I have been working on a detailed account of where we are on dredging. I am a tad leery of sending it out until I see the final scope of work from the design engineers though. That should be coming in the next few days. But I thought I would at least address some questions.
First, if you need to get work done on your boat before you put it back in, I would start working on your boats now. Dredging should begin very shortly and should not take that long to complete based on the money we have to work with. So start planning on doing that bottom work very soon.
So here is what I feel comfortable announcing before I see the final scope of work and request for bid:
· We were hoping to dredge the marina and a new channel to a depth of 10’ feet based on lake levels in December 2015. Lake levels in December were at 4192.4’ above sea level. They are now 4193.0’ above sea level. But the cost of dredging that much material came in at over 7 million dollars estimated cost. Remember that we have 1.5 million allocated. So we will not be able to dredge the whole marina to that depth. We have had to make tough choices but I think we have a workable solution for all boats currently located at the marina as well as some of you that we held your slips but took your boats home to work on them.
· We will not be able to dredge a new channel. At best we will get some work done in the existing channel if money is left over after we dredge the identified areas in the marina. Currently the shallowest spot in the existing channel (not including the humps just outside the marina that will be removed) is five feet with most of the channel being 6 feet or more.
· Our goal is to get everyone back in the water. I feel confident that we will accomplish that. Our goal is to also dredge the mouth (and the two troublesome humps). We will be able to do that too.
· Dredging is just around the corner. Almost all the preliminary work is done. The request-for-bids should be going out very shortly. Work on the retention ponds (for the spoils) should be started VERY shortly.
· Crane Days will be scheduled soon. For those that have shallow drafts and want to go back in before dredging is complete I think we will be able to accommodate that request. But I will not schedule any crane days until I see the final scope-of-work documents.
· We WILL need every boat currently in the parking lot to put back in the marina this spring or be removed from the marina. We WILL NOT be able to store them long term this year. It just creates too much hazard to foot traffic and vehicles. I will publish a formal cut-off date to be back in the water or removed from the marina later but the informal date is currently the first week of May. The first crane days may begin late March and through April. It will take an estimated 5 days to get all the boats back in. We will stagger crane days over a six week period to accommodate that.
· Snow pack is looking fairly good this year although it is not where I would like to see it. We had a disastrous October and November only to see a massive rebound in December and January. In fact those months were incredible
§ October – 39% of normal
§ November – 29% of normal
§ December – 181% of normal
§ January – 141% of normal
§ Current snowpack for the Great Salt Lake Drainage area is 103% of normal and climbing
§ Forecast for the Great Salt Lake Drainage area is for above average precipitation through this spring.
· If you were storing your trailer at the Great Salt Lake Marina before pulling your boat we should be able to still store your trailer here. If you were storing off-site please make arrangements for storing off-site again
· If you have boat stands I highly recommend you take them home to keep them in good shape.
· If you have cradles we will find a location for storage on-site but we will not be responsible for their condition.
· Many of you are wondering about slip contracts, rekeying the park and changing the gate code. All that will happen as soon as we are ready to put boats back in the marina. For those that have boats in dry storage or in the water you should have already received your contracts or will be receiving them within the next week.
Once I get final documents from the design engineers I will publish more specific information about dredging. But it is time to start focusing on any work your boats need to get back in the water.
We are almost there!
Dave
Dave Shearer
Harbor Master
Great Salt Lake State Marina
Antelope Island State Marina
801-209-9142
