Posted on May 23, 2016
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has obtained all of North Beach’s easements for beach replenishment, which means the project will move forward in Surf City in mid-June, weather permitting, borough Councilman Peter Hartney announced at the Surf City Council’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 11.
The town’s beaches were partially replenished during the original project in 2006. The blocks between 12th and 22nd streets were also repaired after the nor’easter in 2009. After Superstorm Sandy, the whole portion was restored. The borough is currently waiting for the remaining area, from 22nd to 25th streets, to be completed.
As of now, Hartney said, the dunes between 21st and 13th streets, which were severely damaged by Winter Storm Jonas in January, will not be repaired during the replenishment. But contractor Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. will be tapering the beach at 21st and 20th streets where there’s a big hole, he noted. To make the beaches accessible in time for the opening of the beach on June 18, the town will be utilizing its shared-services agreement with Ocean County to have those dunes repaired in the beginning of June. Hartney said officials are still determining whether they will be able to move the sand on the beach and/or cut down the dune entrance, or whether they’ll have to truck in the sand.
Local officials had hoped the Army Corps would take care of the repairs and foot the bill, but assistance through the Federal Control and Coastal Emergency Act won’t be available until sometime next year.
“Basically what the Army Corps is going to do is build a new beach next to a damaged beach, come back in a year after all the paperwork is done for the funding and redo it,” Hartney said. “We’re going to have to spend a couple million dollars waiting for them to come back and repair it, even though they’re here.”
The town is in the process of applying for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has offered reimbursement through its Public Assistance grant program to state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency work and the repair or replacement of eligible public facilities damaged by Jonas. But Hartney expects the town will have to pay for the work itself since it had to fund similar repairs to another section of the beach following the nor’easter in 2009 that was later rebuilt by the Army Corps.
Mike Feeney, a resident of 20th Street for 58 years, told council members that he and many of his neighbors, who have renters that pay thousands of dollars to stay at their houses during the summer, are concerned about whether or not they’ll be able to use the beaches. But Hartney and Mayor Francis Hodgson assured him that the beaches will be open and accessible in time for the summer season.
Hartney noted that Harvey Cedars and some parts of Long Beach Township are in the same predicament.
“I’m going to continue working on advocating with our local officials,” Hartney stated. “The dredge is here; the dredge is offshore. They’re pumping sand. So it’s worth reaching out to the federal officials to see if they can talk some common sense into the Army Corps. There’s always hope.”
Source: The SandPiper.Net
