Wildwoods Await High Dune Project

WILDWOOD – The wait continues for a 16-foot high, 75-foot wide dune and berm, to be constructed along the length of Five-Mile Beach. For some on the island, the project can’t come soon enough. For others, it would be best if it did not happen.
An Army Corps of Engineers project, sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), originally presented in 2014, has yet to break ground. According to the Army Corps project manager Mike Hart, the project is still a couple years away.
“Our current timeline, we would look to award it in fall 2021, with construction completed in the spring of 2022,” Hart said. “They’re still kind of tentative dates that we’re working toward.”
If that changes, it wouldn’t be the first time the project’s timeline has been pushed back. Aptly called the Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet Project, the plan is to construct a dune and berm spanning the length of the Wildwoods.
“In Wildwood and the Crest, they have such a large beach. We were looking to do something pretty unique here, where we would take the sand from that surf zone and use it to build the berm and the dune,” Hart said.
Using sand from the beaches, rather than dredging from an offshore borrow area, is to reduce the environmental impact. It would get a higher quality of sand and solve issues that the immense sand accretion in those two municipalities has caused.
Large gullies that form on the beaches in Wildwood and the Crest are unsanitary. The towns have constant issues with their outfall lines, which carry stormwater to the ocean. Sand clogs the pipes, and the water can’t drain anywhere, leading to flooding.
“One of the project goals for this particular method was to reduce some of the maintenance work done to the outfalls. Currently, Wildwood and the Crest spend a lot of time, manpower and money cleaning out those outfalls,” Hart said.
North Wildwood’s Problem
In North Wildwood, erosion has reached the critical stage. There, beaches have continued to shrink, forcing the city to take on multi-million dollar back-passing projects annually, in which dump trucks shift sand from the larger beaches in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest to North Wildwood to fill it in.
They have also added and then extended a steel seawall, as they await the federal project.
“That project has been delayed unimaginably. I have a project timesheet that the Army Corps of Engineers gave out in a 2014 meeting that showed construction, in 2017, for that project.” North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said. “It’s a problem. We have been working with Congressman (Jeff) Van Drew (R-2nd), he has been extremely helpful trying to push these federal agencies to move and recognize the emergency that this is. It’s a struggle. It’s a struggle to get that done, and in the meantime, we’re spending millions of dollars. Every other municipality is getting federal aid for shore protection, and the Wildwoods are not. It’s a problem.”
Rosenello referenced the fact that until this project gets underway, the Wildwoods remain the only stretch of beach in the state that doesn’t get a periodic federally funded Army Corps replenishment.
“From Sea Bright all the way to Cape May, on the oceanfront, the Wildwoods is the only area without a constructed Army Corps/NJDEP project,” said Steve Rochette, the public affairs officer for the Army Corps.
Once the initial project happens, the Army Corps will return to the Wildwoods regularly to replenish.
“This is on a four-year renourishment cycle. The idea is every four years we come back and fill the project out to the original template,” said Hart.
In Wildwood Crest, at a Feb. 19 public meeting, one resident, Jim Zecca, stood to express his concerns.
“I don’t know how many people understand that walking at street level in Wildwood Crest, you’re never going to see the ocean again,” Zecca said.
“Correct,” replied Crest Administrator Constance Mahon. “It is meant for coastal storm protection. It is not meant to impede your views, but yes, it will.”
“This is a huge negative. I don’t know how much revenue you expect to see lost in this town when that goes in,” Zecca said.
The cost of the project will be shared 65%-35% between federal and state, Mahon said. Generally, the municipalities would be required to provide 25% of the state’s 35% portion, but leftover Hurricane Sandy relief money will be used instead, requiring no local money to be spent, according to Mahon.
In Wildwood, amusement piers create a challenge for the Army Corps. There are no plans to surround the piers with a dune.
“The current layout of the project, it will stop at the piers. Some places we’re looking to tie-in, some places we can’t,” said Hart. “In those cases, we may stockpile sand to be pushed up against it in the event of a storm.”
Large and frequent holes for the multiple piers could render the dune system ineffective. Water could be able to pour into the city through gaping holes that the piers create in the event of a storm.
“I wouldn’t characterize that the way you did,” Rochette said.
“It’s something that we’re still kind of designing,” said Hart. “The intent is it’s not going to go around the pier, it’s going to go as close as we physically can to the pier in the areas that we can.”
Some wonder if it is worth sacrificing a view of the ocean from the boardwalk in favor of these dunes. When the project was initially floated, then-Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said he would prefer a bulkhead or shorter dune, which would increase storm protection but still allow a view.
Hart said any potential bulkhead would still need to be 16-feet for adequate storm damage prevention, so it wouldn’t change much in terms of a view. Regardless, it’s too late now for a change.
“This is the authorized project,” said Rochette. “It gets authorized by Congress.  Our role is to then design it and build it when it’s funded and ready to be built, so it’s not something that can be changed, in terms of the features of it.”
 “We’ve seen during Hurricane Sandy and other storms, dunes are the best method that we have in most areas, not every area, but in most areas, dunes are the best method we have to reduce risk of storm damages,” Rochette said, adding it’s too late to make changes now.
The NJDEP engineer working on the project referred the Herald to its press office, which did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the Army Corps, the DEP is working on acquiring real estate to complete the dune.
“I don’t know. They’re working on it. My experience has been it will probably take a devastating flood to spur them into some serious action,” Rosenello said.
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.