Margaret and Kevin Kavanagh peer over the fence to look at the old bulkhead that is supposed to protect their 75th Street neighborhood from flooding.
Kevin and Margaret Kavanagh love the picturesque views of the lush, green wetlands that unfold for miles from their bayfront home on 75th Street in Sea Isle City.
What they don’t like is the crumbling pavement and a deteriorating wooden bulkhead at the end of 75th Street next to their house.
“Sea Isle is a beautiful city, but why does this end of 75th Street look like a Third World country?” Kevin Kavanagh asked. “It’s been like that.”
Sea Isle officials acknowledged that the aging bulkhead is in bad shape, but there are plans to replace the structure.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio announced during a City Council meeting Tuesday that construction will begin this week on a new $281,000 bulkhead. He said the work will include an 85-foot vinyl bulkhead along the street end and related road construction.
In an interview after the meeting, Desiderio and City Business Administrator George Savastano said the new bulkhead will protect the surrounding neighborhood and streets from nuisance flooding seeping out of the bay.
Wood and rocks comprise the existing deteriorated bulkhead at the bay end of 75th Street.The current bulkhead is a hodgepodge of rotting wood and large rocks that have been piled up several inches high to fortify the structure.
An unsightly chain-link fence runs along the edge of the bulkhead leading to the bay across from Kevin and Margaret Kavanagh’s attractive home.
The Kavanaghs’ current home was built after a raging fire broke out on Easter morning 2019 and destroyed their vacation duplex on 75th Street, as well as another duplex next door. No residents were injured in the blaze. An electrical problem in the duplex next door was the suspected cause, according to the Kavanaghs.
The Kavanaghs, formerly residents of Moorestown, N.J., have now made Sea Isle their full-time home. They said they relish the bayfront views, although they occasionally have to contend with minor nuisance flooding in the street.
“Just a little teeny bit,” Margaret said.
Pavement is missing from the end of 75th Street next to the bulkhead, but the new project will include road reconstruction.The last time this part of 75th Street got socked with severe flooding was during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, Kevin recalled.
The Kavanaghs are hopeful that they won’t have to deal with nuisance flooding once the new bulkhead is installed.
“We’ll be glad when it’s done,” Margaret said.
During the Council meeting, Desiderio also announced plans for a series of road projects, starting this fall and continuing into next spring, in other areas of town to help ease chronic flooding. The total cost of the road construction is $656,000, according to the city’s website.
The road reconstruction projects include:
• 38th Street from Landis Avenue to Central Avenue.
• 58th Street from Landis Avenue to Central Avenue.
• 59th Street from Central Avenue to Sounds Avenue.
• Sounds Avenue from 59th Street to the Dealy Field kayak launch site and fishing pier.
Sounds Avenue, from 59th Street to about 55th Street, was one of the bayfront areas of town inundated by flooding caused by a series of extremely high tides, a full moon and a low-pressure system parked offshore in late September.
Sounds Avenue from 59th Street to about 55th Street was swamped by flooding in late September.Desiderio also announced the city is out to bid for the reconstruction of Cini Avenue from John F. Kennedy Boulevard to 36th Street. The project is expected to be done between this winter and next spring and will be partially funded by state aid from the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Sea Isle is scheduled to hold a public workshop on Dec. 10 to review the proposed five-year capital plan that will serve as a blueprint for construction projects and infrastructure improvements from 2025 to 2029.
