Avalon Beaches Banged Up; Debt for Sand Accrues

AVALON — The borough lost 100,000 cubic yards of sand from its beaches during storms last month and therefore, is asking state agencies to extend its beachfill permit area and increase permit sand quantities in order to nourish a larger section of beaches.
Borough Council authorized the first phases of a hydraulic dredging and a backpassing beachfill project for spring 2010 via resolution Nov. 24.
The borough needs 100,000 more cubic yards of sand than it did before eroding November nor’easters to make up for the estimated amount of sand lost, said Borough Engineer Thomas Thornton.
“We lost so much so quickly,” Council President Charles Covington said. “That’s a scary amount.”
Avalon and Sea Isle City had already planned a locally funded joint beachfill project prior to the storms. The towns will replenish beaches this spring and request funding from the state and federal governments in the 2010 budget cycle.
Sea Isle City will pump about 900,000 cubic yards of sand, originally 700,000, and Avalon will pump 700,000 cubic yards of sand, originally 600,000, to make an estimated total of about 1.6 million cubic yards of sand taken from the “borrow zone,” where sand will be taken from at Townsend Inlet.
Both towns will pay their share of the cost and separately gain permitting from both the Army Corps and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The borough currently has a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for 500,000 cubic yards and will ask for an increase to reach 700,000 cubic yards.
Also, due to recent storm erosion, the borough will ask to extend its permit limit. The borough’s permits allow a beachfill between 9th and 18th streets but the borough will request the permit be extended to 26th Street, Thornton said.
“With the amount of erosion, we need to nourish well beyond 18th Street for it to be effective,” Covington said.
A dredge could be mobilized in March or early-April and project completion is possible by mid-June, Thornton said.
Administrator Andrew Bednarek said $350,000 has been approved from the capital improvement fund for a 5 percent down payment on the project cost of about $6-7 million.
“It is an achievable beachfill before summer, in earnest, kicks off,” Bednarek said. “The state looks favorably on joint projects,” he added.
Officials mentioned the pending presidential decision regarding the governor’s application for federal disaster recovery funding. The borough is moving with its schedule as planned prior to recent storm sand loss, Thornton said.
“It’s something we can’t not do,” Councilwoman Nancy Hudanich said.
In 2008, beaches were in a similar condition and the borough got emergency permitting from the DEP, Thornton told council.
“We continue to run a deficit in the beach utility fund,” Covington said. “We always run a deficit, in good years it is still not enough to cover the cost of maintaining the beach. We need the beach for public safety and recreational purposes.”
He explained that the beach utility fund was set up years ago in order to track the real cost of beach maintenance, which includes lifeguards and such, but not debt accrued from bonding for beachfills.
“The sad part is, after we got a contract with the Army Corps years ago, we thought future replenishments would be sponsored by them and it would cover the bulk of the cost with the 50-year contract,” Covington told the Herald.
He said the borough has paid for the last two or three beachfills on its own and the “only way was to bond.”
“We’re in the beach bonding business again,” Covington concluded.
Last month, the borough increased its seasonal beach tag prices for 2010 by $1 for both pre-season and in-season tags.
Chief Financial Officer James Craft told the Herald the borough currently has $5.7 million in debt for bonds issued to pay for beachfills. Two beachfills were included as part of a $19 million 12-year bond issued in 2008 for borough improvements.
Not all beachfills were funded through bonds; some were funded through surplus or budget appropriations, Craft said.
Craft said the borough’s debt payment schedule varies from year to year. He said the borough’s annual interest is between $57,000 and $700,000 annually.
Bonds carry 3 to 5 percent interest and the average yearly interest over the life of the bond is $182,000 per year.