To date, Beach Haven borough has received more than $1.8 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Superstorm Sandy-related reimbursements. An additional $1,333,000 has been received from the town’s insurance carriers.
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| Photo via Google Homes in Beach Haven were ravaged during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. |
About 14 projects are on the cusp of being closed out, and the town should be reimbursed about $2.7 million, Richard Crane, borough manager, stated at the Beach Haven Council’s regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 8. This includes the direct administrative costs, which is the amount of money the town pays to the Louis Berger Group for its assistance in obtaining the funds, he noted.
The council approved a one-year extension with the group for additional help.
“It’s hard to believe that we’re into year four of the aftermath of the storm,” said Crane. “I remember when they first started talking about it, one of the experienced FEMA people mentioned at the time that it takes a good five years to run through this thing. It didn’t seem possible at the time. It seems possible now.”
Speaking of storms, Winter Storm Jonas created additional expenses for the town when 100 truckloads, or 2,500 tons, of sand had to be brought in to reinforce the town’s southern beaches. Fortunately, the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection’s Coastal Engineering Department in Toms River covered the $35,000 cost. But the tides have already eroded some of the sand, Crane said.
“If we had been fortunate to get the beach replenishment as was promised back in early fall, we probably wouldn’t be talking about that now,” he added.
Mayor Nancy Taggart Davis confirmed two smaller barges are expected to come back to Beach Haven for beach replenishment in mid-March, working their way south from 12th Street. The larger Liberty barge will arrive later.
Sand is also expected to be taken out of the Little Egg Inlet, which will mostly go to Holgate in mid-June after the migration of winter flounder.
“This is a good thing because we have lost a lot of large-boat business in Beach Haven,” Taggart Davis said. “Our tuna marlin tournament wasn’t as big last year. A lot of people with large yachts can’t get through the inlet, or they feel unsafe with their investments, going through there.”
She also noted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is going to fund the town’s crossovers.
“Our public works department is going to remove the snow fence, so the time and the money going into fixing the snow fence is going into the walkways,” Taggart Davis said. “Some of the walkways are very, very simple; there’s hardly anything. Others are longer. But I do not think there’s going to be a problem. People are going to be able to get onto the beach easily from each street end.”
In other meeting news, the council adopted an ordinance for the maintenance of vacant and abandoned properties. Ordinance amendments limiting permits for tents or temporary structures in residential areas to four per site per year, as well as a $1.50 quarterly fee for the implementation and maintenance of a water usage monitoring system, were approved on first reading.
Sherry Mason, municipal clerk, was congratulated for being appointed secretary of the Municipal Clerks’ Association of New Jersey.
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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