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Coastal advocates urge unified York County coalition and emergency approach to dredging
Summary
Speakers at the Jan. 15 York County Commissioners meeting asked the county to push remaining towns to sign a memorandum of understanding and press the state DEP to treat dredging as an emergency so planned work in Wells and Saco can proceed this season.
David Plavin, vice president of Save by Shore (Saco Bay), told the York County Commissioners on Jan. 15 that a countywide beach-management coalition will be stronger in grant applications than isolated municipal efforts and appealed to holdouts to sign the memorandum of understanding. "We need to have everybody on board if we're gonna try and go out and get 1,000,000 of dollars in funding and grants," he said.
Kevin Roche, president of SOS Saco Bay, described recent Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) delays affecting dredging for Wells and Saco and urged the county to treat the situation as an emergency. "What can we do tomorrow? What can we do next week? Who at the state can we contact?" Roche asked, urging quicker state engagement so dredging already staged in Wells can proceed this season.
County staff and commissioners acknowledged uneven participation by coastal towns and described the MOU as the current mechanism to form a formalized coalition, with an interlocal agreement as a possible later step. County staff said they will continue working with towns that are ready and encouraged continued public involvement. The county also noted DEP permitting and state-level approvals are a known bottleneck and that staff are pursuing conversations to resolve bureaucratic delays.
The discussion did not produce a formal vote or new county policy at the Jan. 15 meeting; commissioners and staff said they will continue outreach to towns and keep the public informed on DEP progress and dredging timetables.
