STAFFORD — The Stafford County Board of Supervisors will seek cash to help dredge Aquia Harbor.
At its February 19 meeting, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved to file grant application on behalf of the Aquia Harbour Property Owners Association (AHPOA), which manages a gated community of 2,300 homes along the Aquia Creek in North Stafford.
They’re seeking $80,000 for an engineering services contract that would help update previous dredging work on the harbor as well as obtain all of the necessary local, state, and federal permits for the next cycle of dredging which is scheduled to begin in 2020. AHPOA has been conducting dredging work in various areas of the Harbour since 1992.
The most recent project was done in 2016 and 2017 that encompassed six areas. The cost of that project came to $657,122, with $537,122 for dredging and $120,000 for soil removal.
The financing for the dredging is being made available by the Virginia Port Authority through their Virginia Waterway Maintenance Grant Fund. The fund was established by the Virginia General Assembly in May 2018. It was established for the purpose of supporting shallow-draft dredging projects throughout Virginia.
“This will be the first grant to be used from the fund. Private entities (like AHPOA) aren’t allowed to apply for these funds so we applied on their behalf,” commented Trenton Funkhouser who is the Assistant Director for Code Review and Inspections with the Stafford County Public Works Department.
The plans for the dredging work also focus on six locations along Aquia Creek. Those locations are
- Aquia Bridge
- John Paul Jones Drive
- Crown Manor Drive
- Foresail Cove
- Channel Cove
- Austin Run Boulevard
Factors that make the dredging of the harbor necessary include a combination of upstream activities such as poorly maintained or non-existent shoreline protection structures, and natural erosion. All of these contribute to sediment build-up that can cause safety hazards along the creek and other areas of the harbor. Because of this build-up, the depth of the harbor is between five and eight feet, the depths necessary for motor boats, which primarily use the creek, to safely traverse the waters.
According to the AHPOA’s funding schedule, the property owners association will hire an engineering firm that will be responsible for applying and renewing all the permits necessary for the dredging. The firm will also be responsible for surveys and analysis, plans for preparing the dredging and soils disposal, and conducting post-dredging surveying and reporting.
Stafford County officials will be notified whether or not their grant application will be approved by May 1.
