A section of the Kennebunk River may soon be dredged. And while the work takes place, a proposed dock extension would allow, for the first time, free and temporary public docking for boaters wishing to disembark and explore.

The dredging and dock extension would take place at Government Wharf, on the Kennebunkport side of the river. Dredging is paid for by mooring fees collected by Harbormaster Ray Billings; the fees are managed by Kennebunk, though theoretically both towns have access to it.

Werner Gilliam, director of planning and development for Kennebunkport, sent a memo to that town’s board of selectmen on Aug. 14 stating that dredge work along that section of the river has been long overdue.

“This area has been the subject of accelerated sedimentation and has resulted in the loss of one float already, and threatens the functional loss of a second,” wrote Gilliam. “If this issue is not addressed it will increasingly impair the functionality of the Wharf.”

Since Kennebunkport’s neighbor across the river shares access to the dredging reserve, Kennebunk Town Manager Barry Tibbetts has spoken to his board of selectmen about the dredging, as well as the possibility of adding the dock extension, and what positive effect that might have for tourism and foot traffic in both towns.

“We don’t really have a temporary public docking location anywhere on the river,” said Tibbetts.

For a fee, he said, boats can dock at one of the public moorings for overnight stays, but there’s no nautical equivalent of, say, a two-hour parking space.

“There’s no place to pull up, tie up for boat for an hour or two hours, and go exploring,” he said.

Currently, there’s approximately $70,000 in the dredging reserve; the Government Wharf project, said Tibbetts, would likely cost around $30,000. The last dredging of the area was around 2001 or ’02, he said, and it was then that the two towns entered an agreement to pay for future dredging using accumulated mooring fees.

Billings, in an Aug. 28 email to Kennebunkport Town Manager Laurie Smith, said he receives annual inquiries about temporary public docking.

“I get about 10 to 15 calls per year from transient boaters asking where the public docks are to temporarily tie up, to either have lunch, or drop off and pick up passengers,” wrote Billings. “While the latter is now allowed for commercial charter boats, it (would be) allowed for the public.”

Gilliam said the estimated timeframe for dredging is between January and March of 2015.

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 319 or jlagasse@journaltribune.com.