Posted on April 21, 2025
Seaside Park officials have awarded a contract for the repair of significant erosion just south of the 14th Avenue pier along Barnegat Bay, with the hope of not only saving trees that were threatened with falling into the water, but building a breakwater system to prevent the problem from recurring.
The borough has been working to resolve the problem for several years, employing a few temporary fixes while waiting for state and federal officials to approve permits that would allow an anti-erosion system to be constructed. That system consists of the installation of rock filled Gabion baskets at the end of the existing bulkhead to prevent shoreline erosion in future storms and high tides. The work, expected to get underway shortly, will include repairing the erosion that has already occurred as well as the construction of the Gabion-based system.
Borough crews will perform the actual construction work, which will likely include the installation of a Gabion-style retaining wall. Gabion is a company that manufactures a number of wall elements, and has used its “erosion basket” system to success in controlling flooding in other parts of the country.
“It’s an ongoing project we’ve been talking about for quite a few years,” said Councilman William Kraft. “The area is washed out near the bulkhead and where the trees are.”
Kraft explained that the Gabion baskets, filled with rock and outfitted with with locks, will extent 2-feet into the bay and will be “built up almost like a pyramid where they’re stacked.” The Gabion breakwater will then go back landward to displace the wave action.
“It’s not a hard surface like a bulkhead would be, which will prevent all the erosion there,” Kraft said, adding that “two or three layers” of Gabion baskets will come landward.
Erosion near the 14th Avenue Pier in Seaside Park, N.J., Feb. 2023
Officials said they would prioritize saving older trees that have been threatened by the erosion that has already occurred, primarily near a small dock that many use as a kayak launch. That dock has been almost inaccessible for several years due to the “cliff” that formed next to it after erosion.
Erosion near the 14th Avenue Pier in Seaside Park, N.J., Feb. 2023.
“The second tree, as of now, can stay, and we will see where the roots are,” Kraft said. “We’ll see what we can do. If we can dig a trench and slide the tree over, I think it would be our best bet. That’s our hope, at least.”
Any trees that are unable to be saved will be replaced.
“Taking them down might have to happen with the construction, but we’d like to get new trees to go in there,” said Councilman Joseph Connor.
“I feel because we have the Gabions on the ready, we can do a little more on the labor end to preserve them,” said Mayor John Peterson. “We all were very concerned since the trees have been there 60 or 70 years, but we have to stabilize the beach.”
Undermined land at tthe 14th Street Pier, Seaside Park, N.J., Feb. 2022.
Borough Administrator Karen Kroon said the materials for the project will cost $27,500. That figure includes the cost of the Gabion baskets, fill, stainless steel material and the stone filler. Borough workers will prepare the site and remove the construction debris.
Crews are expected to mobilize within two weeks, after which the work should be completed in about four days.
“They want to look for a window of low tides since that is the way to get the Gabions in,” Kroon said.
