(A) Name of service district. The service district to be created hereunder shall be known as "Nassawadox Creek Service District."
(B) Boundaries of service district. The Nassawadox Creek Service District shall encompass all those properties having frontage along Nassawadox Creek, including its tributaries, such as, but not limited to, Warehouse Creek and Church Creek.
(C) Purpose of service district. Due to severe shoaling at the mouth of Nassawadox Creek, watermen no longer have free access to the channel. Shoaling has seriously limited existing operations, restricting commercial fishing and shellfish industries. Smaller vessels still using the creek must time tides to access the channel. Vessels must travel to Cape Charles or Accomack County for fuel. Accordingly, the Board of Supervisors finds that it is necessary and desirable to dredge certain portions of Nassawadox Creek. The purpose of the Nassawadox Creek Service District shall be to serve as a means by which the Northampton County Board of Supervisors can assess and collect funds from property owners who will directly benefit from the dredging of Nassawadox Creek in order to fund the county’s portion of the cost of the dredging of Nassawadox Creek.
(D) Proposed plan for the service district. Prior to any dredging, a study of Nassawadox Creek will be made to determine the optimum places to dredge and appropriate sites to dispose of the dredge spoil. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will provide the initial dredging of Nassawdox Creek. The Corps will also provide periodic maintenance dredging (no more than every six years) of Nassawadox Creek once the initial dredging is completed. The area to be dredged will be approximately six feet deep; 60 feet wide; and 2,000 feet long. Dredged material will be used in an environmentally beneficial way to mitigate erosion on nearby beaches. The channel will be marked by the U.S. Coast Guard following completion of construction.
(E) Benefits to be expected.
(1) Residents within the Nassawadox Creek Service District can expect to enjoy increased access to the Chesapeake due to the dredging.
(2) Commercial watermen/aquaculturalists will be able to pursue their industry with freer access to the channel through reduction of shoaling as detailed in the Northampton County Comprehensive Plan.
(3) Dredging will provide safer, less restricted navigation for shallow draft residential/commercial vessels.
(4) Real property values as well as local economy and tax base will be positively affected. The dredging will reduce adverse effects to the ecosystems in the creek. The dredging will provide fuel sources in the Nassawadox Creek, eliminating the necessity of traveling to Cape Charles and Accomack County facilities.
(5) Dredging will encourage homeowners to house watercraft vessels in the creek.
(Ord. passed 6-27-2002)