STONE HARBOR – A borough resident, citing the damage caused by Tropical Storm Ophelia to the beaches, has urged the council to get back to considering recommendations for beach projects outlined in a recently completed study.
Geoff Woolery, a trustee of the Stone Harbor Property Owners Association, referenced what he termed a “pause” in the consideration by the borough of the recommendations in the feasibility study, aimed at defining beach projects that could help sand retention between large replenishment projects, at the Tuesday, Oct. 3, council meeting.
“What a difference one storm can make,” Woolery said.
He spoke of areas where the storm had moved large amounts of new sand from the beaches to offshore sand bars.
“It is out there, and some of it is close,” he added.
Woolery mentioned three of the study’s recommendations specifically.
He said the sand that had moved offshore could be pulled back onto the beaches. The study recommended a process of scraping the offshore but close sand bars to return the sand to the immediately adjacent beaches. This is a different process from the back-passing done in neighboring Avalon because it would not involve trucking sand from one location to another.
Another recommendation that Woolery recalled for council called for wind-blown sand capture in dune areas that are accumulating more sand than is needed.
The last recommendation he singled out was a need to consider what the borough is going to do about the 127th Street jetty, which he maintained is in such a state of disrepair that it does not facilitate keeping sand on the beaches to its north.
Woolery added that he regretted that the GPS sand-monitoring project sponsored by the property owners group did not get council support. He asked that whatever actions the council takes with respect to the beaches, council members be motivated by a sense that maintaining them is an essential task facing the borough.
The council thanked Woolery but otherwise did not respond to his comments.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
