The borough officially has the beach it’s been waiting years for. The Army Corps of Engineers has turned over the beach to the borough after completing a nine-month beach-replenishment project.
“We conducted a final walk-through and turned the project over to the borough on July 21,” said Stephen Rochette, spokesman for the Corps. “The contractor will be returning in the fall to complete dune grass plantings.”
Mayor Jonathan Oldham said the project gives the borough the protection it needs.
“It’s a federal project, so the beaches are going to look different,” Oldham said. “There are some people who like them and others that don’t, but the main issue is making sure that we have the protection that we need.”
When dredging began in November, the long-awaited project was expected to be completed by March, but delays because of several powerful winter storms pushed back the completion date.
“There were well over 50 days the contractor was unable to work because of the weather conditions,” Rochette said. “We were expecting to complete work in the April-May time frame.”
The project included beaches being widened to 250 to 400 feet wide with enhanced dunes. The project, which already has been implemented in Surf City, was designed to pump more sand than necessary from the ocean floor to the beach. Excess sand will wash back out to sea, leaving the beach about 125 feet wide.
Keith Watson, project manager for the corps, said that it took eight to 10 months for the excess sand to erode in Surf City.
Rocco DeRubeis, 50, of West Chester County, N.Y., has been coming to the borough in recent years with his family and noticed a huge difference in the beaches.
“My wife came down first and told me about the beaches,” DeRubeis said Monday as he was enjoying the beach off of East Cumberland Avenue. “It was strange seeing it for the first time, but it’s going to take some time getting used to.”
By Nicholas Huba ( app )
[mappress]
Source: app, August 4, 2010;