By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
A beach replenishment project designed to restore two major sections of Sea Isle City’s storm-eroded shoreline with more than 750,000 cubic yards of new sand will get underway in late June.
Sand will be dredged offshore and then pumped onto the beaches through a network of massive pipes starting June 20. In all, it will take about six to eight weeks to finish the beach restoration work, according to City Business Administrator George Savastano.
Savastano gave an update on the project Tuesday during a City Council meeting conducted by teleconference because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The project was originally expected to begin in May, but was delayed while the contractor, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., completed beach replenishment work in other communities that were lined up ahead of Sea Isle.
Sea Isle’s project will be broken into two parts. Plans call for 510,000 cubic yards of sand to be deposited on the beaches from about 74th Street to 93rd Street in Townsends Inlet. Another 250,000 cubic yards of sand will freshen up the beaches from around 28th Street to 52nd Street in the center of town.
Most of the replenishment work involves widening the beaches. However, in some areas the dunes, beach access points and sand fencing will be repaired, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency overseeing the project.
Great Lakes, which serves as the contractor for the Army Corps of Engineers, has already begun to mobilize some of the heavy construction equipment it will need to replenish Sea Isle’s beachfront. A bulldozer and an excavator have been placed near the back of the beach at 57th Street.
Later this week, the contractor is scheduled to begin laying giant pipes that will be submerged on the ocean floor. Great Lakes will anchor a ship offshore to dredge sand from a “borrow area.” The sand will be pumped from the dredge ship through the pipes onto the beaches to give them a fresh look for the summer vacation season.
Savastano said the first part of the project will be done in the center of town between 28th and 52nd streets, taking about two or three weeks to finish.
Next, Great Lakes will replenish the beaches between 74th and 93rd streets in Townsends Inlet in the southern tip of Sea Isle. Savastano said it will take four to five weeks to finish that stretch of beach.
The delay in getting the project started means that the contractor will be out on the beaches well into the summer tourism season. However, restrictions will be in place to minimize any conflicts between the beachgoers and the network of pipes and heavy equipment used by Great Lakes.
“The contractor will build sand mounds over those pipes at each beach at several locations so that the beachgoers can have access to the ocean,” Savastano said. “During the project, beach closures will take place along the shoreline in the area of the beach fill, with no more than 1,000 feet of beach along the shore closed at any one time.”
The Army Corps of Engineers’ construction team plans to provide daily status updates to Sea Isle officials. The information will be posted on the agency’s website on a daily basis to notify beachgoers of any closures. The website is https://www.nap.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Great-Egg-Harbor-Inlet-to-Townsends-Inlet/.
Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer noted that the city also plans to provide regular updates on the project to the public.
“Our goal is to keep them ahead of the information and let beachgoers know in advance, whenever possible, which portions of the shoreline are closed at any given time,” Custer said.
Sea Isle is part of a $32.5 million beach replenishment project that also includes Strathmere and Ocean City. There are options in the contract for even more sand if needed, which could increase the cost of the project to $41.3 million.
The project will be funded mostly by the Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The three towns will each kick in a smaller share. Sea Isle’s contribution is expected to be less than $2 million, Savastano said.
Sea Isle suffered significant beach erosion in some spots during a lingering coastal storm that unleashed a series of unusually high tides over a four-day period in October 2019.
During the storm, huge chunks of sand were sliced away from the dunes, leaving cliff-like walls in some areas. Some beaches appeared bare – stripped of their powdery top layer of sand. Wooden dune fencing was torn to shreds.
Even before the October storm, beaches and dunes in Townsends Inlet between 88th and 93nd streets had suffered significant erosion. The sand dunes, in particular, were sheared away by the churning surf, creating jagged cliffs more than 10 feet high.
