GSL Slip Renters and Marina Users. Well, the process has finally begun! We had our first meeting on dredging today. And after this meeting I wish I had more answers than I do. Unfortunately I have very few. But here is what I can tell you right now. When we started this process in December we were still in the early part of winter and were looking at only dredging back down to the hard pan of 4188' above sea level. But, as you all know, we didn't HAVE a winter. Now, going back to the 4188' level may not be enough to get boats back into the marina. It is estimated the lake level will get down to 4192' this late fall before bottoming out. If there was no silting in the marina that would leave a depth of 4' of water in the marina. But, as we know, there is a lot of silting in the marina. B dock is nearly resting in the mud now. We need to see if we can go deeper. And the deeper we go the more the cost of dredging. There is a possibility that there may not be enough money to dredge the whole marina right now. But I want to emphasize that it is only a possibility at this time. The engineering firm will be taking a hard look at their numbers. I have attached a picture of B dock where it shows just how shallow the water is over there. So the engineering company will move forward now with taking samples to see just how far they can dig before hitting material that would make it tough to go deeper. The engineering company is also working forward with Army Corp for the permitting process. It was estimated that the earliest any digging could happen would probably be December and may well begin after that. Design work must be done first which will take some time. The permitting process also needs to work its way through. I have been told, depending on the type of permit, that it could take some time for that to be granted. So the process has now begun at least. There are a lot of questions to be answered in the next little while. It may be hard to see much movement for a while as most of the forward movement for the next while will be behind the scenes. I will keep you posted on the process as things progress. On a positive note the Super El Nino still seems poised to bring us much needed moisture for the next several months. This may help keep the lake dropping as much as current predictions. It has already helped save us from dropping so much. We should be 8/10ths of a foot lower right now. Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina Antelope Island State Marina 801-209-9142
