By MADDY VITALE
The summer tourism season is nearing – with just weeks before tourists will flock to Sea Isle City to enjoy the beaches and resort town.
Sea Isle will be ready and so will its beaches.
“Overall, our beaches are in relatively good shape and will be ready for the summer,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said.
As part of preparing for the upcoming summer season, the city bought new beach mats and will be rolling them out in May.
“Also, regarding our beaches, we have purchased additional walkway mats, and in conjunction with our existing stock, we’ll have our beach accesses in good shape for the summer,” Desiderio said in a statement during the April 11 City Council meeting.
“Please understand that we hold off on placement of these walkway mats until the latter part of May, as they are prone to being buried by blowing sand, creating an unnecessary use of resources to maintain them in advance of the summer,” he added.
Back in February, the city was already looking ahead at the summer vacation season. City Council approved the purchase of 25 new beach mats under a $44,380 contract with manufacturer Deschamps Mats Systems Inc. of Cedar Grove, N.J.
The city purchased more beach mats as part of its overall strategy to make the beaches more accessible to everyone.
The blue beach mats, or mobility mats as they are commonly called, lie on top of the sand and provide an easier transition from the pathways over the dunes to the beaches.
The popular beach mats provide an easier transition from the gravel pathways over the dunes to the sand.
Sea Isle first purchased and began using mobility mats in the resort 15 years ago. People with disabilities, seniors, small children and families with strollers and beach gear are all helped by the mats.
While the mats don’t extend to the shoreline, they make it easier to cross over the dunes to get onto the beaches.
At the handicap-accessible beaches, the mats average about 70 feet long, officials have noted.
Desiderio noted that while the beaches are in good shape, there has been some erosion from coastal storms.
“As many of you know, we do have a small section of beach south of 88th Street that has suffered from more serious erosion over the past winter,” he said. “The city has commenced sand harvesting operations, and will be continuing work on this area through April and May – to provide protection of the properties along the beachfront as well as to provide beach recreation space when the summer arrives.”
During sand harvesting, earthmovers push sand up against the dunes to build them up. Sand scraped away near the ocean is then naturally restored by the waves during the incoming tides.
While sand harvesting is a temporary measure to strengthen sections of dunes that are badly eroded, Desiderio gave an update on a beach replenishment project slated for the city’s beaches.
“We were recently updated by our state and federal partners that a contract for our beach replenishment project is on track to be awarded later this summer; with the work expected to commence after Labor Day,” he said.
The estimated $30 million beach replenishment project will include Sea Isle, Strathmere and the southern end of Ocean City. The contract is expected to be awarded in July.
The contractor is given the discretion to decide the order in which each town will have their beaches restored with new sand, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency overseeing the project.
Sea Isle began sand harvesting operations in February after the dunes were sheared away between 88th and 92nd streets. The edge of the dunes had become mini-cliffs towering about 10 to 20 feet high.
Another bout of storms in March washed away much of the new sand that was placed against the dunes in February. Sand harvesting will continue in the areas most impacted by the storms, including oceanfront homes that overlook the eroded dunes in the vicinity of 90th Street.
Sand dunes between 88th and 92nd streets show the signs of storm erosion.
