NW Spreader Dredging Question

Hello Members,

One of our NWNA members, Francis Harrison, sent in a question that we didn't have the answer to, so we sent it to Michael Ilczyszyn, City of Cape Coral's Assistant Public Works Director and asked him to comment. We thought you would like to see the correspondence.

First is the member's question and below is the response to the NWNA from Mr. Ilczyszyn. In the correspondence, there is mention of dredging being an agenda item on an upcoming Waterway Advisory Board Meeting. When I see that item on the agenda, I will be asking members to attend the meeting and speak on the importance of dredging.

John Bashaw
(920) 449-2000

Dear Sir,

It becomes more obvious each week that the passageway near the old lock needs to be dredged. Further down the boat passageway near private homes, there is another bad area. It's indisputable that it needs attention and as the NW grows and there are many more boaters aren't we heading for a significant problem that will affect us all?

Shouldn't the city budget for dredging and address this problem? We all enjoy boating and I think we all would agree that it must be addressed in the near future. Perhaps you can give this some thought and plot a course of action that would be successful. This affects many of us and is very, very important.

Francis Harrison

John,

The bathymetric survey was performed a couple of months ago to determine the depths and volume of material to be removed. City crews are completing a couple of spots in the SE then will be moving to the NW Spreader at Sirenia Park. As far as the Matlacha portion there is no Army Corp permit for this work. One will be submitted in the future. Call me at your convenience to discuss if needed.

As you indicated this will be part of our upcoming presentation to the Water Advisory Board--program operations, permits, planning, funding, restrictions, and projects.

Have a great weekend.

Michael Ilczyszyn
Assistant Public Works Director