Freeholder Actions: Buy Bank Lot, Hear Storm Damage Report

Click here to view damage and debris removal photos provided by County Engineer Dale Foster (PDF)
CREST HAVEN – Freeholders on Nov. 13 formally approved purchase of the former Bank of America lot in Stone Harbor at 9516 Second Ave. for $750,000. The parcel will be cleared to make way for the borough’s branch of Cape May County Library.
By unanimous vote, in the absence of Freeholder Will Morey, the board authorized execution of purchase and sale agreement for the corner lot which is immediately south of Borough Hall.
County Engineer Dale Foster estimated repairs to Ocean Drive that links Avalon and Townsend’s Inlet, damaged by Hurricane Sandy Oct. 29, will likely not open until “about Easter.” That means a long way around for those wishing to travel between the two resorts.
Foster gave freeholders a brief slide presentation of the storm damage throughout the county.
Several photos showed waves crashing into the stone seawall by the demolished roadway, and pouring water over top. He said some 300-pound boulders were tossed about 60 feet, and portions of the asphalt roadway ended up in the marshes to the west of the highway.
Also heavily damaged by the storm was a portion of Ocean Drive from the vicinity of Russ Chattin Bridge to Corson’s Inlet Bridge. There, South State, Inc. was awarded a $229,000 contract for placement of 400 feet of 20-foot steel sheet pilings to shore up the embankment of the highway, eroded by wave action. Without that emergency repair, the highway could have been undermined further and eroded. The work was completed Nov. 12, Foster said.
He said the county is working with the firm of Gannett Fleming to complete emergency repairs near the Chattin Bridge so that the roadway will be safe. If the steel sheet piling were left alone there, Foster said wave action could undermine the highway, thus rip-rap stone must be placed to break the wave action.
Further north, along the Ocean Drive near Ocean City-Longport Bridge, Foster said two Malibu Beach fishing pier parking lots were heavily damaged.
Foster reported that in Cape May, 8,000 cubic feet of sand was removed from Beach Avenue and deposited on the beach. In Sea Isle City, 10,000 cubic yards of sand was removed.
In an effort to get the sand cleared from Cape May streets, Foster said the county hired Albrecht and Heun from a field of eight bidders to clean up the sand. The contract was not to exceed $25,120, and the firm completed the job for $22,000, began the project Nov. 7 and completed it Nov. 10.
Geotubes, placed in 1998 by the Federal Highway Administration to protect Ocean Drive from the sea, held up amazingly well, said Foster. While there was four feet of sand covering Ocean Drive in the Whale Beach section, he noted the road was protected. He further noted the tubes were only expected to last about five years, and are nearing their 13th year, still in relatively good condition.
Foster estimated the storm tore 380 hearty evergreen trees from along causeways to barrier islands. He said it’s important those trees be replaced, since they form a natural wall of protection from wave and water action for the highways.