Posted on August 15, 2017
By MaryAnn Spoto, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
A Superior Court judge has urged the state to slow down on a beach replenishment project in Margate until a major drainage issue can be resolved, but with the work scheduled to continue on Tuesday, the mayor says there’s no sign state officials are agreeing to a delay.
Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez made the request on Friday when he met with officials from Margate and the state Department of Environmental Protection to try to work out a dispute over problems with beach replenishment in the city that have resulted in flooding along the oceanfront after rain storms.
Mayor Michael Becker said the city got a sympathetic ear from Mendez, but that the judge’s hands are tied because he doesn’t have jurisdiction over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is in charge of the project.
“He urged the corps (through the DEP) to slow down the project or go somewhere else until the summer is over and Margate can enjoy the beach and recoup some of the business that was lost,” Becker said.
But, the mayor said, he doesn’t have much faith in that outcome because after court on Friday, he was told the Army Corps plans to resume work in Margate on Tuesday.
The Army Corps of Engineers dune-replenishment effort has drawn the ire of city residents and businesses
City officials have complained the standing water poses health risks because of the presence of high bacteria levels and poses safety risks for those trying to get to the beach. They argued businesses have suffered because of the limited access to the beach.
“The entire area that’s been ponding, it’s like a big swamp,” Becker said. “This has really affected us. They’ve made a pigsty of our beaches.”
Ponding has occurred on the entire stretch of the oceanfront that’s been replenished so far – about a third of the beach, he said.
Part of a $64 million project that includes Ventnor and Longport, work on beach replenishment in Margate, which began in late June, was temporarily halted Aug. 3 when Mendez issued an order restraining continuation of the project until the Army Corps can find a solution to the ponding issue.
After a hearing on the matter in which Army Corps officials admitted they were stymied by the problem and didn’t have a permanent solution, U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb lifted that order a week later.
But Bumb also imposed conditions on the Army Corps that she felt would help alleviate the immediate concerns of the ponding.
Bumb’s decision has angered Becker, who said the Corps shouldn’t be permitted to continue the work without first figuring out how to correct the ponding problem.
City officials, who have argued an existing bulkhead protects the town in severe storms, has fought long and hard against the replenishment work, which is part of a massive federal project Gov. Chris Christie orchestrated for all of New Jersey’s Atlantic coastline after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
On July 30, residents gathered on the beach to protest what they called “Christie Lake” and another protest is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. on the Jerome Avenue beach, the mayor said.
Becker said the Army Corps has complied with Bumb’s directive to erect fences around the ponds and to build walkovers so that beachgoers won’t have to wade through the standing water.
He said he will have to trust that the Army Corps will comply with another of Bumb’s directives: to test the standing water for high bacteria levels.
“I hate to use the words ‘good faith’ because that hasn’t happened so far,” he said. “I guess we have to depend on them to follow the judge’s order.”
Source: NJ.com
