The long-running sandstorm on the Jersey Shore could soon end as New Jersey undertakes an emergency beach replenishment project on one of the state’s most eroded beaches.
North Wildwood and the state are waiting – in vain – for the same kind of replenishment projects that virtually the entire rest of Jersey is undertaking, as the town takes its own steps to stem the encroachment of the encroaching ocean. The measures have been fought in court for years. Shore received it.
It could be another two years before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection begin pumping sand to North Wildwood’s severely eroded beaches. In January, some of the dunes reached Mayor Patrick Rosenello’s ankles.
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But the mayor released a joint statement late Thursday night from the city and Gov. Phil Murphy saying both sides had agreed to an emergency project to temporarily pump sand to shore to protect North Wildwood from storm surge and flooding. .
“The erosion in North Wildwood is shocking,” Murphy said Friday. “We couldn’t let this go. This has been an unsolved problem for far too long.”
Rosenero, a Republican who last summer placed a sign with Murphy’s photo at the entrance to North Wildwood Beach, telling residents the Democratic governor was to blame for the beach’s lack of sand, said Friday that the problem He acknowledged Mr. Murphy’s leadership in the resolution. An impasse. He also cited the support of elected officials from both parties in brokering the deal, including former Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney and Republican Sen. Michael Testa.
Mayor Patrick Rosenello stands next to a destroyed sand dune in North Wildwood, New Jersey, on January 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
“This is great for North Wildwood and it’s great for the entire Jersey Shore,” Rosenero said.
The work will be performed by the state Department of Transportation, but cost estimates were not available Friday. Rosenello said he expects the city will be asked to cover the cost.
The agreement could end more than a decade of legal and political wrangling over encroachment on North Wildwood, a popular vacation spot for Philadelphians.
The state of New Jersey fined the town $12 million for unpermitted beach restoration that could worsen erosion, while the city has been trucking sand away for more than a decade with no replenishment program. He is suing to recover the $30 million he spent transporting it to the site.
Rosenero said he hopes the agreement will lead to both sides dismissing the vast lawsuits against each other. But more work needs to be done before that happens, he added. Murphy did not comment on the possibility of ending the case.
North Wildwood has asked the state for emergency permission to construct steel bulkheads along the most eroded sections of the coast. This was previously done at two other locations.
But the state Department of Environmental Protection is leaning against bulkheads as a long-term solution, noting that hard structures often encourage sand seepage, which can accelerate and worsen erosion.
The agency is conducting a type of beach replenishment project that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been conducting for decades, pumping large amounts of sand from offshore onto eroded beaches to widen them and create dunes to protect properties behind them. I like it.
Virtually all of New Jersey’s 127 miles of coastline is undergoing such projects. But so far that hasn’t happened in North Wildwood, thanks to legal approval and property easements from private landowners.
This is the type of project that will start in the next few weeks, albeit on a temporary basis. Rosenero said it could be completed by July 4.
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“We hope that by the July 4th holiday, North Wildwood will have a large, healthy beach and lots of happy beachgoers,” he said.
