Ocean County comes to the rescue as Shore towns face hefty beach replenishment bills

Posted on September 20, 2022

Ocean County has agreed to pay half the local cost of the latest federal beach replenishment project, bringing welcome relief to barrier island towns that are struggling to pay their portion of the bill.

“They were very gracious and very helpful,” Bay Head Mayor William Curtis said following a Sept. 13 meeting that included barrier island mayors, Jack Kelly, director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, fellow Commissioner Gary Quinn and county Administrator Michael J. Fiure. “I couldn’t thank them more.”

Bay Head’s local share of the beach work is expected to be $1.4 million, a hefty amount for a small town with a $6 million budget. Neighboring Mantoloking’s bill is almost $1.3 million. Toms River has the highest estimated bill, at $2 million.

The total bill for Ocean County municipalities is expected to be about close to $8 million.

Other barrier island towns have lower estimated costs that Toms River, Mantoloking and Bay Head, as their shorelines have fared better since the last replenishment project was completed about three years ago. But for smaller towns, even several hundred thousand dollars could be a budget breaker.

Barrier island mayors have been seeking help to pay their portion of the beach repair work, which is expected to start in the winter or spring next year. In July, the mayors who belong to the barrier island group signed a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy, penned by Toms River Mayor Maurice B. “Mo” Hill Jr., asking the state to pay the entire local share, to help lower the burden for local municipalities.

“We are very thankful,” that the county agreed to pay half of the towns’ share of the beach work, Hill said at Wednesday evening’s Toms River council meeting.

During an agenda meeting of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, County Comptroller Julie N. Tarrant said that the total cost of the beach replenishment project is expected to be $60 million.

“The towns’ match is about $8 million,” she said.

“We’re going to be half of that,” said Commission Director Jack Kelly.

That means that the county government will appropriate $4 million for the project, Tarrant clarified.

“And I think all the towns were very pleased with the help,” she said.

“They made it very clear to us that they wanted to thank all of the commissioners for their help on this and how grateful they were to the board and to our staff,” Kelly said.

Hill has said that while Toms River has been planning to absorb the beach repair cost in its budget, the state has the money to give even more help o Shore towns. New Jersey’s tax revenues have soared, and are about $7 billion more than the governor projected in March, state finance officials said earlier this year.

“Everyone uses our beaches,” Hill said of the township’s public beach in Ortley. “People come from all over the state to use the beach.” Therefore, the state should pay the entire local share of the replenishment, he said, noting that tourists visiting the Jersey Shore spend billions of dollars each year.

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Hill said he is grateful for the county’s help, but still hopes to secure some state funds to further assist barrier island towns. Hill recently discussed the issue with state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen-Passaic.

“It was a nice conversation. I think he’s sympathetic,” Hill said. He said he plans to reach out to Sarlo again. A crew repairs the dunes at Coolidge Avenue in the Ortley Beach section of Toms River Tuesday, June 14, 2022. The Township has again had to hire a company to repair the storm-damaged beachfront at Ortley Beach.

Of course, almost all beach towns in New Jersey charge a fee to purchase beach badges to sit on the sand. That money is required to be used to fund beach operations, and not be included in a town’s general fund.

After discussions with the other mayors, in particular Mantoloking’s Lance White, Curtis said he and Bay Head Administrator Frank J. Pannucci Jr. revised the letter and sent it to the Ocean County Commissioners, seeking the county’s assistance. “Within 24 hours they got back to us,” Curtis said, and the Sept. 13 meeting was arranged.

About $30 million in funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill has been set aside to pay for the Army Corps’ first major beach repair project in northern Ocean County since the corps finished a nearly $129 million beach expansion and dune-building program in the area in 2019. A crew repairs the dunes at Coolidge Avenue in the Ortley Beach section of Toms River Tuesday, June 14, 2022. The Township has again had to hire a company to repair the storm-damaged beachfront at Ortley Beach.

As part of that project, the corps agreed to return to the area to make repairs for 50 years on a regular basis, and on an emergent basis after severe storms.

The $30 million in funding represents only about 50% of the estimated cost of the repair work. The state and local municipalities are responsible for the remainder of the cost. In the past, New Jersey has paid 75% of the cost, with municipalities paying the remaining 25%.

The state paid the entire local share of the massive beach project that was completed in 2019, shoring up areas that suffered some of the most severe damage after 2012’s superstorm Sandy.

Seaside Heights raised beach badge prices in 2021 and 2022 in order to create a fund to help pay the borough’s share of the costs for future beach replenishment projects. Borough Administrator Chris Vaz said last year that the state had indicated it was unlikely to pay the local share of beach building projects in the future.

Since the Army Corps’ Manasquan to Barnegat inlets project was completed three years ago, severe beach erosion has occurred in Bay Head, Ortley Beach and parts of Mantoloking.

A strong nor’easter in late January and early February damaged the dune line in Ortley and Bay Head, along with a portion of Mantoloking. Ortley Beach, where an inlet existed until the early 19th century, has also suffered storm damage during nor’easters on Memorial Day weekend in 2021 and again during the first weekend of May this year.

Steve Rochette, a spokesman for the Army Corps’ Philadelphia District, said the corps plans to advertise the northern Ocean project this fall. Work will begin in winter or spring 2023, with the timing “depending on bids, dredging equipment availability and other factors.”

The work is expected to take about nine months to complete once started, Rochette said. The exact cost of the project will not be known until bids are received, he said.

Though many local residents strongly supported the beach replenishment project after Sandy, there were those who were critical of the plans. Beachfront property owners fought the state’s use of eminent domain to seize easements on their land that would give the Army Corps access for the dune project.

Dozens of Bay Head oceanfront homeowners sought to opt out of the dune project, saying they had paid more than $7 million to build and maintain a rock revetment that had protected their properties from the worst of Sandy’s surge. Part of the reason the property owners opposed the project was their skepticism about who would pay for future dune repairs.

They lost their court fight.

Oceanfront property owners in Mantoloking, Berkeley and Point Pleasant Beach were also unsuccessful in their fight against eminent domain.

Curtis noted that many Bay Head oceanfront property owners resisted the beach replenishment, believing a rock revetment that had been installed, maintained and paid for by beachfront homeowners was a better protection against storms.

A severe nor’easter in early 2021 ate into the bottom of the dunes in Bay Head, leaving drops of over 10 feet from the top of the dune to the beach, and forcing the borough to do emergency maintenance on the dunes and beach so that the area could be used in the summer.

Beach replenishment remains controversial: a new coalition of 21 organizations has argued that beach replenishment is a waste of time, interferes with coastal ecology and mostly benefits wealthy oceanfront property owners. The coalition’s long-term goal is to stop beach replenishment and pivot toward buyouts and relocations of existing homeowners and preserving what little open space is left.

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Ocean County comes to the rescue as Shore towns face hefty beach replenishment bills

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