Replenishment Project Will Restore Sea Isle's Eroded Beaches

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Sea Isle City’s storm-damaged beaches in the central part and southern tip of the island will be replenished with 640,000 cubic yards of fresh sand now that a federal agency has awarded a contract for the project. A series of coastal storms in recent months washed away huge amounts of sand from the beaches and also badly eroded the dunes. The dune face has been sheared away, leaving sharp mini-cliffs towering about 10 to 20 feet high in some spots in the central part of town and Townsends Inlet in the south end. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that oversees beach restoration projects, announced that it has awarded a $33.7 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Oak Brook, Ill., to perform the work. Under the contract, beaches in Sea Isle, Strathmere and southern Ocean City will be replenished starting this fall or winter. Completion is expected by next spring. Sea Isle will receive the largest amount of sand of the three towns. It is not yet clear which town will go first, second and then third in the project. Army Corps spokesman Steve Rochette said the order of completion will be decided later on during preconstruction meetings with the contractor. “We should have more information on the schedule soon. That gets ironed out during our preconstruction meetings. But as of now, we anticipate work would take place between fall and spring of 2024,” Rochette said in an email Friday. Replenishment projects help the tourist-dependent seashore communities keep their beaches in tip-top shape so they may continue attracting summer vacationers. Besides the aesthetic value of having wide, powdery beaches, the towns will also benefit from the restoration project by having a bigger barrier of sand and dunes to protect homes, businesses and roads from the ocean’s storm surge. “This project is about maintaining the dune and beach system, which functions to absorb and reduce impacts during storm events. Having the dune in place fronted by a berm reduces the risk for infrastructure, which can include homes, businesses, roads/promenades, and utility lines,” Rochette explained of the benefits of the project. Sand fencing is battered by the storm-tossed ocean. The contract calls for dredging more than 1.3 million cubic yards of sand from two “borrow areas” – one is located off Corson’s Inlet and the other is approximately three miles offshore of Sea Isle City. The sand will be pumped onto the beach at the following locations:

• 257,000 cubic yards of sand in south Ocean City from about 45th Street to 59th Street.

• 456,000 cubic yards of sand in Upper Township/Strathmere from Corson’s Inlet to about Jasper Road.

• 252,000 cubic yards of sand in central Sea Isle from about 29th Street to 53rd Street.

• 388,000 cubic yards of sand in south Sea Isle from about 73rd Street to Townsends Inlet.

The contract also includes options for the placement of additional sand. Dune crossovers and access paths, fencing and other features will be installed or repaired as part of the contract, Rochette said. The project is a joint effort of the Army Corps’ Philadelphia District, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Sea Isle, Ocean City and Upper Township. Beach replenishment projects are primarily funded by the federal government through the Army Corps of Engineers. Under the funding formula, the federal government kicks in 65 percent of the cost, while the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the towns that are getting their beaches replenished subdivide the remaining 35 percent. At a City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sea Isle introduced a $3.2 million bond ordinance to pay for its share of the beachfill project. “The Army Corps may not ultimately place an amount of sand that requires the entire $3.2 million, but we want to be prepared; and we want our state and federal partners to know we are committed to getting the best project possible,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said in a statement. The badly damaged dunes and beach pathway at 85th Street bear the marks of coastal storms. Originally, Sea Isle estimated that its share of the project would cost $2 million, but that was before the most recent rounds of storm damage. Council amended the city’s capital plan on Tuesday to reflect the $3.2 million that will now be Sea Isle’s estimated cost. “As everyone knows, over the past couple of months we’ve suffered from significant erosion, which is the basis of our revised cost share,” Desiderio said.