CREST HAVEN – Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the county commissioners April 8 that the traditional funding formula for beach restorations would be used to fund the proposed New Jersey back bays project.
A report titled the New Jersey Back Bays Coastal Risk Management Study and released in November 2024 called for elevating 6,421 homes and flood-proofing 279 critical infrastructure facilities.
The back bays study, according to the Corps website, is part of a feasibility study that determined the study area could experience $2.6 billion in average annual flood damages if no action is taken, adding that implementation of the project would reduce average annual damages in the study area by about $258.6 million.
The study defined the back bays area as the network of interconnected tidal water bodies located landward of New Jersey’s ocean coastline in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, Burlington and Cape May counties. The study area included approximately 950 square miles and nearly 3,400 miles of shoreline across 89 municipalities.
The study, which was initiated in 2013, is essentially the flip side to the Corps’ dune and beach berm projects along the Jersey shore. Currently, the Five Mile Island communities have been involved since 2013 in a proposed dune project running from Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet.
In December 2024, the Corps announced a draft report on a $7.65 billion plan for elevating residential structures along the back bay areas of the coast. At the April 8 commissioners meeting, Corps project manager Steve Brower said the traditional funding formula of 65% federal funding and 35% non-federal funding would be used.
Of the non-federal funding, the traditional formula has the state covering 75% of the cost and municipalities paying 25%. The plan is subject to change and has not yet been approved by higher authorities, including Congress, and has not been funded at the federal or state level.
A Corps spokesman said that the project still does not have a completed feasibility study, and that the project is still a long way off at this point.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
