U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager David Gentile explains phase two of the $105 million Port Monmouth Flood Control Project, which will protect the Middletown Township area from damage from future storms. KAYLA MARSH/STAFF Three years after superstorm Sandy devastated the Port Monmouth section of Middletown Township, contracts for the second phase of a $105 million flood control project to reduce the community’s vulnerability to coastal flooding are expected to be awarded in the spring.
“This project has taken a long time to come to construction,” said William Dixon, manager of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Bureau of Coastal Engineering.
According to Dixon, the project has been in the works for almost 20 years, but was delayed due to a lack of federal funding.
Following the devastation caused by superstorm Sandy, which included damage to 750 Port Monmouth homes, about 200 of which were considered significantly damaged and in need of demolition, the project took on increased urgency.
“This project is a partnership between the federal government, the state of New Jersey, the township of Middletown and the county of Monmouth,” Dixon said.
“We’re here to implement it as quickly as possible and construction on phase one of the project has already been completed so we’re moving forward and are happy to say this project is going to occur.”
Residents crowded a public information meeting led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – New York District and the DEP on Oct. 29 at the VFW Post 2179 to outline the second phase of the Port Monmouth Flood Control Project, a county, state and federal partnership. The second phase is expected to be completed by 2020. “Our goal is to complete this construction as soon as possible,” David Gentile, project manager with the Army Corps, told residents.
Phase two will include tide gates, pump stations, a system of levees, floodwalls, road closure structures, re-grading of roadways, interior drainage structures and wetland mitigation to protect the Port Monmouth community, which was devastated by the Oct. 29, 2012 storm.
“Phase two will be broken down into five separate contracts and we estimate the first one actually starting construction in spring 2016 and we currently estimate that all of phase two, the entire project, to be completed by 2020,” Gentile said.
According to Gentile, pump stations will be located at Pews Creek and Compton Creek to help keep floodwater out of the community’s line of protection.
“The primary purpose of these pumps, there is going to be a levee and wall system to keep the tidal water out of the community,” Dixon said.
The lift gate, which will span Pews Creek, will also prevent water from coming into Port Monmouth, Gentile said.
“It will be roughly 33 to 40 feet high and it will be shut prior to storm events, at high tide, it will open to let water out at low tide and in addition there will be a pump station immediately adjacent to it to be able to pump water out,” he said.
Levees will be approximately 13 feet in elevation and will include a clay core in the center so that water cannot pass through. Levees will be located along Main Street and Broadway, tying into the dune.
Along with floodwalls, large steel road closure gates will be placed at Campbell Avenue, Broadway and Port Monmouth Road to prevent water from reaching protected areas.
As part of the project, which encompasses the construction of about 7,070 feet of levees, 3,585 feet of floodwalls, 2,640 feet of dune and beach re-nourishment at 10- year intervals along the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay, Route 36 and a section of Wilson Avenue will be re-graded and raised.
According to Dixon, part of the project includes securing more than two dozen easements from local property owners.
“We cannot construct the project until we have all the appropriate easements,” Dixon said. “We will need easements on private property, all this construction isn’t contained within public property … but the next contract is all municipal and county property so those easements will be easy to obtain to move forward with the project.”
Phase one of the project was completed in early July and at a cost of approximately $18 million.
Phase one included the construction of a new groin; the addition of 195 feet of a pier extension; 2,640 feet of protective dunes with a wide flat beach berm in front of the dune; and nourishment of the beach with 400,000 cubic yards of sand.
“Ever since Sandy, we have been meeting once a month with the Army Corps and the DEP as the project progresses … and I think it is the right way to go,” Anthony Mercantante, Middletown administrator said.
“We’re not going to build a seawall around New Jersey, that’s not happening. So we have to do realistic projects … and it is a good project and it is going to save Port Monmouth and it is going to be what everyone’s wanted.”
Residents, who expressed both support for and concerns about the project, raised questions that included what the potential impact of the Port Monmouth project could be on surrounding communities.
“If we had another event like Sandy after this project is all done,” a resident asked, “the dunes and Belford are outside the area of protection, would the result there be worse than they are now?”
According to Gentile, “A common mis-perception with the project is that we built this whole project, so will Belford get more water, will other areas?” he said. “It’s corps policy that we cannot induce flooding to any other area, we can’t just move the water somewhere else.
“The water being pumped gets fed back into the ocean.”
Another resident asked what the contingency plan is if new storm damage occurs during the project.
Dixon replied that, “The state of New Jersey’s position is, if during construction we have an event that damages part of the construction and it has to go back to be rebuilt, we are expecting the Army Corps of Engineers to do that because until the project is turned over as complete, the state as not going to assume responsibility.”
While the response did not sit well with many, and the resident said, “I am not being sarcastic, I am being very nice about this because you have a community that has waited 20-plus years … and this community cannot afford to keep waiting.”
The Port Monmouth Flood Control project is authorized for construction under Section 101 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000.
In January 2014, following the passage of the Congressional Sandy aid package, the Army Corps entered into a project partnership agreement with the DEP, which will help fund the upkeep of the improvements following construction.
Actual construction of the project will be fully federally funded, replenishment of the improvements will be split between the federal government and the DEP and all operating and maintenance costs are the responsibility of the DEP, Gentile said.
“Whatever the township can do to support this we will do it,” Mayor Stephanie Murray said. “We are committed to making this work and whatever we can do to move it forward we are fully committed to doing.”