North Myrtle Beach postpones dredging work

North Myrtle Beach officials announced Monday that the Cherry Grove dredging project is postponed until the fall of 2016.

The delay would mean that the dredging work would continue through the early spring of 2017.

In a statement released Monday, city spokesman Pat Dowling said the project was postponed after the city learned from its engineering consultants that material from other area dredging projects currently stored in the Tidewater Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) cannot be removed from the basin when planned.

The materials were to be removed by the November 2015 intended start date of the Cherry Grove dredging project.

He said material from the Cherry Grove project will be temporarily stored in the disposal facility until it de-waters and is moved to a permanent disposal site.

Dowling also said that hearings originally scheduled for May 11 and 22, for Cherry Grove canal property owners who had submitted written objections to the city manager regarding their assessments, have been rescheduled for 9 a.m. on June 11 and 30. The hearings will be on a first-come, first served basis. The deadline for submitting written objections to the city manager has been extended to June 30 at 9 a.m.

Property owners who have already submitted written objections of their assessments to the city manager do not have to provide another one, Dowling said. Their written objections will be preserved and included in the record.

Because of the change in the dredging starting date, assessments within the Cherry Grove Assessment District will not appear on property owners’ next property tax bills.

By way of an April 24, first class mailing, the City has notified assessment district property owners of changes in the dredging project schedule through an April 24 first-class mailing, Dowling said. Through a May 20 certified mailing, assessment district property owners will receive a revised “Notice of Assessment” reflecting all changes to the project, according to Dowling.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 8:58 PM with the headline "North Myrtle Beach postpones dredging work."