Anne Arundel
Waterway Restoration Alliance

Meeting Notes 2008-10-28

Attendance: 44 individuals were present and special Guests:
Delegate Ronald George of District 30
Delegate Virginia Clagett, District 30
County Executive Representative Bea Poulin
Chief Engineer Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works - Chris Phipps
Bayland Consultant - Keith Tate and Jennifer Mook

2009/2010 dredging season in addition to Carrs Creek includes, Mill Creek, Brady Creek, Old Glory Creek and the County portion of Parish Creek.

Special thanks were given to Chris Phipps and Keith Tate and their staff, for all their hard work into making for a very successful dredging season. A letter from AAWRA was sent to Executive Leopold noting the accomplishments made for this year's very active dredging season.

Navigational markers have become a concern and AAWRA would like to work with the State Delegates to identify which is the rightful agency responsible for installing the markers. In addition to installing the markers there is the problem of maintaining them once in place and there is the issue of liability for boater safety. Funding for navigational markers could probably be funded via the Maryland DNR Waterway Improvement Fund. Upon surveying Warehouse Creek it was discovered that the channel has shifted and does not need dredging, but the navigational markers need to be moved to correctly mark the new location of the channel. DNR has been contacted and is passing the responsibility on to the County and the County feels they lack the resources needed for such projects and are not qualified to maintain the navigational markers and expressed concerns of liability issue to assure boater safety. Both Del. Clagett and Del. George stated they would look into this matter and track down who should be the responsible agency.

Del. Clagett stated that work on a new legislated bill has also begun on regulation of mooring buoys. Currently there are no regulations in place nor is there a way to track locations of where mooring buoys are located.

Del. George spearheaded the 2008 enacted legislation for new MDE permit fee for waterway projects. This fee will cover the inspection process for home owner's waterway improvement projects. This new fee regulation has an inadvertent impact on spur dredging permits (spurs are smaller channels which are normally dredged from the main channel to a homeowners pier or boat ramp, comparable to a driveway) that are filed simultaneously with the main channel dredging project. The new law requires payment of an average $1,500 fee up front. Up front fees seem unfair when home owners who at the required time of submitting for a permit with the complete whole dredging project of the creek, do not have a clue of the total amount of what their individual spur project may cost. Size and design of the spur channel depends on the main channel approved design. Actual cost of dredging is an unknown until the dredging company who wins the contract contacts the homeowner about possible dredging of their spur. It's in the best interest for the homeowner to use the winning contractor because the DMP site is designed to accommodate spoils of spur channels as well. It's an additional cost to the home owner if they attempt to hire another contractor on their own for dumping of spoils.

A question was proposed "Would it be possible to have the DPW contract include the same dredging rate for spurs as the county main channel contract." This would help in cost estimating for the home owner once the contract was awarded.

Del. Clagett said that the MDE permit fee bill was a good bill but may need amendments and that a review of the bill with the assistance of AAWRA to work with Legislative Services should be scheduled.

The next issue covered the challenge for future dredging projects to qualify for the 50/50 matching funding. 50/50 matching funding is the preferred method that has been widely used in previous Anne Arundel waterway improvement projects. Anne Arundel County requests from Maryland DNR Waterway Improvement Fund (WIF) a grant for 50 percent of the cost of dredging project and if approved Anne Arundel County matches DNR granted funds.

There are 3 alternative funding formulas: 100% funding via state - this would be considered for creeks with commercial usage, 100% funding via federal - this is for historical creeks such as Parish Creek and last, one can try to fund 100% own their own project by creating a waterway tax district or obtaining a private loan.

At the recent Annapolis boat show sales were down. DNR Waterway Improvement Funds are generated by an excise tax that individuals pay when purchasing a boat. Boat registration fees go to DNR projects. The past couple of years Anne Arundel County has won grants totaling between $3 to 4 million for 50/50 matching funding. Cuts in funding seem to be forth coming due to the slow down in the economy making it even that much more difficult.

Future smaller creeks waterway improvement projects will have difficulties in meeting the required formula for 50/50 funding which includes a qualifying regulation known as "boat counting". Smaller creeks have a limited number of boats due to the size of the creek and some creeks are so silted in that they are not navigable by a boat and no longer keep a boat in the creek. This creates a catch-22 dilemma with no dredging, because no boats, because no dredging.

AAWRA would like to work with Del. Clagett and Del. George and Legislative Services for possible amendments to current regulations to possibly incorporate other consideration in fulfilling the 50/50 matching formula. There were numerous suggestions made by the audience for qualifying for dredging including: attribute cause and source of sediment (without seeking recourse from other agencies), other counts of recreational usage of the waterway (canoeing, crabbing or kayaking) at peak season, any environmental impact of possible loss of a creek's navagability as well as incorporating any community boat ramp usage, community marina and such. Other ideas brought up were to consider extent of nearby development and roadway projects, impact on firefighting capabilities, the historic use of the waterway, and potential for increased boat purchases and future expanded boating activities.

It was pointed out that Anne Arundel County has one of the best programs and with the assistance of Bayland consultants incorporates into waterway improvement projects retrofits. Retrofits are identification of significant sources of sediment and suggestions for repairing the cause. Often the permits are granted with additional requirements on the County to include retrofits.

Some County regulations can be improved to help with silting problem. Currently regulations for storm water management are not enforced for any one rainfall with more than one inch of rain. This regulation has not been reviewed or addressed for more severe weather conditions that have been changing over the years.

Discussion on what the current ratio per boat is equal to in qualifying for funding projects. The current assessment is believed to be set at $10,000 per boat and it was suggested that maybe this value should be raised due to dredging costs have risen significantly over the past several years.

AAWRA would like to work to set a course so that more creeks can qualify for the 50/50 funding instead of trying to create a special case for each creek to receive some form of funding.

Looking ahead to 2010/2011 dredging season currently scheduled are Duvall Creek, Headwaters Warehouse Creek, Headwaters Severn River, Salt Creek, Pocahontas Creek and Stevens Creek.

The AAWRA Annual Meeting will be Tuesday, January 27, 2009.

Some of the key community leaders present were:

Bob Whitcomb, President, Saefern
Paul Rickett, Vice President, Broadwater
Jay Phillips, Treasurer, DCET
Elisa Moore, Secretary, Carrs Creek
Vern Penner, Board Member, Amberly
Geoffrey Thomas, Board Member, Admiral Heights
Bill Edmonson, formerly of Warehouse Creek, Board Member Emeritus
Mike Geers, Loch Haven
Juliet Page, Mill Creek
Carl & Sharon Mauck, Deale Beach
Rhonda Harrison, Brady Cove
Jose Sagripanti, Smith Creek
Rob Muir, Saefern
Ron Howard, Old Glory Cove
Maureen Turner, Divinity Cove
Jame Granahan, Shady Oaks
Jimmy Rogan, Old Glory Beach
Tom Baughn, Quay Harbor
Mary Lawrence, Poplar Point
Nuno Pereira, Loch Haven
Mike Landymore, Larkington
Sean O'Neil, Admiral Heights