WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced the award of a $28.8 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company for the hydraulic replenishment of Avalon and Stone Harbor beaches.
The contract amount represents the base amount in the bid documents and does not include any of the four options, which, if exercised, would significantly increase the amount of sand going on the oceanfront in both municipalities.
The contract calls for 231,000 cubic yards of sand placed on Avalon’s eroded north-end beaches and 464,000 cubic yards largely concentrated on Stone Harbor’s southern end.
In a presentation by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Army Corps to Stone Harbor Borough Council, Christopher Constantino, of the DEP, predicted that the project would incorporate three of the four options, adding an extra 250,000 cubic yards of sand above base amounts for each community.
The beach replenishment effort is part of a long-term arrangement that calls for replenishment of sand on a three-year cycle provided the U.S. Congress appropriates the funds.
The cost of the effort is split between the federal government, the state and the two municipalities. The cost to the municipalities is generally less than 10% of the total expense.
The purpose of the effort is the protection of lives and property from damaging storms, but more than protection is at stake. The replenishment of the engineered beaches is essential to the tourist economy all along Cape May County’s ocean-facing communities. The beaches are the unquestioned priority attraction that brings upwards of 800,000 people to the county resort communities on any given day during the summer.
A Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet project includes a plan for berm and dune construction along the oceanfront of Five Mile Island, but that part of the Army Corps’ strategy has never been operationalized.
The Army Corps website states that agreements for the land purchases and easements have not been completed. The project remains in design. Among others, the City of Wildwood has not yet agreed to the plan.
The Army Corps and the DEP maintain that the lack of written agreements have delayed the Five Mile Island portion of the plan. The City of North Wildwood says that the delay has exposed it to dangerous erosion that increases the potential for catastrophic damage from Atlantic storms.
The city has moved ahead with construction of new bulkhead protection in its north end, even in the face of orders from the DEP to halt the work. The DEP has sought to have the courts order the city to stop its beachfront construction. The city has responded with a counterclaim for $20 million in damages due to what it claims is the DEP’s failure to meaningfully protect the city.
The Seven Mile Island portion of the 2023 beach replenishment is scheduled to begin as soon as Great Lakes completes a similar project underway in Ocean City and Strathmere.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife ban on the use of federal funds for the borrowing of replenishment sand from Hereford Inlet means that the Army Corps will be dredging sand from distant Townsend’s Inlet and pumping the sand the length of the island to Stone Harbor’s southern beaches.
The added cost associated with the use of Townsend’s Inlet sand will increase the amount of Stone Harbor’s municipal share.
Constantino told Stone Harbor Borough Council that some of the money appropriated for the project will be used to complete required studies for a potential alternative sand borrow area for Stone Harbor to be used in future replenishments.
Thoughts? Questions? Email vconti@cmcherald.com
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