The New Jersey government has announced a new, $38-million deal to replenish and reconstruct the Sandy-damaged beaches and shoreline from Manasquan to Sea Bright.
It's the final stretch in a massive replenishment effort after Superstorm Sandy ravaged The Shore in October, 2012. The new project will cover the 21-mile shoreline from Manasquan to Sea Bright and will see reconstruction of beaches, stormwater outfalls, as well as implementing modifications to the existing groins of Loch Arbor and Deal. Seattle-based Manson Construction was awarded the contract.
The work will include dumping some 1.4 million cubic yards of sand on 1.6 miles of beach in Elberon and Deal. The project also calls for the modification of six existing stormwater outfalls and two groins.
The work is being funded (all of the money) through the Army Corps Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies Program. The Army Corps recently finished reconstruction of Oakwood Beach, along the Delaware River in Salem County, which was the second of the seven post-Sandy beach construction projects to be completed in the state. The seven projects were previously authorized by Congress, but not funded until the Sandy Relief Act was passed in 2013. In July, the reconstruction of the Raritan Bay shoreline in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown was completed.
The New Jersey Depertment of Environmental Protection has been working in partnership with the Army Corps to improve beaches and dune systems as part of the Christie Administration’s major resiliency strategy along the oceanfront. The DEP is working with the Army Corps on seven major coastal project areas.
Bay Head Homeowners Still Holding Out On Easements
Meanwhile the government is still trying to persuade some 60 beachfront homeowners in Bay Head and Mantoloking to sign construction easements that will allow the Army Corps of Engineers to reconstruct a wider beach, backed by 22-feet-high sand dunes to help protect against the next major storm. Bay Head homeowners argue signing the easement will cede their private property rights and allow for construction of things like boardwalks and commercial interests to be built on the beaches down the road. New Jersey beachfront living gives homeowners ownership of some - sometimes all - of the sand in front of their houses - a legacy going back to the early 19th century. So when Bay Head and Mantoloking were developed, oceanfront lots extended to the high water mark, and in a few, instances, the state gave tidelands ownership 1,000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean.
Jenkinson's Pavilion, which is one of New Jersey's largest and most popular beaches, is suing in federal court claiming the project would turn its privately owned beach into a public one. In the suit, Jenkinson's in looking for clarifications on just what the government can do in terms of carrying out the project along the states 127-mile coast.
The state argues its sole intention is to strengthen the coastline and offer protection to businesses operating along the waterfront.
Last year, the Army Corps of Engineers completed eight post-Sandy beach repair projects, returning roughly 45 miles of previously engineered and constructed beaches along the New Jersey coast to their original protective construction design at a cost of $345 million.
Beach construction projects scheduled to commence this year include work from Brigantine Inlet to Cape May Inlet (Margate and Longport); the Elberon to Deal and Deal to Loch Arbour projects, part of the Sandy Hook to Manasquan Inlet project; and the Northern Ocean County peninsula from Manasquan Inlet to Barnegat Inlet (Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking, Brick, Toms River, Lavallette, Seaside Heights, Seaside Park and Berkeley).
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