Posted on August 14, 2017
By Nanette LoBiondo Galloway, PressofAC.com
The on-again, off-again beachfill and dune-building project on Absecon Island is scheduled to begin in Ventnor as early as Saturday, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ newest project schedule.
Ventnor Mayor Beth Holtzman made the announcement on the city’s website Thursday afternoon.
A dredge moored off the coast will start pumping the sand needed to build a 100-foot-wide berm and dune to an elevation of 12¾ feet directly in front of the Ventnor Boardwalk.
The project will resume at Jackson Avenue, Ventnor’s border with Atlantic City, and move downbeach before it meets up with a two-block section of dune previously built at the end of the Boardwalk at Fredericksburg Avenue. The work should last three to four weeks, but could move more quickly, she said.
The project had started at the southernmost portion of Ventnor in late June, when the Army Corps abruptly “flipped the pipe” and started working south in Margate on July 5. Army Corps officials said scheduled maintenance of one of two Weeks Marine hopper dredges working on the project was the reason for the change.
Thursday’s announcement came a week after an Atlantic County Superior Court judge temporarily halted the project Aug. 3 after “horrendous” ponding along a 10-block area in Margate riled residents, and city officials filed for a temporary restraining order until the Army Corps and state Department of Environmental Protection could eliminate ponding and ensure the health and safety of residents, lifeguards and beachgoers.
The Army Corps subsequently filed in U.S. District Court to resume the project, and Judge Renee Bumb granted the corps’ request Thursday.
At noon Friday, Margate, the DEP and the Army Corps must report back to Superior Court.
“The replenishment project should finish up in time for the fall and winter storm seasons, providing Ventnor with increased protection from coastal flooding,” city Commmissioner Lance Landgraf said.
“We understand the frustrations our community has expressed,” Holtzman said, “but we encourage our residents, visitors and business owners to focus on the long-term resiliency it will provide, that will outlast the headaches we have endured.”
Source: PressofAC.com
