AVALON – Avalon Borough Council’s Nov. 22 work session began with a report on the borough’s flood management plan effort.
In 2015, the borough initiated a community-wide committee to develop a new flood management plan in line with Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Community Rating System (CRS) requirements.
The effort is part of an attempt to improve the borough’s CRS rating and thereby increase the flood insurance discount available to property owners. Avalon was the first municipality in the county to gain a 5 rating, which translates into a 25 percent discount.
The borough’s actions are aimed at preserving its current rating while it strives to be again the first to achieve a 4.
Borough Engineer Thomas Thornton presented the annual evaluation plan that details progress in the implementation of the Flood Plan proposed actions.
A six-page table enumerates the various actions and the borough’s progress in implementation showing strong progress in meeting the goals.
The report, once approved by the council, will be submitted to FEMA. Interested citizens can find a copy of the report on the borough’s website.
Stockpile Sand
One new item in the evaluation report was the consideration of stockpiling sand to transfer it to the beach and dunes in advance of impending storms.
This item is part of an ongoing discussion in council meetings of standardizing the back passing of sand from mid-borough beaches to the northern areas.
For the first time in public session, council heard from some residents along the 34th and 35th street beach areas who objected to the impact the taking of sand from their beach had on the quality of life available to them last summer.
By lowering the sand levels through the back passing process, the residents claim that large pools were created following high tides which left them no area to sit on the beach.
These “gullies” were deep and resulted in “unacceptable” beach conditions for those who live along the sand borrow areas.
One resident offered pictures from the past season which council requested be sent to Business Administrator Scott Wahl.
Any attempt to institute a regular back-passing process is going to have to deal with a larger borrow area and take into account the speed with which the sand placed in the north-end of the island naturally travels back to the mid-borough beaches.
The residents indicated a willingness to work with the borough on a plan that would still result in “a decent beach” at the potential borrow area. All agreed that back passing should be done in ways that do not negatively impact areas from which the sand is removed.
Beach Replenishment
Wahl updated council on the continuing efforts to ensure a federal beach replenishment project this year. The project ran into a delay when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service introduced a requirement that federal funds could not be used for sand dredging in one of the major borrow areas for the replenishment project, Hereford Inlet.
The invoking of an existing but heretofore unused federal statute to ban the dredging in Hereford Inlet has caused both Avalon and Stone Harbor to seek long-term relief in federal court.
A compromise has been worked out for this year through the use of state funding. The project is expected to begin following a similar federal replenishment effort in Cape May.
The replenishment is still expected to be completed before the start of the 2017 summer season.
Tree Removal
The use of public comment periods to express disapproval with the borough’s removal of some Japanese black pine trees for the high dunes continued when Elaine Scattergood read a letter into the record from a partial-year resident of the borough, Elizabeth Smith.
The letter had been published as a letter to the editor in the Press of Atlantic City. The letter expressed concern with “the wanton destruction of trees” in Avalon and echoed the protests of a group of residents who claim that the trees were removed “despite a lack of southern pine beetle evidence.”
One of those who disagrees with the borough’s actions regarding the black pines, Martha Wright, filed a complaint with the U.S. Forestry Service claiming that a grant for control of the southern pine beetle was misused in the borough where no evidence of the beetle’s presence exists.
Wahl read into the record a second letter. That one was from Jake Donnay, legislative affairs specialist for the Forestry Service.
Donnay’s letter noted that Department of Environmental Protection’s use of the federal funds included in the Avalon grant is “consistent with our expectations for how the (U.S. Department of Agriculture) Forest Service financial assistance should be used.”
The borough’s response to the community group opposing the tree removal has consistently been supported by the state and federal agencies involved.
Wahl called the continued accusations regarding the borough’s efforts and motives “self-serving and reckless.”
In an email following the meeting, Wahl added: “We are finished discussing the issue and responding to reckless accusations.”
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
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Do you think it's appropriate for BLM to call for "Burning down the city" and "Black Vigilantes" because…
