Alan Corvi learned to ice skate on Kent Street Pond, but believes skating there would have been impossible within a year or two as weeds and other invasive vegetation continued to fill in and choke out the small neighborhood pond.

"The phragmites were killing that pond," said Mr. Corvi, who serves as the director of the Barrington Department of Public Works.

On Monday, Sept. 23, a contractor hired by the town worked alongside a crew from the DPW to dredge Kent Street Pond. The workers dug out all the vegetation that once filled the pond, leaving a shallow, muddy reservoir. Mr. Corvi estimated that the DPW hauled about 40 truckloads — each load measuring about six cubic yards of mud and weeds — from Kent Street Pond to the compost piles at Walker Farm.

"This is a man-made structure that was made for ice skating in the 60s and 70s," said Mr. Corvi. "But the pond was not functioning."

Mr. Corvi and other town officials had recognized the spread of phragmites and other vegetation in the pond. Each year, the weed-covered area grew while the open water shrank. Meanwhile, the drainage pipes — one allowing water into the pond, and the other there to let it flow into a nearby drainage ditch when it reached a certain level — were not working properly.

The dredging project has repaired that issue also: "Now it's working better," said Mr. Corvi.

But some residents are concerned about the project's impact on animals that were living in the pond. One Sowams Road resident wrote to town officials, describing a troubling scene that followed the Kent Street Pond work. 

"A lot of frogs are found dead and injured in the area…" wrote Mohamed J. Friej, who was critical of the town's decision to use a heavy duty excavator to conduct the dredging. 

"The way to deal with this issue is to trim the phragmites below the ice level every fall by town employees to avoid having to waste taxpayers' money on a private contractor with a 40-ton machine and to avoid the environmental damage."

Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha said the town hired an East Providence contractor for $1,900 and coupled that with manpower from the local public works department. 

He said the town had been waiting for two years to conduct the work — aiming for a point in time (usually late August or early September) when Kent Street Pond had nearly dried up. Crews were prepared to dredge the pond toward the end of last summer, but heavy rainfall forced officials to delay the work.

Mr. Cunha said the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management had issued the town a permit to complete the work. 

"It needed to be done," said Mr. Cunha. "The pond is now free of phragmites and invasive species… We stayed within the requirements DEM placed on the project. Quite frankly, I don't think DEM will have any concerns" with the work.

Mr. Corvi said the town's options for repairing the pond were limited. He said the DPW could have sprayed a weed-killer on the invasive vegetation, but he was concerned about how that would impact the wildlife. He said officials could have ignored the spread of weeds, too.

"I think we could have let this fill in," said Mr. Corvi. "… in time it would have been filled in by phragmites and choked."

Mr. Corvi said the town dredged the pond in 2005 because of a similar phragmites problem, and anticipated that officials will need to complete more dredging work in the future after the weeds fill back in.

Impact to wildlife

Steve Boyajian is a member of the Barrington Town Council and has been keeping a close eye on the condition of Kent Street Pond. He lives within walking distance of the pond, and on Monday night after the dredging was completed, Mr. Boyajian stopped by the pond.

"There was a kid down there who had caught about 10 frogs," said Mr. Boyajian. 

The council member said he can understand why people were concerned about the project and its impact on wildlife. But Mr. Boyajian said he saw plenty of frogs that had survived the dredging. Mr. Corvi agreed.

"I've seen the wildlife — there are frogs hopping around. There's definitely wildlife down there. My guys pulled a couple of turtles out of there and put them back when we finished the work," said Mr. Corvi, adding that he saw many frogs hopping away from the pond toward the woods once the work started.

Mr. Corvi said the decision to use a large excavator may have actually benefitted the wildlife at the pond. He said much of the dredging work was conducted while the excavator was on dry land. A smaller tractor would have required crews to spend more time driving over the muddy bottom of the pond.

In addition, the project was finished in one day, allowing animals a quicker return to the pond, Mr. Corvi said.

"We did our best to minimize the impact," he said. 

Mr. Corvi said dozens of residents were happy to see the town complete the dredging.

"I had one complaint yesterday," said Mr. Corvi, during an interview on Tuesday, Sept. 24. "And I had a good 25 to 30 emails saying it's about time" we dredged the pond.