‘Slight Delay’ in Beach Fill Reported

AVALON – As Avalon and Stone Harbor eagerly await the start of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beach replenishment project, Avalon Council heard March 22 that a “slight delay” in the schedule may move the start date to mid-April.
Avalon Business Administrator Scott Wahl gave April 15 as his best guess of when sand might begin being pumped onto borough beaches.
No official delay has been announced by the dredge company or the Army Corps, but Wahl pointed to the fact that the pre-fill survey has not been completed and there has been no final determination made about the four options for extra sand that are part of the proposed beach fill.
“They are still saying April 1, but I think it more likely to start closer to April 15,” Wahl told the council.
He added that a slightly later start date would still complete the Avalon portion of the Seven Mile Island beach project before Memorial Day. Delays may be more of an issue for Stone Harbor where the original schedule already had the project spilling over into June.
Wahl said the borough remains optimistic that the Army Corps will activate all four of the options for the beach fill. If so, Avalon would more than double the cubic yards of sand expected on the borough’s beaches.
Avalon could move from roughly 300,000 cubic yards to 600,000 cubic yards, an increase that may allow for the expansion of the beach areas that benefit from the fill.