Beachfill Now, Ask for Aid Later: Avalon & Sea Isle City Plan Joint Project

AVALON/ SEA ISLE CITY — Avalon and Sea Isle City are planning a locally funded joint beach fill project with the hope that the state will reimburse them with aid in the next budget cycle.

The following is a press release issued by Avalon Public Relations Office:

Officials from both Avalon and Sea Isle City are planning an interlocal agreement that would result in a beach fill in the south end of Sea Isle City and in the north end of Avalon.

The beach fill would be financed completely by the two communities, which would then seek reimbursement from the state of New Jersey after the project is completed.

“Both Avalon and Sea Isle City have lost valuable beachfront during recent coastal storms”, said Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi. “The latest state budget resulted in millions of dollars being stripped from the Beach Protection Fund. Now we have no choice but to finance this beach fill and seek reimbursement from the state in 2010.”

“The protection of lives and property is the top priority with any discussion about a beach fill”, said Sea Isle City Mayor and Cape May County Freeholder Len Desiderio.

“Anyone who takes a look at the beaches in Sea Isle City and Avalon fully realizes that we cannot wait for the state or federal governments to come up with the funding that’s needed. Together with our partners in Avalon, both communities can provide ample protection for the 2010 storm season, and provide a better recreational beach for the tens of thousands of visitors who come to our communities for a vacation.”

Under the proposed interlocal agreement, both communities would evenly split the cost of mobilization for a dredge that will conduct the beach fill. Each community will also pay for its share of sand.

Avalon is seeking a beach fill between 9th and 26th street beaches; Sea Isle City is seeking a beach fill between 73rd and 93rd street beaches.

Avalon is hoping to place up to 600,000 cubic yards of sand on its beaches, while Sea Isle City will attempt to put up to 700,000 cubic yards of sand onto its beaches.

Officials from Avalon and Sea Isle City held a joint meeting Saturday, Oct. 24 to discuss this proposed project. Both communities agreed to jointly bid out the project to save on mobilization costs, which will result in more sand being placed onto the beaches.

This week, engineers are arranging a hydrographic survey to confirm the amount of sand available for the beach project in the “borrow zone” at Townsend’s Inlet. The latest survey that was conducted in that zone during late summer indicated that there might already be enough sand that would accomplish both beach fills.

The “borrow zone” consists of sand that is the same size and texture of the sand already on local beaches that would be a perfect match for any beach nourishment project. Both Avalon and Sea Isle City will prepare their own specifications for the joint beach fill project. Officials in Avalon and Sea Isle City would like to have the beach fill executed in the spring, 2010.

“We have stated repeatedly throughout the year that sooner or later, the state’s reduction in the Beach Protection Fund would put the coastline at risk, and result in local communities paying for the projects,” said Pagliughi.

“That time has arrived. We cannot ignore the risk to our communities and sit idly by as we wait for help from the state and federal governments. The fight for a more sustainable funding mechanism continues on both levels and now it’s time for us to put our residents and properties first and do a beach fill ourselves.”

The state of New Jersey reduced the amount of funding in the Beach Protection fund by over $6 million in the 2010 budget. During a meeting last week with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Avalon officials were told that there is no money available in this year’s budget to help finance this beach fill.

Avalon is sending a letter to the NJDEP to explain this joint beach fill effort and to allow Avalon and Sea Isle City to seek a possible reimbursement in the 2011 fiscal year budget, which takes effect after July 1, 2010.

Avalon received a beach fill courtesy of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 2003 but the federal government failed to follow up with additional beach fills on a three-year cycle and failed to do additional fills in 2006 and again in 2009.

“This clearly shows the need to continue the fight for a stable source of beach funding on both the state and federal levels,” Desiderio said.

“Like our friends in Avalon, Sea Isle City has spent millions of its own local dollars on various beach fill projects. This will be the first time either town has conducted a fill without a specific state or federal sponsor. Doing a project together will bring expenses down and result in more sand on our beaches.”

Sea Isle City officials are expected to discuss this joint beach fill project during a council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Avalon’s council will discuss the project during its next meeting on Wednesday evening, Oct. 28.

Sea Isle City looks for better entrance

By Jacqueline Urgo

Inquirer Staff Writer

SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. – As you drive across the tall causeway bridge leading into this barrier island resort, the view of the town’s gateway, stretching from bay to ocean, is dramatic – perhaps the only one of its kind along the Jersey Shore.

Flags flap in the breeze, flower boxes festoon the median, and the sky meets the sea along the horizon stretched in front of you.

But the actual drive along John F. Kennedy Boulevard – a mélange of tired building facades and lackluster plantings along the median and narrow sidewalks of town – brings you back to earth.

“It’s an impressive view, but the way this area looks right now along JFK Boulevard is definitely not something that puts the best foot forward for the town,” said George Savastano, business administrator of the municipality, which is embarking on a $13.4 million project to revitalize the six-tenths-of-a-mile stretch.

Building booms occurred after severe storms battered much of the New Jersey coastline in 1944 and 1962. In Sea Isle, the 1962 nor’easter destroyed or significantly damaged nearly every beachfront structure.

That led to what some have criticized as “haphazard” planning and zoning policies over the ensuing years, which allowed duplexes and triplexes to be built on lots where single-family homes once stood.

Now, the current economic downturn has put the brakes on the last wave of unparalleled development, which began in the late 1980s.

Despite the faltering economy, Savastano said, the “Beach to Bay Corridor Project,” as it is formally known, is long overdue.

Ultimately, he said, it will help the municipality, which calls itself the “Sea and Sand Vacationland,” attract and keep returning visitors and vacationers.

“The idea is to essentially shrink the distance between the marina on the bay front and the beach,” Savastano said. “Those two anchors are our greatest asset, so what goes on aesthetically between those two points is very important.”

That “shrinking” will be accomplished by creating amenities and highlighting six sites within the project area, according to Stuart Wiser, regional director of planning and development for Remington, Vernick & Walberg Engineers.

Wiser presented a preliminary design last month to the Sea Isle City Council, including a newly landscaped park with a band shell and upgraded beachfront promenade.

Plans also call for the demolition of the library, which will be rebuilt on 48th Street between Central Avenue and Park Road. A beach-tag office now there will be relocated.

The parcel where the library stands will become a parking lot – part of a plan to bring an additional 160 parking spaces to the corridor – with a Smart Meter system.

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