FIVE MILE ISLAND – Wildwood and Lower Township both signed on with a state and federal plan Feb. 22 to construct an approximately 16-foot dune the length of Five Mile Island.
Both towns signed state aid agreements necessary for the dune and beach berm construction project to begin. The construction phase of the project was estimated to cost $21.6 million, but that estimate dates back to 2014.
A replenishment schedule to maintain the dune is also part of the project, with 12 maintenance projects scheduledfor every four years after completion of the initial construction. The 12 maintenance projects will cost a total of $82.4 million, based on 2014 pricing.
The federal government is carrying 65% of the cost and the state 35%, with the municipalities not sharing any of the cost for initial construction, the state aid agreement said. The 12 scheduled maintenance projects’ costs will be split 50–50 by the feds and non–federal sponsors.
Both towns had delayed signing a state aid agreement that would allow the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to deal directly with the owners of private beachfront property.
Both towns were party to a DEP conference call that also included North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, and both Wildwood and Lower Township were given until Feb. 24 to sign a state aid agreement with the DEP, or the Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet dune and beach berm construction project, which has been sitting in limbo for most of the past 10 years, would simply go away.
That prospect was less of a threat to the holdout towns than to North Wildwood, which is seriously in need of a dune and beach berm construction project, the absence of which North Wildwood has used as justification for flaunting DEP regulations and violations.
Currently, North Wildwood has a $21 million lawsuit filed against the DEP, and the DEP has issued $13 million in fines against North Wildwood.
In Wildwood, one property owner asked the Board of Commissioners what their stance was on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and DEP plan to construct a dune from Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet.
“It’s approved,” said Wildwood City Administrator Steve O’Connor. “Lower Township will approve it as well and it will get started.”
Lower Township Council approved the resolution authorizing the state aid agreement with the DEP, but not before Mayor Frank Sippel laid out the township’s position, and not before hearing objections from property owners at The Grand at Diamond Beach and Seapointe Village.
Sippel said the project, which began in 2013, really came to the attention of the township around November 2016. He said in July 2021, the township had a Zoom meeting with some Diamond Beach property owners. Diamond Beach is the portion of Lower Township affected by the dune project.
Sippel said, based on input from the property owners, there were revisions made to the proposed state aid agreement the township would sign. He said Feb. 23, 2022, the DEP gave a public presentation on the project.
The mayors of the four communities involved in the project received a letter Feb. 1 from the DEP requesting they attend a virtual meeting Feb. 7. Sippel said during the meeting, DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette advised the four mayors that Five Mile Island was the last section of beaches along the New Jersey coastline where the USACE dune project needed to be completed.
“The township has until Feb. 24 to approve the agreement or the DEP indicated it will have no choice but to inform the USACE of the impasse and suggest that the project be terminated not only for Lower Township but (also) for North Wildwood, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest,” Sippel said.
“As an elected official, I have a hard time finding anything that is more important than protecting the lives and property of residents in this township,” Sippel added.
In Wildwood, where there are numerous summer activities on the beach, including the Barefoot Country Music Festival, O’Connor said shore protection is paramount but the city also had to consider the economics of beach events.
“We always want greater shore protection for our community, but we are also concerned about the number of events and activities that take place on our beaches,” O’Connor said prior to the Feb. 22 meeting.
The Diamond Beach residents attending the Lower Township meeting attempted to convey what they considered were several problems regarding the DEP and the state aid agreement.
The Grand residents were represented by attorney Robert Baranowski, of the Hyland Levin Shapiro law firm, of Marlton, who said, “(The DEP) basically said take it or leave it.”
“They don’t even have final plans. They have a design that is 65% complete,” he said.
Baranowski’s comments were echoed by residents who expressed similar dissatisfaction with the DEP and its process. Baranowski said the USACE and DEP want to take easements to create the dune and then hand the municipalities the responsibility and cost for maintaining the dunes and beach berm.
“This will result in a total taking,” he said.
Baranowski said his clients, The Grand Homeowners Association, have created a dune already and have been maintaining it at the homeowners’ expense. The Homeowners Association has also been providing lifeguards. He said once the beaches are taken from private ownership, the township will lose tax revenue.
“Under the state aid agreement, that is what you are agreeing to,” Baranowski said. “Just ask the DEP to negotiate in good faith.”
Baranowski said the state is forcing a cookie-cutter or boilerplate agreement on the municipalities, and the private property owners will suffer as a result.
Residents, such as Tim McKenna, a Grand Homeowners Association member, said the property owners have been trying to get the DEP to work with them for nine years.
“We want to protect our property,” he said.
Speaking the day after the meeting, McKenna said the property owners constructed a dune and purchased a $35,000 tractor to use to maintain the beach and the dune. He said they have been putting up fencing every year to protect the dune, and, ultimately, their property. He said years ago, they found a sympathetic ear with a DEP official named Chris Constantino, who tried to help.
“He was sympathetic, but he hit a wall,” McKenna said.
According to McKenna, Constantino’s replacement would not talk to them, saying they had no standing in the matter. One of the residents said they even reached out to Assemblyman Erik Simonsen (R-1st) to communicate their concerns to the DEP, but even he could make no headway.
“I share their frustration,” Simonsen said by phone Feb. 23. “It’s their land, their property, and (the DEP) won’t talk to them. The residents were okay with the project and willing to maintain their dune, and they wouldn’t even talk to them.”
McKenna said the homeowners are actually protecting and maintaining a beach that is open to the public, at no cost to the public, and they have had no cooperation from the state.
Jim Yost, a Seapointe Village property owner, said Simonsen tried to set up a meeting between the residents and the DEP and the state refused.
“They refused to talk to us or give us a final plan,” McKenna said.
Yost also brought up the 65% completion rate for the design of the Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet dune project. He said the DEP would never accept plans from municipalities or landowners that were similarly incomplete.
He asked if the DEP would accept a partially complete Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) permit application. He said the Seapointe Village residents simply want to know where the easement lines would be, and they currently have no way of determining that. He also said the property owners would not be responsible for property that was taken by the state.
“If the DEP takes over our property … we will no longer be responsible for it,” he said.
Attorney Robert Belasco, who is a partner with Lower Township Solicitor David Stefankiewicz, said the DEP had put the township in a bind, telling it to sign onto the project or it would go away.
“I feel for everyone. I feel for the council. We are in a bad position. We really are,” he said.
Both Wildwood and Lower Township voted unanimously to approve their state aid agreements with the DEP.
Thoughts? Questions? Contact the author, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
