Dredging of Gordon Pass in Naples put off; Army Corps of Engineers diverts funding

The project was supposed to be completed this summer.

A boat moves through Gordon Pass in Naples on Wednesday 1/16/2019. Appropriation for the dredging of Gordon Pass has been pulled by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Army Corps of Engineers has put on hold indefinitely a $2.9 million dredging of Gordon Pass in Naples.

The project had been scheduled for this summer.

Susan Jackson, a spokeswoman for the Corps, said it's a Class III project and that no Class III projects received direct funding this year. Class III projects are based on criteria such as damage from storms and a cost-to-benefit ratio.

"The changes made recently in our Operations and Maintenance program were to reprioritize internal funding due to post-Harvey, Irma and Maria hurricane damages," Jackson wrote in a Jan. 15 email. "We identified Class III navigation projects that were not high priority and will not get funded for construction at this time."

Jackson said funding for some Class III projects might be available in the future.

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A boat moves through Gordon Pass in Naples on Wednesday 1/16/2019. Appropriation for the dredging of Gordon Pass has been pulled by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Naples Harbormaster Roger Jacobsen said it's "absolutely disappointing" that the Corps doesn't consider the Gordon Pass dredging project a priority.

"We're not the Port of Miami or the Port of Tampa, but Gordon Pass is a highly used entrance to Naples Bay, so to be considered almost second class isn't fair," Jacobsen said. 

"Boats are hitting bottom when they come in, or they're having to anchor in the Gulf overnight and wait for high tide," he said.

"The pass should be one of the deepest parts of the bay, but it's not," he said. "It's the shallowest."

Because Gordon Pass is a federal channel, only the Corps can do the dredging, Jacobsen said. City staff are drafting letters to state representatives in the hope of getting funding for the project, he said.

U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Naples, said he has been in contact with the Corps and that the project will be completed later.

"Plans and specifications for this dredging project have been completed and I will continue to work with the USACE," he said. "I expect this project to move forward as the Corps completes recovery operations in these devastated areas and more appropriations subsequently become available."

2016:Gordon Pass dredging project set to start in August

More:Long-awaited Gordon Pass dredging gets under way

In 2015, the Corps rejected a call from then-U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, to put $2.5 million in its budget for fiscal 2016 to dredge the pass.

By February 2016, the project had a spot in the Corps' civil works program for fiscal 2016 and was set to receive $2 million, but the Corps didn't have enough money to dig out a hole north of the channel to catch sand before it can clog up the channel again.

A boat moves through Gordon Pass in Naples on Wednesday 1/16/2019. Appropriation for the dredging of Gordon Pass has been pulled by the Army Corps of Engineers.

At the time, critics said that could mean the pass would fill in again sooner than later.

Former charter boat captain Elizabeth Bloch, who has personal experience with the dangers of shallow passes, said she was surprised to hear there were problems in the pass, since it was dredged less than two years ago.

In 2013, Bloch was navigating her 43-foot charter sailboat through Gordon Pass when it bumped a sand bar, causing $18,000 worth of damage to her boat. The damage forced her to close her business for 10 weeks, Bloch said.

"The problem with Gordon Pass is there are sandbars on either side of it, so wind or waves from any direction could cause those sandbars to shift and block the pass," she said. "I guess this is going to be a continuing problem."

Gordon Pass also was dredged in 2002 and 2010.