A site littered with abandoned boats and trash in the Baltimore Harbor will soon be transformed into a wildlife habitat and park.
“For years, it?s been a dumping ground,” said Carol Kefford Eshelman, executive director of the Brooklyn and Curtis Bay Coalition Inc.
The Board of Public Works last week approved a wetlands license to the Maryland Port Administration, clearing the way for construction to begin at Masonville, an area near the Brooklyn and Curtis Baycommunities.
“This is the crucial step,” said Frank Hamons, MPA?s deputy director for harbor development, adding the other permits are in place.
The project will include a community environmental center and a park with access to the water.
Cleanup at the site, a former shipyard, has already begun, with the removal of about 8,000 tons of debris and trash, Hamons said.
The area next to the planned park will become a site for disposing of dredge material from the harbor, part of an agreement with the port administration and neighborhood groups.
Dumping of the dredge material will begin in 2009, after the Hart-Miller Island location in Baltimore County closes. Without Hart-Miller, officials needed another place to put the material, Hamons said.
It will take 30 years to complete the dredge material placement, and the site will later be used as a maritime terminal.
Finding a site for dredge materials can stir up controversy, so the administration worked with the community to work out a deal, Hamons said. Neighbors wanted water access and a park, so the area enhancements became part of the project.
“Our promise is to start constructing these things the same time we start dredging placement site,” he said.
Shipping lanes must be dredged to allow passage of larger vessels, an economic benefit for the Port of Baltimore, MPA Executive Director James White said in a statement.
To allay some concerns over the dredge material, a residents committee will oversee the placement and meet regularly with the authority, Eshelman said.
