Wildwood Crest is challenging a judge’s order preventing the borough from withdrawing from the $54 million Five Mile Dune beach protection project pending a further court hearing on the matter.
Wildwood Crest attorney Mark Heinzelmann filed the motion in response to a ruling by Superior Court Judge Susan Sheppard last week that the status quo on the project must be maintained until an April 15 hearing. North Wildwood had asked the court to keep Wildwood Crest from withdrawing.
North Wildwood’s legal action came after Wildwood Crest’s governing body made public comments about possibly withdrawing from the project, formally known as the Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet Coastal Storm Risk Management Project.
Those comments prompted a four-page letter from state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, dated March 11, that told the four municipalities involved in the project, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood and Lower Township, that if any member pulled out it would jeopardize the entire project.
The plan, initially conceived in 2013, is a cooperative project between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the DEP. It includes construction of a 16-foot-high dune the length of the barrier island that contains the four communities.
The DEP had set a March 18 deadline for the four to respond to LaTourette’s letter, which asked each to “reaffirm its unqualified commitment to our existing project agreements.”
North Wildwood and Lower Township reaffirmed their commitment; Wildwood Crest expressed its opposition. Wildwood officials have not commented on the city’s position.
Sheppard in her ruling ordered that the DEP not take any action that would stop the project until after the April 15 hearing, and that the municipalities could not take any action that would violate the status quo.
Heinzelmann, however, said that the order violates the section of the New Jersey Constitution that describes the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches.
He said in his brief that Sheppard’s order was a “preemptive action to restrict Wildwood Crest from meeting to discuss ordinances, resolutions, and any other legitimate government action” with respect to the state aid agreement for the dune project.
“Neither North Wildwood nor this court can speculate as to what action Wildwood Crest might take with respect to the [state aid agreement],” Heinzelmann wrote, calling for the judge’s order to be dissolved.
Wildwood Crest Mayor Don Cabrera texted a statement to the Herald saying, “Wildwood Crest continues to be open to discuss alternate project plans and other options. In the meantime, we remain committed to opposing the current project as designed.”
Cabrera addressed the project at the Wildwood Crest Board of Commissioners meeting on March 12. He said the plan is to take about 650 feet of Crest beaches, moving the high-water line much closer to the borough’s bike path.
He said this would create a public safety issue and a space issue, and the borough has decided against participation in the project.
“The answer is no,” the mayor said. “We believe we have adequate (dune) protection.”
Lower Township Mayor Frank Sippel told the Herald that Lower had told the DEP that the township would be “staying the course.”
“Our governing body approved participation a year and a half ago. We are staying with the agreement we signed,” Sippel said.
In North Wildwood, Mayor Patrick Rosenello signed a letter dated March 12, the day after the DEP letter to the four towns, reaffirming the city’s participation in the project.
In Wildwood, the commissioners at their March 12 meeting viewed a video illustration of how the project would affect the city’s beaches.
Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said the current plan is to pull the waterline 775 feet toward the boardwalk. Troiano pointed on an illustration to an area nearest the waterline that would be lost after the project is completed. He said the high-water line would also present problems for the main travel path for vehicles used on the beach.
The mayor said he is not opposed to helping out North Wildwood, which suffers continual beach erosion, but he said the dune project asks for too much.
“They told us we were being greedy by saying it was our sand,” Troiano said. “I never had a problem giving some sand that is under our waterline to North Wildwood.”
Sippel said that although Lower Township does not own some of the affected beaches, the governing body opted to protect the 1,200 to 1,300 housing units in the Diamond Beach section of the township.
“It’s hard when you have a $54 million project that is paid for fully by the federal and state government, not to accept it,” he said.
Sippel said the project calls for beach replenishment every four years. LaTourette confirmed both the replenishment timeline and the $54 million figure authorized by Congress for the project, of which $34 million would be federal funding and $19 million would be paid by the state.
Sheppard said that at the April 15 hearing she would hear arguments related to issuing the temporary restraining order, but would hear no testimony on the dune project itself.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
