WILDWOOD – The dream of a unified 16-foot dune system to protect the Wildwoods coastline is officially dead.
Shawn LaTourette, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Friday, Nov. 7, that the long-brewing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project has been terminated because Wildwood and Wildwood Crest refused to contribute sand from their beaches to the project.
A letter from the Army Corps of Engineers said that $54 million in state and federal funding allocated to the dune project will be directed elsewhere.
The project had been in the works since 2013, when the Army Corps first revealed its plan to build a dune and berm along the length of the Wildwoods. Some $2.4 million has already been spent on research and development for the project, which would have brought sand replenishment to the entire island every four years as part of the deal.
In a letter sent Friday, LaTourette said: “It is clear to me that the City of Wildwood and the Borough of Wildwood Crest no longer support the authorized project and as a result the (DEP) cannot acquire the necessary real property interests, to construct, operate and maintain the authorized project.”
News first came from Col. Jesse Curry, commander of the Army Corps’ North Atlantic Division. He said that the project, commonly called the Five-Mile Dune Project but officially known as the Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet Project, has no hope of proceeding.
The project has long been a point of contention between North Wildwood and neighboring Wildwood and Wildwood Crest.
North Wildwood desperately needs the project’s proposed dunes and the associated beach replenishment to protect the city’s fast-eroding beaches. The city was blindsided this year after the Army Corps budget for beach replenishment, which the city had come to expect, was slashed by Congress. For the first time since 1996, North Wildwood received no federal dollars to restore its beaches.
But beaches in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest are as wide as they have ever been. Wildwood’s beach is commonly cited as the widest beach in America, at roughly 500 yards from the beach entrance to the water.
Wildwood Crest signed up for the project but threatened to leave earlier in 2025. Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano and Wildwood Crest Mayor Don Cabrera have each said publicly that they did not think the project was needed and, while it would help North Wildwood, it would move the water’s edge 650 to 750 feet closer to their towns.
Neither Wildwood nor Wildwood Crest wished to sign onto a state aid agreement that would have moved the project forward.
In Curry’s letter, he said, “I am directing my staff to suspend all work under the project partnering agreement executed on Jan. 17, 2017, between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the DEP pursuant to Article VIII of the agreement.”
He said that after deducting expenses for archiving current design materials, the remainder of the $54 million would be made available to other projects within the Superstorm Sandy program. The DEP, he said, would be expected to pay 35% of the expended costs.
Curry expressed appreciation for the DEP’s efforts but said, “It’s unfortunate we were not able to implement the construction of the project as planned.”
LaTourette advised the mayors that the DEP was continuing to identify offshore sand sources for a new replenishment project. But he advised them that the cost would be substantially higher to dredge sand from offshore than to truck it from previously identified areas in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest.
The commissioner also offered DEP assistance to municipalities with self-funded beach replenishment projects in the form of technical and permitting assistance.
Cabrera said he thought Wildwood and Wildwood Crest were unfairly identified as responsible for the project’s demise.
“I think it is totally unfair,” he said. “I would classify it, from our standpoint, that Wildwood Crest is still at the table trying to negotiate, and they (the DEP and Army Corps) walked away.”
The mayor said that, while they were not in favor of the project as proposed, Wildwood Crest never formally withdrew from it and, in fact, never formally objected.
“They told us we had to do a resolution withdrawing from the state aid agreement, and we never did that,” he said.
According to Cabrera, the borough’s position is that it would prefer to work with the DEP and Army Corps to come up with a workable solution for Wildwood Crest.
“You are the federal and state governments – where there is a will, there is a way. You just can’t cram something down our throats,” he said.
He said rather than taking 600 to 900 feet of beach away in the Crest, they should consider that the expansive beach and local dune system worked during Hurricane Erin and the mid-October nor’easter, which was devastating to north-edge beaches in Strathmere in Upper Township and in North Wildwood.
Cabrera said the state and federal governments should also be sensitive to the wants and needs of the community. He said while campaigning for the recent election that residents consistently told the candidates they did not want the project.
Troiano was not immediately available for comment, but Cabrera added that he and Troiano planned to issue a joint statement.
Lower Township, for its part, signed onto the state aid agreement.
North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said in a text message, “Disappointed. We will continue to pursue our legal remedies.”
North Wildwood filed a lawsuit in March 2025 to prevent the other towns from leaving the project, but Superior Court Judge Susan Sheppard essentially put the matter on hold so the parties could try to come to a resolution. The Army Corps’ decision to suspend the project apparently makes that lawsuit moot.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
