Beach Thoughts Predominate Borough Council Meeting

AVALON – Avalon Borough Council’s Sept. 28 work session focused on a report by Dr. Stewart Farrell of Stockton University’s Coastal Research Center. Farrell presented the highlights of the third quarter beach review survey and put before council a proposed approach to beach management. 
Earlier in the day, prior to the meeting, Mayor Marty Pagliughi met with borough administration officials, Farrell and the city engineering firm Mott MacDonald to consider the results of the third quarter beach survey. 
This was especially timely because the permits from the Army Corp of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Protection for beach management expire at the end of 2016.
The goal was to consider alternative strategies for the beaches which might impact the borough’s effort when it seeks permit renewals.
According to Farrell, the natural movement of sand is well known, documented and consistent over time.
Sand is moved by wind and waves from the northern end to the beaches at the mid-point from around 33rd to about 70th streets.
Very little of that sand ever reaches Stone Harbor, Farrell said.
One example of this movement occurred when the borough engaged in a back-passing exercise this year. The project moved over 50,000 cubic yards of sand from around 33rd Street to the north end. The sand moved in March was almost all back at its original location by September through natural mechanisms.
Business Administrator Scott Wahl told the council that this natural movement retains sand in the borough while depleting it at the northern beaches presents “a great opportunity to manage our beaches.”
What Farrell and Wahl suggested was incorporating a back-passing process routinely into the annual beach management permits, allowing the borough to more inexpensively maintain its northern beaches with longer periods between hydraulic beach replenishment.
Part of what the borough is reacting to is a process over which it has very little control. About every three years federal replenishment efforts are at the mercy of available federal and state funds and on a schedule dictated by outside agencies.
The beaches are of paramount importance to the second-home market and the tourist economy. The hope is by incorporating back-passing processes that allow the borough to move sand from the deposit areas at the mid-point beaches would permit the borough to manage the beaches better and extend the time frame between needed hydraulic replenishments when sand from the inlet is pumped onto the beaches.
An economic argument was an important part of the presentation with Farrell pointing out the mobilization costs for hydraulic replenishments is very high and likely to continue to rise as more areas seek replenishment with a limited number of companies available for contracting the work.
Aware of the potential for ecological impediments to a plan for regular back-passing, Farrell and Wahl acknowledged that an area between 48th and 56th streets would be off limits for excavation of sand. They also pointed to the ability to move sand and “stockpile” it in the north end so that excavation activity could be timed to have the least environmental and species impact.
Based on the council discussion, the borough will move ahead with development of its back-passing plan and the effort to convince state and federal regulators to include the flexibility for such an effort in new beach management permits.
Seismic Air Gun Blasting
Council heard testimony from Brian Reynolds, chair of the Avalon Environmental Commission, concerning the potential negative effects of seismic air gun blasting off the New Jersey coast. The process is used to locate gas and/or oil reserves for possible off-shore drilling. Although the off-shore drilling itself has been restricted by federal officials, the effort by energy companies to seek approval continues. 
These companies would like to be permitted to do the preliminary air gun blasting as a prelude while the debate on drilling continues.
According to Reynolds, there are numerous negative side-effects of the technology which harms marine life, sea habitats, and fish and ocean mammal migrations. It can also lead to habitat abandonment which would negatively impact the county’s fishing industry.
Reynolds said that over 120 municipalities have joined the effort to pass resolutions urging federal officials to ban the practice.
Council President Nancy Hudanich promised that a similar resolution would be before council in October.
Ban on Trailer Parking
Council approved an ordinance that bans the parking of trailers, along with certain defined trucks and similar vehicles, on public streets from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The regulation is intended to improve the parking availability for residents and visitors during the summer season as well as to deal with public safety issues related to line-of-sight for traffic entering roadways.
Avalon resident Martha Wright called the borough-wide ban “draconian” and urged that some form of exception process be built into the ordinance citing the number of second home owners who come down in the summer with box trailers carrying motorcycles. Many of these individuals may not have private driveways where they can park their trailers.
Council said it would take Wright’s concern under advisement and use the first year of the ban to assess any hardship it may cause.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.