Residents met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Mathews County’s historic courthouse on Nov. 4 to learn about a study the Corps is conducting on the feasibility of dredging Put-In Creek.

Members of the committee appointed to come up with proposed uses for the county-owned property at the creek’s headwaters were briefed on the study and offered comments. The property under discussion is currently the site of the village’s sewage treatment facility, which is slated for removal in the next few months.

A previous committee composed of many of the same members had examined the possibility of dredging a channel and a turning basin to give boaters direct access to Mathews Court House, but that project was dropped recently by the board of supervisors when Adrian Jennings of the Corps told committee members that its chances for approval were slim.

In an apparent reversal, the Corps has designated $100,000 for the current study. Civil engineer Kristin Mazur, team leader, said her team’s job is to first determine whether there’s any federal interest in dredging the creek, then weigh the value of the project against any detrimental environmental impacts. Her team consists of Laura Schreiber, economist; Rachel Jones, planning lead; Doug Stamper, operations, and Todd Waldman, office of counsel.

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