Despite Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co.’s recent announcement to move its barges to Georgia for environmentally sensitive, military-related projects, stalling beachfill on Long Beach Island until springtime, Beach Haven will receive replenishment just a few weeks later than its anticipated January start.
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| Photo by Jack Reynolds Dredges were moved from LBI to Georgia for environmentally sensitive, military projects. |
The Liberty Island barge, “which is the big one we’re counting on for here,” is expected to return to Area 6 March 15, dredging north to south, starting at the North Beach Haven/Beach Haven border, Borough Manager Richard Crane announced at the town council’s regular, monthly meeting Monday, Dec. 14. The Dodge Island/Padre Island barge should return to Area 6 April 1 and begin pumping south to north from the Holgate refuge.
Area 6 should be completed by May 19, after the two barges meet in the middle. Although borough officials would like to have the project completed before the start of the summer season, especially since getting beach entrances ready for the public has been an issue in other towns that have already received replenishment, mechanical issues and inclement weather could delay the project further.
While Mayor Nancy Taggart Davis said officials are “sort of between a rock and a hard place” since there are only a few companies that do dredge work, she encouraged residents to write to Congressman Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) in hopes of getting the project moved up earlier.
As Great Lakes moves to Georgia, Crane noted, officials are discovering that the situation is constantly changing with the shifting of the sands and there is more sand than was originally anticipated, which should to allow them to move a little sooner, weather permitting.
In other meeting news, the council approved the execution of an $8,000 agreement with American Conservation & Billing Solutions for Aqua Hawk Alerting Software Managed Services, to help residents keep track of their water usage. Residents will be automatically enrolled in the program and can receive text message, phone or email notifications.
Because an ordinance allowing property owners to apply for a one-time billing adjustment, “due to unusually high water use attributable to a leak, mishap, or accident, in or outside the billed premises,” was adopted by council last week, Councilman Jim White voted against the Aqua Hawk agreement. He suggested repealing the ordinance for anyone other than for those seeking relief from a bill issued in 2014 and 2015, which must be submitted no later than April 1, 2016.
The council also adopted an ordinance amendment for stormwater management, increasing the monetary penalty from $1,250 to $2,000.
Shared service agreements with the Long Beach Township Police Department to obtain license plate recognition data as well as mobile data terminal look-up services were authorized as well.
A $294,577 contract was approved for Mathis Construction of Little Egg Harbor for the restoration and improvement of the 300 block of Engleside Avenue. The project will begin when the new borough hall is near completion.
When finished, “we will have a brand-new road in front of the building,” Crane said.
The demolition phase of the Superstorm Sandy-damaged municipal building is almost finished, and bids will open Dec. 29 for the installation of the new pilings.
Local resident Eugene Pharo, who said he rented a boat slip at the public dock during the 1960s through the ’80s, asked that the slip auction be held again at the site instead of online.
“The way it stands right now, anybody in this town who wanted to take every one of those boat slips, if they had a lot of money, could sit there and out-bid every single person on every single slip,” he said.
Calling himself “computer-illiterate,” Pharo said he would prefer to see the slips in person rather than in a photo on the Internet.
“It’s kind of like buying a cow,” he said. “When you’re at the auction, you get to look at the cow. You get to see it right there; you get to stand in front of it. ... You don’t see a picture of the cow.”
Pharo suggested the auction be limited to one slip per person. Taggart Davis and other council members liked the idea and said officials would certainly sit down with anyone who needs help with the online auction.
“Believe me and the rest of council, we do not want to deprive the local taxpayers in Beach Haven of the ability to get a boat slip, and we don’t want somebody monopolizing the boat slips,” Taggart Davis said.
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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