An important use of dredged material as a manageable resource occurs when confined disposal sites are developed for productive land use purposes. This study involved the documentation and comparative evaluation of 12 selected cases where dredged material from navigation projects was used to create productive land. The 12 case studies were prepared to examine multiobjective disposal-productive use planning in terms of: the sequence of events comprising the planning and implementation process; participants in project planning/review and their roles, perspectives, and interactions; issues addressed during project planning/review, their importance, and how they were resolved; physical planning elements affecting the feasibility of disposal facility and productive land use plans; and land use planning principles that should be reflected in proposed productive use concepts.

The study documents examples of productive land uses of dredged material containment areas. The examples were obtained from published literature and project descriptions and discussions with persons knowledgeable in the planning and execution of dredging projects. The examples are from 19 states and six foreign countries. The sites range from those filled over 50 years ago, which have been used productively for many years, to projects in various stages of development. Projects are documented within the following land use categories: recreational, industrial/commercial, agricultural, institutional, material transfer, waterway related, and multiple purpose. Based on the examples cited and information analyzed during the study, the site-selection process is discussed from historical and modern perspectives. Examples of recent processes and approaches to candidate site selection implemented by communities in the United States and abroad are described. Productive land uses tend to fall within a hierarchy of complexity and intensity. It is suggested that this hierarchy is accompanied by a need on the part of the sponsor or developer to recognize and deal with a greater number of planning conditions to achieve a greater land use intensity. These planning conditions are interrelated to several identifiable planning actions that, if properly undertaken, can significantly enhance the productive use of the landform created at the disposal site.

This report synthesizes information from Task 5D of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Dredged Material Research Program. This task examined the concept of using dredged material to create land and concurrently assessed the economic, technical, environmental, institutional, legal, and social incentives and constraints on the development of dredged material containment areas. The creation of productive land with dredged material is particularly attractive, because this option provides for the disposal of dredged material and additional benefits can be realized from the new land itself. This concept requires the planner/engineer to combine confined land disposal practices with sound land use planning for successful project implementation. Also contained are guides on the legal framework in which the Corps must work for successful land use of dredged material containment areas and on a system for economic evaluation of land created from disposal areas so that ultimate land use might be included in the final economic evaluation. Finally the report delineates and discusses seven policy and five planning issues that must be resolved at the Corps' policy and planning development level if the Corps is to assume a more active role in disposal-productive use planning for containment areas.