AVALON – Using the beach fill project in Avalon as a backdrop, dignitaries from the state, local municipalities, and private organizations gathered to urge support for increased funding for beach replenishment projects in New Jersey. Bills introduced in the Assembly and the State Senate this spring call for doubling the Shore Protection Fund from its current level of $25 million to $50 million. Citing increasing threats to the state’s 127-mile shoreline and the role of the shore for New Jersey’s tourism economy, speakers focused on the importance of this legislation and the need to generate public support.
The state’s Shore Protection Program has a goal of protecting “public and private property and infrastructure from coastal storm damage and shoreline migration, and sea level rise.” Twenty five million is dedicated annually and funded through allocations from the realty transfer tax. Beach replenishment is one type of project supported by the fund.
Priority in the use of Shore Protection Fund dollars is generally for projects that qualify for federal support and need matching funds. Many of the beach replenishment efforts up and down the coast are supported 65 percent by federal funding with the state and local municipalities needing to cover the additional 35 percent. Ironically, the gathering at the 13th Street beach entrance fronted a beach replenishment project which the borough is paying for and thus uses no state or federal monies.
Margot Walsh, executive director of the Jersey Shore Partnership kicked off the presentation by striking the theme of the day, the importance of the beaches to tourism and the importance of tourism to the state as a whole. The message was an attempt to persuade those in the northern reaches of the state that this issue is of critical importance to the state as a whole.
Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi said “tourism generates $42.1 billion for the state’s economy and 500,000 jobs. Later, County Tourism Director Diane Wieland said that the four counties from Cape May to Monmouth account for more than 50 percent of that total. She added that Cape May County produces $5.7 billion in tourism spending. “If you add in rents from second homes, that would add another $1.9 billion,” Wieland said. “Cape May County has 50 percent of all the second homes in the state.”
While the pitch was clearly one that attempted to show the benefits of state beaches for all state residents, there was no missing the fact that Cape May County very much depends on its beaches. Freeholder Vice Director and Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio spoke of the beaches and county tourism as an economic engine for both the county and the state, but ended his remarks with the local truism, “Cape May County relies heavily on tourism.” Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters, Middle Township Administrator Connie Mahon, and Avalon Borough Council member David Ellenberg all showed by their presence the importance of the beaches to the local economy.
State Assemblyman Sam Fiocchi is one of the sponsors of the legislation to raise the fund amount and he stressed the bipartisan nature of the effort. State Senator Jeff Van Drew, who is a sponsor of the Senate version, could not make the event but Assemblyman Bob Andrzejczak spoke for himself and Van Drew when he expressed strong support of the legislation. Andrzejczak said New Jersey’s beaches are nationally recognized as among the best anywhere.
Pagliughi noted that the emphasis on beach replenishment goes beyond tourism. Pointing to the work going on at his back, he noted that “we are pushing the ocean out away from the dunes.” He added, “thirty years ago we couldn’t even spell mitigation, now everything is about resiliency.” Pagliughi said that the current funding level of $25 million is barely enough for the 35 percent match that the state and municipalities need to have to take advantage of federal dollars.
The 13th Street access point was chosen because that is where the contractor is currently pumping sand. The vantage point provided more than a view of a water and sand slurry exiting a pipe. To the north of the work area was an expanse of completed work, a beautiful white sand beach extending out into the ocean. To the south, where the replenishment has not yet reached, just a few yards of sand pushed up against the dunes with the ocean continuing to chip away and erode even that.
Avalon Business Administrator Scott Wahl said that barring a Sandy-like storm, the replenished beaches should hold for about two years and then the process will begin again. One does not win this battle against the second largest ocean on Earth, one only gains short reprieves. Is the continuing battle worth the effort and the expense? Those assembled on the Avalon beach to promote the proposed legislation in Trenton certainly believe that it is.
To contact Vine Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
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