Villas Bayfront Home in Jeopardy, DEP Denies Bulkhead Application

VILLAS — The state Department of Environmental Protection has turned down an emergency application from Redwood Avenue homeowner Fred Swope to install a bulkhead to keep his home was washing away from high tides from the bay.
Three homes and two utility poles in the vicinity of Redwood and Beechwood avenues are threatened by erosion from Delaware Bay following a number of autumn storms.
Last month, Planner/Engineer Steve Fillipone made a presentation to Lower Township Council noting storms have taken away 15-feet of dune to a height of 6.5-feet high.
Fillipone said the homeowners wished to replenish the dune at their own expense. Since the dune is in a township right-of-way, the homeowners could not make application to DEP on their own.
Swope told council Monday conditions at his home have worsened.
Mayor Michael Beck said DEP recommended Swope purchase sand at his own expense and place it behind his home.
Swope requested Lower Township request Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding for the beach erosion. Township Manager Kathy McPherson said township emergency management coordinator Art Treon was meeting with FEMA next week to find out if the township is eligible to apply for FEMA money.
McPherson said the beach in the eroded area was not owned by the township but was in privately owned.
Beck said he did not know if there was support on council to spend taxpayers’ money on buying sand for beach replenishment if FEMA money is not available. Swope said Wildwood Avenue was beginning to be undermined by the tides.
“When does the township take action to save the beach in front of the homes,” asked Swope.
Beck said he did not want to set a precedent by writing checks to solve problems that nature is creating.
“It’s really difficult for us to expend that kind of money,” he said.
McPherson said she would contact Swope after Treon meets with FEMA.
Beck said Swope needed to challenge DEP’s decision. He suggested Swope and the township should reach out to Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) for assistance.
Councilman Wayne Mazurek said DEP’s denial letter to Swope indicated the state agency did not see the erosion as an “eminent threat to life or property.” Swope said a field representative from DEP who visited his home told him the house was in eminent danger.
He said an electric pole holding a transformer would wash out before his home’s foundation with the pole likely falling on his roof.
Deputy Mayor Kevin Lare said he was “stunned” by the amount of erosion on the bay side. He said millions of government dollars were spent to replenishment ocean beaches in the county but not on the Delaware Bay side.
Resident Joe Winters said the township turned down a beach replenishment project from the federal government about 10 years ago. McPherson said the project required the township contribute $1 million.
Swope told the Herald the erosion has increased since the last new moon, which raises tidal height. He said 14 feet of beach was lost from Tropical Storm Ida and another two feet of beach in recent weeks.
Swope said while he was denied an emergency permit, he has applied for a standard permit for a bulkhead. From the corner of his house, only five feet of dune remains, he said.
Swope said the cost of sand would be $10,000 to $15,000 and would likely wash away over time.