proposed work is to maintain adequate water depths for safe mooring and vessel transit to and from the Tilcon facility.