Posted on March 21, 2017
By MaryAnn Spoto, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Beach replenishment for the northern Ocean County peninsula is set to start the middle of next month, with Ortley Beach as the first spot to get the sand.
State environmental protection officials said Weeks Marine Inc., the Cranford-based contractor selected to perform the $128 million project, will spend two weeks beginning mid-April pumping sand onto the beach in Ortley, which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and has struggled keep sand in place in subsequent storms.
The work eventually will give Ortley Beach a 225-foot wide beach for that section of Toms River that has barely been able to naturally maintain a 100-foot width.
After spending two weeks in Ortley, the project will move to Absecon Island in Atlantic County to start a $63 million project there that, like the one in Ocean County, had been long resisted by local officials.
The beach fill work will continue on Absecon Island through early July, when crews will return to the northern Ocean County to resume work there, starting in Mantoloking, which was also badly damaged by Sandy.
The project is the last of the major stretches of the New Jersey coastline to be replenished after Hurricane Sandy
“We are particularly pleased that work is beginning in Ortley Beach, which sustained such extensive property damage because it did not have a properly engineered beach and dune system when Superstorm Sandy struck, state Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said.
Dune and beach construction work in Ortley Beach would then resume in the fall. Crews will move to other beaches in northern Ocean County in the summer and continue working into early next year, Martin said.
Bob Considine, a DEP spokesman, said the projects were structured to address the immediate needs of Ortley Beach. He said the initial work involves building a wider and higher beach to about 8.5 feet above mean sea level.
Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher said news about the work schedule brings him relief, particularly because the town has spent more than $1 million since Sandy to have sand trucked in and dumped onto the beach after major storms caused severe erosion.
“Today’s announcement by the DEP is welcome news to the residents and businesses in Toms River that they will be protected from future storms,” Kelaher said. “On numerous occasions the township has had to bring in extra sand following major nor’easters. I am very gratified that the DEP recognizes the dire condition of the dunes in Ortley Beach and will accelerate the restoration of sand on a temporary basis until the full project can be completed.”
The DEP and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which designed the project, have set the following schedule for northern Ocean County:
– Ortley Beach (Initial beach fill): Mid-April 2017 through late April 2017
– Mantoloking: Early July 2017 through September 2017
– Seaside Heights: Late September 2017 through October 2017
– Seaside Park: Late October 2017 through late December 2017
– Ortley Beach (Completion): Mid-October 2017 to mid-December 2017
– Brick: Winter 2018
– Normandy Beach and Ocean Beach (Toms River): Winter 2018
– Lavallette: Spring 2018
Bay Head, Point Pleasant Beach and Berkeley Township have not yet been scheduled while those towns continue their legal battles against the project and as the state tries to obtain the property easements needed for the work.
The Absecon Island portion involves replenishing 8.1 miles of the coast from Atlantic City to Longport.
Atlantic City will get fill placed from Oriental Avenue to Jackson Avenue, as well as five outfall extensions or repair. The plan also calls for less than half a mile of seawall and bulkhead construction along the Absecon Inlet at Atlantic City.
The DEP and the Army Corps have set the following tentative schedule for Absecon Island:
– Atlantic City: Early April through late June
– Longport: Late April to late June
– Margate: Late June through late August
– Ventnor: Early September through early October
Source: NJ.com
