Dutch Officials Tour Avalon Beach Fortifications

AVALON – The beach is fun in a swimsuit, not so much on a tour in a business suit on a nice July day. Such a visit was all business for Rob de Vos, Arian Braamskamp, Mayor Martin Pagliughi and other borough officials July 31. That is when the two Dutch visitors toured the resort’s beachfront with an eye toward sharing trans-Atlantic ideas on storm and flood mitigation.
De Vos, consul general of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Braamskamp, economic officer for the Netherlands Consulate General in New York City inspected the beach, dune system, bulkheads and other assets Avalon has to keep the ocean at bay, especially during wicked storms, such as Hurricane Sandy that passed by last October, then hit hard on New Jersey’s northern beaches.
“We were picking their brains,” said Pagliughi whose borough drew official comments after Sandy when Gov. Chris Christie noted the dune system that Avalon had was a prime example of what protection is offered by a well-established system.
Pagliughi, also Cape May County’s director of emergency management, said the Netherlands is a great country from which to seek ocean protection information, since the country is 20 feet below sea level and there is a constant battle with the sea there.
“Towns in New Jersey and the whole United States coastal community has to look outside the box for new technologies,” said Pagliughi. That is why he sought out the Netherlands representatives to ask.
He told a press conference that many do not realize the importance of beached. They hold the belief that it is a waste of money to continue to put sand on beaches, simply to shore up multi-million dollar homes.
Not so, Pagliughi said, adding that in New Jersey along, 300,000 jobs are generated through tourism, and the vast majority of that is because visitors want to go to the beaches of the state.
Noting the passage of Sandy to Cape May County’s north, Pagliughi said, “We in South Jersey dodged a big bullet, it could have been worse all around. Now it’s time to start the mitigation process,” he said.
In Cape May County alone, according to Tourism Director Diane Wieland, the beaches are the key to economic opportunity, a $5.2 billion taxable revenue source.
Cape May County Chamber of Commerce President Vicki Clark underscored the importance that beaches play in attracting tourists to the Jersey Cape.
“People want clean, healthy beaches. Other states cannot claim that as much as we can,” Clark said.
“It is easy to see we have an opportunity to increase tourism revenue by caring for our beaches, using them as an economic driver for the state,” she said.
De Vos noted that while more people are living in cities, “More and more they realize the sea level is rising. Rainfall is getting heavier, and the United States is no exception, no different than the Netherlands.”
“We are together in the same boat. We have to keep that boat floating,” he said with Pagliughi standing at arm’s length.
“Don’t waste a good crisis,” de Vos told Pagliughi and others in the auditorium of Avalon Elementary School.
He reminded the officials that the Netherlands learned a harsh lesson in 1953 and in 2000 and 2006, when rivers overflowed their banks and many people were forced from their homes.
Having resided in New York for the past two years, de Vos said he witnessed the damage wrought by Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, as well as other natural disasters in the United States.
“The Dutch consulate in New York City wants to share what we know. We feel lessons learned and knowledge should be available because we realize we can learn something from you,” he continued.
“I must say, I felt home again when I saw dunes, manmade and natural. I saw the slow beginning of dune valleys and heard what it costs, and how much work it takes,” he said.
In the Netherlands, instead of replenishing beaches ever four years, de Vos said “We believe you may do it every 20 years. It’s less cost and less environmental damage, we also have seen some advantages from nature, so it’s true.”
He noted the economic importance of beaches in both nations, and trying to work toward a “better cost-benefit analysis, scenarios and models.”
De Vos noted that Pagliughi has been working on beach protection matters “for more than 24 years for the common cause. One day they will set up a statue for you,” he joked.
“Maybe a gold watch,” Pagliughi laughed in reply.
De Vos said one example how replenishment is done in Netherlands, a large amount of sand will be stockpiled in the north, above the littoral drift, and allow the sand to naturally migrate down beach.
The technique requires less grading and excavation, he said.
“It’s something to look at closer. They have done it and proven it works,” Pagliughi said.
Another concept de Vos said that is used is a multipurpose dike that is used as a parking facility that can be used for parking cars safely when a storm strikes. He also said other dikes have been developed into marsh areas where nature is reinforcing the structure, reducing the wear and tear and also providing recreational places.
Pagliughi concluded the conference by stressing that it is only through Army Corps of Engineer dunes done in conjunction with a beach profile that complement each other and reduce lost sand. Dunes erode four to five times faster if they are not protected by beaches with natural slope.
“What the governor said, we need a dune system for the entire New Jersey coastline. We don’t want to wait and wait from one to 15 years from now or we will have the same devastation,” said Pagliughi.