WILDWOOD CREST – Deputy Mayor Joseph Franco says he would like there to be a public meeting before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/state Department of Environmental Protection dune and beach berm project begins.

The Army Corps has had a plan in the works, tabbed the Five Mile Dune, since 2013 to create a 16-foot dune with a beach berm running from Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet.

“We should probably have a special meeting for the public to go over the ins and outs of this project because there are a lot of moving parts to this,” Franco said at the commissioners’ Nov. 20 meeting.

Crest Administrator Connie Mahon said Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet dune construction plans were delivered by the DEP’s Office of Coastal Engineering a few weeks ago. She said the borough engineer and mayor reviewed the plans and had comments.

Commissioner Joseph Schiff and Mayor Don Cabrera agreed with the request to hold another public presentation on the dune project; Mahon said the commissioners should make a request to the DEP in writing.

She said once all comments were in, DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette will want to meet with the governing bodies of each municipality involved in the project. She said after those meetings the DEP would want to have public meetings.

Dune Disturbance

Mahon also advised the Board of Commissioners on the status of a dune disturbance violation from at least 2021. In April 2021 the Herald reported that the DEP “issued notices of violation to Wildwood Crest for disrupting a former dune area, north of Rambler Road, to accommodate storage for the beach patrol.”

The article mentioned that the violations listed six sheds, trailers, lifeguard stands, fencing and a stone-filled area on which they sit, which used to be dunes. Mahon said at the Nov. 20 meeting that the borough’s special counsel was coming to a resolution with the DEP’s Office of Land Use Compliance and there would be a plan to restore the dune, perhaps by the next week.

“Once approved it will go out to bid,” Mahon said, adding that the dune restoration project would be slated for spring.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.