Sandwich Getting Sand This Week from Pocasset

SANDWICH – The Town of Sandwich is receiving sand this week from Bourne for Town Neck Beach.

About 5,000 cubic yards of sand cleared from estuaries in Pocasset is being transported by dump truck to the beach.

Sandwich Town Manager Bud Dunham says coastal consultants from the Woods Hole Group recommended placing the dredged material in the area where a house was lost last winter creating a new cut.

“We are going to focus most of it in that area so they are going to place it there and then shape it once they get it delivered,” Dunham said. “It’s all within the footprint of what we had approved about four years ago in terms of the beach and reconstruction template.”

PA Landers, Inc began moving the sand on Monday. The sand will be dropped on the parking lot then moved to the beach and shaped. The work is expected to be completed in one week.

The project will cost the town nearly $50,000.

“The sobering part is that we are very thankful we are getting about 5,000 cubic yards but the full template needs 400,000 cubic yards,” Dunham said. “It sort of puts it into perspective about how much is really needed to provide some level of sustainability.”

Dunham said every little bit of sand does help.

“We do have some weak spots so if this helps sure those up it is worth it,” he said.

A long-term solution for Town Neck is developing a borrow site from Scusset Beach.

The town is still waiting for a final approval from the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge about 220,000 cubic yards from Scusset Beach to be placed on Town Neck.

All state permits for the project were approved in August.

Dunham said the town has been told that they should receive word on federal permits for the project in February.

If all permitting is approved the next step would be to secure funding for the project.

A $3 million project was completed in 2016 to renourish Town Neck Beach will more than 100,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from the Cape Cod Canal.

Dunham said severe storms over the last few years has taken about 95 percent of that material away.