Proposed Rule Endangers Beach Repairs

STONE HARBOR – A proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service poses new threats to future beach replenishment efforts in Stone Harbor. 
At its March 20 work session, Stone Harbor Borough Council heard from Wetlands Executive Director Lenora Tedesco about a proposal to extend the area protected by the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA). One impact of the proposed extension is to widen the area where federal dollars could not be used to dredge sand for beach replenishment.
This past year, Stone Harbor was hit with an unexpected expense when its federal beach replenishment project was endangered by a Fish and Wildlife Service prohibition against the use of portions of Hereford Inlet as a borrow zone for sand.
While the act is intended to protect wildlife and the environment, the practical implications of it do neither since “borrowing” from the zone is allowed as long as it is not paid by federal funds.
In 2017, the borough and the state cobbled together funds to support part of the replenishment while the Army Corps of Engineers, which opposes the move by Fish and Wildlife, brought sand from Townsend’s Inlet, by Avalon and Sea Isle City, to complete the northernmost portions of the borough’s beaches.
The concern is that such arrangements and costs are not sustainable for future replenishment efforts.
Tedesco also pointed out that the expanded area outlined in the Fish and Wildlife proposal would create problems for the use of federal money for the maintenance of the North Wildwood sea wall.
The way the CBRA is structured, once an area is designated, federal funds, without specific exception, cannot be used to take material from within its boundaries to areas outside those boundaries.
Sand from inside the area cannot be transferred to the island beaches. 
The proposed expansion extends further into the back bay and to the north end of Seven Mile Island.
Business Administrator Jill Gougher said that the effort this year, taking sand from Townsend’s Inlet and transferring it through a miles-long undersea pipe to Stone Harbor, is not something that the borough can depend on.
It is unclear that the borrow areas in Townsend’s Inlet can support Stone Harbor with the level of sand that is allowed to be removed by the Army Corps.
Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour said that a joint effort by Stone Harbor, Avalon, and North Wildwood is aimed at gaining some exceptions in the implementation of the law.
Davies-Dunhour said that representatives from the boroughs would be traveling to Washington for a May meeting with congressional staff; the aim will be to educate them on the serious implications of this proposed change and the rigid interpretation of the act by Fish and Wildlife which runs against a 50-year commitment by the Army Corps to maintain the beaches.
The proposal by Fish and Wildlife is still in its comment period, and thus most open to potential change. 
For the borough, however, the issue goes beyond the proposed extension of the protected area.
The ongoing beach replenishment programs need an exception from a strict application of the act even in its current designated areas.
Without the use of federal dollars for areas like Hereford Inlet, beach replenishments, which serve both to protect property and to support the large tourism industry, would be seriously handicapped.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.