Bids to Soon Open for 7 Mile Island Beach Replenishment

AVALON – The bids are in and will soon be opened for the federal beach replenishment project on 7 Mile Island. Avalon Council heard a status report at its Oct. 26 meeting in which Business Administrator Scott Wahl called the upcoming replenishment “perhaps the largest capital project in borough history.”
Wahl said that the borough had helped to secure $27 million in federal support for the project and he still held out hope for an additional $3 million. The normal arrangement for periodic beach fills is that the federal government covers 65% of the cost with the state of New Jersey and the impacted municipalities paying the remaining 35% in a cost-sharing arrangement. What that arrangement is for this replenishment will be determined after the bids are opened. 
This year, the beach fill effort will have an added complication due to a need to supply Stone Harbor beaches with sand from Townsends Inlet. That means the sand will have to be pumped the length of the island. This is due to a Fish and Wildlife interpretation of federal statutes that will not permit the Army Corps of Engineers to use the closer Hereford Inlet as a sand borrow area for Stone Harbor. The need to use Townsends Inlet sand will increase the cost of replenishing Stone Harbor beaches and probably also increase the share of the total expense that Stone Harbor will have to contribute.
Wahl said the replenishment, which will likely not start until sometime in the first quarter or even second quarter of 2023, will almost certainly eliminate the need for Avalon to engage in a back-passing effort next year. 
Wahl cited a recent report from Dr. Stewart Farrell of the Stockton University Coastal Research Center showing that much of the sand lost to the recent nor’easter is “sitting offshore at 12th Street.” He said the borough may also see an added benefit as the summer winds begin moving sand back toward the island beaches.