Ludington moving forward with marina dredging; water levels lower than expected

LUDINGTON — The City of Ludington is going to move forward with dredging parts of the Ludington Municipal Marina ahead of possible grant money from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The marina has been slated to receive $20,000 from the state’s emergency dredging fund. But, that process isn’t moving fast enough to meet the need to have dredging done before the boating season begins.

“The water levels are a lot less than we had hoped for,” City Manager John Shay told the council during a special meeting Friday afternoon. Shay said an engineering study has already started. The cost is $8,060.60. He said the grant will pay for engineering but the city needed to start the study before the grant process could be completed.

Shay said the city had originally only planned on dredging the entrance to the marina but will now dredge between several docks.

The council approved the request to proceed with the engineering and the DNR application.