Avalon Beach Fill Complete for July 4

AVALON ––Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company began pumping 225,000 cubic yards of sand on the beaches here between 9th and 18th Streets on June 24.
Work crews were finishing up work at 18th Street July 1 and the project will be complete in time for the July 4 holiday weekend.
Borough Council held a special meeting June 19 to announce it forged an interim agreement with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in which the DEP will reimburse the borough 75 percent, or $1.8 million, of the $2.5 million project cost.
David J. Johanson, Contract Manager for Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, said the nourishment operation needed to occur 24 hours a day in order to get the beach fill done as quickly as possible. He anticipated the project would last about seven to 10 days and equipment was manned throughout the night as crew worked around the clock.
Avalon Engineer Tom Thornton of Hatch Mott MacDonald told council at its June 25 meeting that work on the beach was proceeding as planned. The pace of the project was about one to one and a half blocks of beach filled every 24 hours, Public Relations Officer Scott Wahl said.
The dredge company recently finished a big beach fill project in nearby Ocean City, saving the borough about half a million dollars in equipment moving fees, former Council President Joseph Tipping said. Tipping stepped down as president at council’s June 25 meeting to allow Vice President David Ellenberg to take the position; council rotates the position annually, Wahl said.
Sand was initially placed on the 9th Street beach and was pushed south as work continued in that direction throughout the week.
Beaches were closed in the immediate area where beach work took place. As the beach fill effort moved south, beaches were reopened as work crews and lifeguards determined those beaches were safe.
This beach fill project is the first of two anticipated beach fills for the northern end of Avalon. Officials are also working on securing agreements with state and federal officials for a follow up beach fill that could occur in late 2008, or in the early spring of 2009, which would use $1.5 million in previously approved federal funding.
The borough has met DEP requirements for public access, parking, and restroom facilities, along with other requirements for the north end project, which included installing a portable bathroom in the project area between 9th and 18th streets.
Avalon still has a pending legal challenge against the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection regarding a State Aid Agreement calling for 24-hour, seven-day-a-week unfettered access to all beaches, waterways, and marinas in the project area.
A hearing over this dispute is slated for September in the New Jersey Appellate Division. Avalon officials met with DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson in early June to convince DEP officials that Avalon was in dire need of an immediate beach fill in the borough’s north end.
Avalon did not sign this State Aid Agreement; both the DEP and Avalon officials agreed on an interim agreement to allow this beach fill project to take place.
Contact Truluck at (609) 886-8600 ext. 24 or at: ltruluck @cmcherald.com.