Posted on April 24, 2023
The waves are why so many go down to the Jersey Shore, but it’s also the waves that eat away at the shore.
Parts of Ortley Beach in Toms River have visibly been eaten away, not leaving room to spread out that blanket and beach chair this summer.
“The ocean wants to take back what I guess it thinks it owns,” said longtime Ortley Beach resident Pam Bardisserotto. “After Sandy, when Ortley Beach came back, so did the crowds, and it’s been great to see the tourists come back, but if the beaches don’t get replenished, then they’re going to be driving somewhere else.”
Winter storms over the last few years are part of the reason why there has been so much erosion at Ortley Beach.
“We have to replace what mother nature takes away,” said Mo Hill, the mayor of Toms River.
Hill wants to see a wider beach not just by this summer, but by Memorial Day weekend.
“Our beach is narrow, it wasn’t as wide as it was after the Army Corps came. That’s why we need them back here to build the beach up again,” he said.
The Army Corps of Engineers hasn’t done work on the beach since 2018 and won’t be back until the fall.
The township is about to mobilize repairs and doesn’t know how much the upcoming repairs will cost until bids for the work are in, but officials said the municipality has spent $750,000 on beach replenishment over the last two years.
