STRATHMERE — The weeks-long beach replenishment project in Strathmere finally has wrapped up, providing much-needed sand on the island’s heavily eroded beaches sooner than anticipated.
“The dredge left today,” Mayor Curtis Corson said during the Township Committee meeting Aug. 24. “They have completed pumping sand.”
Township Administrator Jimmy Van Zlike reported in July that work was expected to take until at least Sept. 7.
He said by the middle of this week, “there should be no presence, no sign of any contractors, whether that’s the dredging company or Walters, who’s constructing the crossovers. So anticipate in advance of Labor Day weekend that they should be 100 percent out of the way.”
Corson said a few of the dune crossovers have yet to be completed but the contractors were demobilizing. A walkthrough of the 1.3 miles of replenished beach with representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Environmental Protection was scheduled for last week.
“Our beach replenishment has been fantastic. I want to thank Congressman Van Drew for collaborating with these shore communities and making it happen,” Committeeman Sam Palombo said, noting it was a stark contrast from the beginning of summer. “It’s just incredible that we got to this point.”
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, announced in April that southern New Jersey would receive $99 million from the Army Corps to replenish and protect key beaches in Ocean City, Strathmere and Sea Isle City, along with Avalon and Stone Harbor.
After receiving $28 million in federal funding, the Army Corps announced April 10 that it was moving forward with the Great Egg Harbor Inlet to Townsends Inlet dune and beach fill project.
Funding came from the Philadelphia District, the state Department of Environmental Protection and local taxpayers.
Pumping operations began July 15 around Williams Avenue and progressed north toward Sea Cliff and Sea View avenues, then moved south to replenish Willard and Whittier avenues, continuing south until reaching the final completion point near the Jasper Avenue street end.
The mayor said in the past that the township is looking at longterm solutions, noting the DEP has expressed no interest in a plan to place temporary barriers filled with sand just offshore to break the waves before they strike the shore.
He said they are hoping for funding for a hard structure, including studies and engineering, but added that what works some places might not work at Corson’s Inlet.
“Ocean City has all kinds of hard structures in the north end and still has erosion,” he said.
Corson said the township discovered during the course of the replenishment project that the bulkhead along the ocean from Williams Avenue north has outlived its life expectancy and must be replaced at $2,000 per foot, or about $2.2 million.
Not everyone was happy with the replenishment.
Eric Weeks from Strathmere, noting his parents have been taxpayers in the township since 1955 and he has voted there since 1978, said the projects are expensive and inefficient.
“I’ve seen a lot of beach replenishments and they all end the same way. A ridiculous amount of money for a temporary band-aid for the benefit of a few very wealthy oceanfront people,” he said.
Corson reminded the public Aug. 24 that the Upper Township Beach Patrol is short-staffed as many of the guards have returned to school.
“Please remember to swim in front of guarded beaches, guarded beaches only,” he said, noting the township had only three beaches open that day. “That’s just part of the nature of the beast this time of the year.”
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
