By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Parts of Sea Isle City’s shoreline will be crowded this summer with giant pipes and heavy construction equipment during a beach replenishment project scheduled to get underway in June.
At least one local resident believes the city should cut the price of beach tags to compensate beachgoers for the inconvenience of having to share prime real estate with so much construction equipment during the summer vacation season.
Anne Organ, who lives on 39th Street, asked members of City Council at Tuesday’s meeting, which was held by teleconference during the coronavirus pandemic, whether it would be fair to charge full price for the tags at a time when sections of the beach will be unavailable to the public.
“The last time we had to climb over pipes and there was limited access to the beach,” Organ said, referring to Sea Isle’s last beach replenishment project five years ago.
However, city officials told Organ there is no plan to lower the price of beach tags. City Business Administrator George Savastano said he knows of no shore community in the past 30 years that has cut the cost of beach tags during replenishment projects.
Sea Isle averages about $1.4 million annually in beach tag revenue. Part of the revenue is used to help pay the city’s share of beach replenishment projects, Savastano said.
The full price of Sea Isle’s seasonal beach tags is $25. However, they will be available at a preseason discounted price of $20 until June 30. The city has extended the deadline for buying discounted beach tags from the original date of May 15 to June 30 to give residents and visitors more time during the coronavirus pandemic.
Michelle Vassallo, a Sea Isle City vacationer from Washington, D.C., and her 7-year-old son, Alex, hold up the family's beach tags last summer.
Referring to the social distancing requirements currently in place during the pandemic, another resident, Lynne Shirk, who lives on 54th Street, asked City Council whether beachgoers will be allowed to lounge on the sand on blankets this summer.
Council President J.B. Feeley said it is too early to predict the types of social distancing restrictions that may be in place during the summer season.
“We’ll address that situation when it happens,” Feeley said.
Sea Isle reopened the beaches and oceanfront Promenade over the weekend after a more than month-long shutdown to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
“Activities on the beach are limited to fishing, surfing, walking, running and exercising only; and those who enjoy the Promenade will be permitted to walk, run, bike and skate in the fresh salt air,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said in a statement.
Social distancing must be maintained at all times on both the Promenade and the beach. Sea Isle officials are urging people to keep at least six feet apart from others and refrain from sitting in beach chairs, sunbathing and participating in group activities for now.
Meanwhile, this summer’s beach replenishment project will be broken into two parts while under the supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Plans call for 510,000 cubic yards of sand to be deposited on the beaches from about 75th Street to 93rd Street in Townsends Inlet. Another 250,000 cubic yards of sand will freshen up the beaches from around 28th Street to 53rd Street in the center of town.
The stretch of beach from 28th to 53rd streets will be done first. Work will start in mid-June and take about 15 days to complete. The work between 75th and 93rd streets will start right after that and take about 30 days, said Steve Rochette, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers.
The project will also include restoring the dunes and beach fencing in some parts of town.
Sea Isle’s project is getting started about a month later than originally planned because the Army Corps’ contractor, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., has been busy with other beach replenishment jobs, Rochette said.
The delay in getting the project started means that the contractor will be out on Sea Isle’s beaches well into the summer tourism season. However, restrictions will be in place to minimize any conflicts between the beachgoers and the massive network of pipes and heavy equipment used by the contractor to pump new sand onto the shoreline.
Savastano explained that the contractor will not be allowed to close off more than 1,000 feet of beach at a time during construction.
“In four and a half miles of beach, it’s a small area,” Savastano said of the 1,000-foot closures along the entire length of Sea Isle’s shoreline.
He also said “sand ramps” will be built to allow beachgoers to pass over any pipes that are on the beach.
Most of the replenishment project involves widening the beaches. In some areas, the dunes, beach access points and sand fencing will be repaired.
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/.
A map shows the extent of the beach replenishment project involving the towns of Sea Isle City, Strathmere and Ocean City.
