STONE HARBOR – Stone Harbor has been struggling for several months with needed permits for beach repair and maintenance.
The borough’s general purpose permit (GP-2) expired in September 2022 and could not be renewed until the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved the borough’s Municipal Public Access Plan (MPAP), a process which seemed to take months of review in Trenton.
With the MPAP finally approved, the borough submitted its applications for a new GP-2 permit. The permit allows general maintenance of borough beaches.
At the Stone Harbor Council meeting March 21, the borough’s coastal consultant, Douglas Gaffney of Mott MacDonald, informed the governing body that all materials had been submitted and the “90-day clock,” a period within which DEP is supposed to respond, had started.
The problem is that Memorial Day comes sooner than 90 days, so the borough is hoping for an expedited review by the DEP. The permit is needed for some of the work the Public Works Department routinely does to prepare the beaches for the start of the summer tourist season.
Gaffney also indicated that the borough has received the emergency permit, allowing it to repair and better fortify the vehicle access road to Stone Harbor Point which was damaged by a December storm. That work must be completed within a 60-day window defined by the permit.
Finally, the borough is completing its application for an individual permit which will, if approved, provide flexibility to alter specific beach structures, in this case the 127th Street jetty.
The purpose of this proposed work on the jetty is to decelerate the speed with which sand is moved by wave action to the south and eventually to the Point and Hereford Inlet.
The goal is to keep sand on the beaches for a longer period between the three-year cycle of federal replenishment projects. The borough hopes to submit its individual permit application by April 1.
