NORTH WILDWOOD – The city’s emergency beach fill project will add sand to the beaches along the entire length of the city beachfront and is expected to begin later this month, a public notice by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.
The project, being done at the direction of the governor’s office, will add sand taken from Hereford Inlet to the beaches between 2nd and 26th avenues, the May 3 notice by the Corps says.
Hereford Inlet cannot be used for any dredging project involving federal funds, due to a restriction placed on it by the U.S. Department of the Interior; however, projects relying on state or local funds are not subject to the federal restriction.
According to the notice, the governor’s office on April 16 asked the state Department of Transportation to step in to facilitate an emergency beach replenishment project for North Wildwood. The news was announced April 25 in a joint statement by North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello and Gov. Phil Murphy.
The project will place between 330,000 and just over a million cubic yards of sand on North Wildwood’s beaches, according to the notice.
By comparison, when the city undertook its own back-passing projects, trucking sand from Wildwood to fill the north end beaches, it had been moving about 350,000 cubic yards of sand per year. Those projects were scrapped the past two years, with city officials saying it was impossible for trucks to get around the piers during much of the day due to advanced erosion.
The emergency project is expected to take 15 weeks, and the “renourishment event is proposed to be undertaken between mid-May 2024 and late August 2024,” the notice states. However, city officials have said they hope that it will be completed by July 4.
The state will contribute $10 million to the project, and the city is also expected to contribute, according to a report by New Jersey Advance Media.
The DOT submitted a permit modification request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers April 29. A public comment period on the permit application will be open until May 18, and those interested in weighing in can email Robert Youhas at robert.youhas@usace.army.mil.
There is still a plan for a dune and berm spanning the length of the Five Mile Island. Notes from a private meeting involving officials from North Wildwood, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Protection revealed that design plans for that project, which has been in the works for 10 years, should be 95% complete in December or January.
Contact the reporter, Shay Roddy, at sroddy@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 142.
