Replenishment plan will restore M.B. shoreline

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allocates $7.5M; to begin project later this year

BY DAN HOWLEY
Staff Writer

Monmouth Beach’s eroded shoreline will receive a much-needed restoration later this year when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins an extensive beach replenishment project.

The roughly $13 million project is being funded through a $7.5 million allocation provided to the Army Corps by the federal government, in addition to approximately $2.5 million already on hold for the plan. The state is expected to pick up the remainder of the cost.

“This funding is vitally important for the Shore, and I commend the Army Corps of Engineers for responding to my funding request for these projects,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6th District) said in a prepared statement issued last week.

“Beach replenishment projects make it possible for millions of people to enjoy the Jersey Shore every summer, and come hurricane season, provide a protective barrier to beachfront communities.” According to Borough Administrator Gerald Chismar, the improvements to the shoreline will help put Monmouth Beach residents’ minds at ease.

“I think some of our residents are going to be able to sleep better at night,” Chismar said.

“We are going to have our beach back. Where our beach club is right now, the bathing pavilion, we do have a beach; it’s not much to speak of, but we do have a beach,” he said.

The funding was approved as part of a 2011 continuing resolution that funded the government through the end of the year and was approved in April.

“This is the largest funding allocation to this project in recent years,” the release states.

TheArmy Corps will begin work on the project this fall.

“Every summer, as the summer wears on, we end up getting more of a beach; the weather changes, the wind changes and the tide changes, and we’ll probably get a little more back,” Chismar explained.

“But there are spots in Monmouth Beach where there is literally no beach left. Especially when you go up toward the north sec- tion of Monmouth Beach. With the right tide you don’t even see any sand.

“We have staircases that go over the seawall and the bottom line is the steps … just hit water. So, it’s definitely time; not just for the sheer pleasure of using the beach, but as a safety precaution for Route 36 and all of the homes along Ocean Avenue,” Chismar said.

If the erosion is not dealt with soon, he said, the shoreline will continue to disappear.

“The situation is just going to get worse and worse and worse,” Chismar said.

“I mean, thank God, that we have a seawall there. But we’ve been down this road before. We had a replenishment job done [in the early 1990s] and that worked out well for a while, but it’s going to be a constant fight.”

In order to perform the replenishment project, the corps will likely use a large barge to pull sand up from the bottom of the ocean and, through a series of large pipes, pump the sand onto the shoreline, he said.

The corps. will then likely use heavy earthmoving equipment to spread the sand out.

“It’s a long project. If we start this thing in the fall it will be springtime before they finish it,” Chismar said.

Contact Daniel Howley at [email protected]