The Mathews County Wetlands Board approved two applications for permits during a meeting on Dec. 5. In addition, at the request of the applicant, it tabled an application for a project at Williams Wharf involving extensive construction.

One permit was approved for Michael Francisco of Grimstead. It calls for dredging two areas, 14 feet by 10 feet and 20 feet by 12 feet, to a depth of minus three feet below mean water in order to replace a pier along the Forest Creek shoreline on Gwynn’s Island. The pier would be located in a boating easement associated with 239 Old Ferry Road. Two neighbors objected to the project, but wetlands board chair Ken Kurkowski explained that the only role of the wetlands board in that particular case was to confirm that the project would not impact land within its jurisdiction.

William T. Terry Jr. of Mechanicsville, was granted a permit to install 104 feet of marsh sill and 25 feet of marsh sill along the Lanes Creek shoreline at 459 Hicks Road in Hudgins.

The Williams Wharf application was rescheduled for a public hearing before the wetlands board at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 8. It involves building a structure over 5,361.25 square feet of vegetated and non-vegetated wetlands, with a fixed dock extending from beneath it and connecting to two floating parallel piers. The floating piers would be 80 feet x 16 feet each and would replace two existing piers on the northern side of the property. In addition, two piers farther west would be removed and replaced with one larger 62-foot pier with a 100-foot x 14-foot T-head; and a floating pier on the southern side of the property would be extended 54 feet. Finally, the project involves installing 228 linear feet of bulkhead, 182 linear feet of riprap in front of the bulkhead, and 150 cubic yards of fill landward of the proposed bulkhead.

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