The beachfill portion of Beach Haven’s replenishment is nearly complete, Borough Manager Richard Crane told the public at the town council’s monthly meeting on Monday, June 13. Most of the piping is expected to be removed from the beach this week as contractor Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. moves on to Holgate.
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| Photo by Ryan Morrill Agate Construction crews build the handicap beach entrance at Fifth Street in Beach Haven. |
“You really have to stand at the water’s edge and look up to fully appreciate the magnitude not only of the dunes themselves, but of the sheer size of the beach itself and the distance,” said Crane. “The dunes are 30 feet across. I marvel at it; it’s an amazing project.”
Two years ago, he said, water could be seen under the Fifth Street Pavilion, but now there’s “quite a bit of sand” there.
Responding to a question from the audience, Mayor Nancy Taggart Davis said the replenishment sand will be naturally mixed in with the soft, white sand over time and “will go back to looking the way it did.”
“I’m on Second Street, and already, because of the wind and everything that’s blown around, there’s pure white sand on my beach. It’s unbelievable,” she stated.
Dune planting is expected to take place sometime in the fall, after the weather cools down, the mayor said.
Replenishment was supposed to start in April, but weather conditions were not conducive for connecting the pipes, which delayed the project about 20 days.
“It didn’t seem all that important at the time, but now we’re on the other end of that project at the beginning of the season, and we really do wish we had those 20 days. But it will be done, and we will be open for the season,” Crane said.
The borough manager asked the public to be patient as it normally takes about two to three weeks for the dune walkovers to be completed.
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| Photo by Ryan Morrill The piping in front of the Fifth Street Pavilion will be removed sometime this week. |
The dune walkovers are being built by Agate Construction Co. Fifth, Seventh and Pearl streets, which are currently under construction, will have two means of access. A handicap entrance at each of those streets will wind around for wheelchair accessibility.
“It’s going to take a little bit longer to get there but most certainly will get everybody to the beach,” Crane said.
The beach entrances will be finished with hard-packed I-5 material. Although some people are concerned about the orange color of the material, Crane as well as the mayor said it makes it much easier to walk across the dune compared to the softer sand. Split-rail fencing and benches will also help, Taggart Davis noted.
Council adopted an ordinance amendment to authorize and regulate the construction of private dune walkovers for oceanfront-lot owners who have executed the easement required for the replenishment project. As per the amendment, people are allowed to install and utilize a rollover beach access walkway only between April 1 and Nov. 1 of each year, among other restrictions.
In other meeting news, development of the municipal building on Engleside Avenue has come to a halt. Only four offers, which were all rejected by the town, were received when the project went out to bid for construction last month. Taggart Davis said the bids were at least $1.5 million over what the town had resources for.
“Their bids were well above what we had budgeted as well as what we had in terms of funding for the project,” Crane stated.
Changes to the scope and design of the building have been implemented to reduce costs. The renovation of the police department headquarters for utilization by the building department is no longer included in the project. Instead, all departments will be located in the municipal building, and the police station will most likely be demolished.
To finance the project, council adopted an ordinance amendment to appropriate an additional $500,000 for a total appropriation of $1 million, and to authorize an additional $447,000 in bonds or notes for a total authorization of $952,000.
The project will go out to bid again the first week of August.
Crane said officials hope to attract more bidders that have offers closer to what the town can finance.
“We’re working very hard to keep this project within budget,” he stated. “However, that does push the completion date out a little further than we had anticipated.”
Crane expects the building to be occupied sometime next summer, which is about six months later than originally projected. The work is predicted to start up again sometime in the fall.
When local resident Michael Peeler inquired about what would happen to the emergency operations center, which is being utilized as the temporary municipal building, Taggart Davis said she “was not at liberty to discuss it” but has been in contact with Congressman Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.-2nd) regarding possible plans. Peeler suggested turning the building into a community arts center, much like the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences in Loveladies; the mayor and other council members expressed interest in the idea.
The council approved liquor license renewals for Buckalew’s Tavern, the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club, Murphy’s Market and Don Rommel’s Liquor Store. The town’s remaining liquor licenses for the Sea Shell Beach and Resort Club, The Engleside Inn restaurant, The Marlin, The Ketch and The Black Whale will be up for renewal at the council’s agenda meeting on Wednesday, June 22, at 9:30 a.m. If renewed, these establishments, which all have the ability to host teen nights as per their license, will not be able to serve alcohol to any patrons during those times. Taggart Davis said the rule was implemented years ago but over the years has “disappeared.”
“I would personally like teenagers to have a place to go, but we just don’t want it to be associated with alcohol,” she stated.
Following the June 22 agenda meeting, Taggart Davis will meet with officials of Stockton University at the New Jersey Maritime Museum, which she said owner Deborah Whitcraft is deeding to the school.
“I thought this would be a great thing for the town if we could have this museum going into the future,” said the mayor, who recently retired from Stockton after 41 years as a professor there. “Stockton has a very good marine biology program, and I’m hoping that they can get more involved in the work that we’re doing right here with ReClam the Bay. There’s a lot going on that’s very, very exciting in that respect.”
Though Taggart Davis said dredging the Little Egg Inlet was nixed this year by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife because of endangered species, she noted that part of the Intracoastal Waterway has been dredged, and some of the material was used to fill a cut of Mordecai Island.
Dock Road resident Mary Ann Hovan, who had asked the council at the monthly meeting in April for help dealing with the vacant properties surrounding her home, stood before the members with the same request.
“I don’t know if I want to come here anymore. I’ve asked for help and assistance, and this is what I have next door to me,” she said, holding up a bunch of tall weeds. “I didn’t move down here to live in a nightmare. I could have stayed where I came from.
“Everybody was so excited about Dock Road when they thought something was going to happen financially,” she added. “But I’m stuck with this. It’s not fair. I don’t know what else to do.”
Councilman Jim White told Hovan that Jim Kelly, the borough’s code enforcement officer, had tried to get in touch with her that day and will catch up with her later in the week to have the grass cut.
“We can’t just go onto somebody’s property. We have to go through the procedures, and when the property is no longer in the hands of a person in town, it takes a lot more time,” said Crane. “This has been assigned to Jim, and he’s been working diligently on it.”
Despite the vacant homes not being his, Peeler offered to cut the weeds near Hovan’s house for her.
“If the weeds are bothering you, you go over there and whack them down. Somebody’s not going to say, ‘Oh no, I want my weeds.’ I’ll come over, and I’ll whack them,” he told her.
White expressed condolences for the victims of the massacre on Sunday at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., which is the nation’s deadliest mass shooting.
“It’s a huge tragedy and a blight on our country,” he said.
The councilman also expressed his gratitude for the work of Sherry Mason, who was reappointed that night as borough clerk and registrar of vital statistics. White was especially proud of Mason’s efforts to have all the vital statistics redone.
“I know people may not be interested in these things, but just to see that type of work is really very exhilarating, knowing that our history will be preserved long after we’re gone for 100 years,” he stated.
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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