Posted on October 24, 2016
By Eric Englund, The SandPaper.net
Over the weekend, Harvey Cedars was informed by the Army Corps of Engineers that beach restoration work will begin in the borough next week. Borough Clerk Daina Dale said the project will restore the dunes and replenish 100 feet of flat beach from Cumberland Avenue to 78th Street.
Hudson Avenue will be the access point for the contractor, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., and the ocean pipeline connection will be at Atlantic. The Hudson Avenue dune will be leveled for the length of the project for access and will be rebuilt at the end of the project.
The Corps said after mobilization at Hudson, pumping of sand will begin at Atlantic and continue north to 78th Street. Thereafter, the project will switch south and continue to Cumberland. It is anticipated the contractor will start on Oct. 22 and will complete the project in approximately nine days, weather permitting.
On Monday, public works will begin removing all fencing on the beach and walkovers. The department will replace the walkover post and rail fencing, including private walkovers, after the beach project is completed. Dune fencing will be replaced in the spring by May 15.
The borough’s board of commissioners appropriated $631,000 in a capital improvements ordinance to authorize the work. Mayor Jonathan Oldham said the project will repair beaches that sustained erosion during Winter Storm Jonas.
“Around the center of town, we suffered from some major erosion and had some big drop-offs at the beach entrances,” he said.
Harvey Cedars was the second town, following Surf City, to have beach replenishment. After the project concluded in 2010, an agreement was made where the Corps would be available to come and repair the beaches during an emergency.
“Normally, that would have been free of charge,” said Oldham. “But FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) would have had to declare it an emergency, and that had not happened yet.”
As a result, Oldham said the borough could no longer wait for FEMA.
“The dredges are still working on the Island, so the cost for mobilizing them is $200,000,” said the mayor. “If the dredges are out of the area, the cost would be $4 million. We have to act as long as the equipment is still here.”
Source: The SandPaper.Net
