Posted on July 4, 2017
By Amy S. Rosenberg, philly.com
Margate’s bad dune karma has apparently kicked in once again.
In a move attributed to weather and equipment problems but which people in Margate immediately interpreted as payback from the highest levels of Trenton for their ferocious objections to Gov. Christie’s dune project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said late Thursday it would spend the summer building dunes and closing beaches in Margate, not Ventnor.
The Army Corps is doing a literal about face at Fredericksburg Avenue, the border between Ventnor and Margate, where the arrival of enormous rusty pipes and heavy equipment and the prospect of 24 hour beeping from the beach was greeted with fear and loathing among residents.
But instead of proceeding north through Ventnor, which would close beaches three blocks at a time until early to mid-August, it will now turn the pipe in the opposite direction and first head south into Margate, where it expects to be expanding beaches and fashioning unpopular dunes for two months.
“One of the two hopper dredges scheduled to do the work is now down for maintenance for approximately two months so we had to change the schedule,” said Stephen Rochette, a spokesman for the Army Corp based in Philadelphia, wrote in an e-mail.
He said one dredge, the RN WEEKS, requires mandatory maintenance beginning June 30th and will be out of commission for as long as 60 days.
That change, along with delays on a Florida project, and other weather related delays, have “rendered the previous schedule unachievable.”
As a result, Weeks Marine will use a pipeline dredge to complete beach fill in Atlantic City and Ventnor. Work in Ventnor will now start in late August or early September, he said, “after the pipeline dredge completes work in Atlantic City.”
In the meantime, he said, the hopper dredge “BE LINDHOLM” will continue working at the border of Ventnor and Margate to “establish a significant pad area for operations through July 5th.”
“Once complete, beachfill operations will then progress south from the pipe landing into Margate to construct the protective beach and dune throughout Margate and then continue south into Longport to complete the remaining work on the contract,” Rochette said. Beaches will be closed 1,000 feet at a time, and work will run 24 hours a day.
The confusing announcement prompted rejoicing in Ventnor, whose public officials had supported the project and felt burned by the timing that seemed like it would cause maximum inconvenience within their town in July and early August. Commissioner Lance Landgraf, who is also Director of Planning and Real Estate for the state’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, was particularly upset by the timing previously announced.
“Now we can breathe a sigh of relief and are extremely thankful for the change in schedule, giving us our entire stretch of beaches back for most if not all of the rest of the summer,” Landgraf said in a statement posted on Facebook by the city. “We have worked closely with the Army Corps and the NJDEP [N.J. Department of Environmental Protection] over the last several months, and we are grateful that they were true to their word that work in Ventnor would not disrupt our entire summer.”
In another comment on Facebook, Landgraf attributed the change in plans to “patience and perseverance.”
[Friday morning, Landgraf told WPG radio host Harry Hurley that Ventnor’s cooperation was indeed appreciated by the Army Corps and created some good will. He said it was “certainly fair” to question whether Margate’s resistance played a role in the town winding up with, as Hurley put it, “the short straw.” But Landgraf stressed the current schedule was the original one proposed. He dismissed any suggestion that his job with a state authority played any role.
“This is not revenge against Margate,” he said.]
But in Margate, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting the project in court, there was immediate skepticism. People in Margate who object to the project say the dunes are unnecessary, will do nothing to ease back bay flooding and will alter the character of their beloved beaches. Christie has berated objectors in Margate and Bay Head as “selfish folks and their selfish lawyers.”
“It’s called Christie sticking it to Margate,” said one commenter.
“Well played Christie,” said another.
Margate has still not signed an agreement with the Army Corps, according to Mayor Mike Becker. A federal judge ruled the work can proceed.
Rochette, the Army Corps spokesman, insisted the schedule changes were tied to equipment demands, and the different functions of hopper versus pipeline dredges.
In an e-mail Friday morning, he explained: “The pipeline cutterhead dredge is stationary so it can only pump so far. It cannot pump Margate and Longport unlike a hopper dredge which is more like a ship that transits back and forth.
“The pipeline cutterhead is able to do Ventnor as it’s within pumping range for it. So the one hopper will do Margate and Longport and the one pipeline cutterhead will do Atlantic City and Ventnor. Previously the two hoppers would be to able to work much faster but with only one working for the next two months, Weeks Marine had to adjust the sequence and operation.”
Source: philly.com
