Army Corp & NJDEP Avoids 75% of Taxpayers, Schedules Meeting for Sept. 12


The #1 cause of Downbeach storm damage will finally get some attention. Back bay flooding. Too bad most will miss the meeting.

This critical meeting has been scheduled for a time (Sept. 12) when 2nd homeowners will not be here. That’s 75% of Margate, Ventnor & Longport taxpayers. Gone for the season.

Back Bay Flood Risk Management will be discussed at this public meeting. The event is hosted by the City of Ventnor, the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).

Sept 12. 6p-8p. 

Ventnor Educational Community Complex, 400 N. Lafayette Ave. 

The ACOE and NJDEP are doing a study for coastal storm risk management problems within the New Jersey Back Bay area.

The goal: Investigate problems and solutions to reduce damages from coastal flooding that affects population, critical infrastructure, critical facilities, property and ecosystems.

Discussions could include:

  • Storm surge barriers & tide gates
  • Levees, Jetty, Groins, Floodwalls
  • Dunes and beach replenishment
  • Drainage. Beach sewer pipes / outfall network
  • Elevating homes and buildings
  • ROI of beach replenishment
  • Shelter Island, Marsh restoration, handling of contaminated ‘spoils’
  • Back-bay dredging. Margate/Ventnor partnership
  • Living shorelines

The general public is invited to ask questions. Hopefully, get some answers. Learn about the study process and current status. Public will provide feedback. Will interact with project team members.

Diana Borek Papadelis said something like this on social media: NOW the ACOE wants to fix the back bay flooding! Construct dunes under false pretenses? Come back and finally fix the real cause of property damage…back bay surge?

Margate solicitor John Scott Abbott, has been beating the drum for back bay dredging for quite some time. Abbott wants to take the dredged ‘spoils’ and use it to fill in Shelter Island, behind Ventnor Heights. Shelter Island used to be Ventnor’s wastewater treatment facility. Shelter Island is owned equally by Margate and Ventnor.

In the 1920s, the Shelter Island area was excavated. Those spoils were used to elevate Ventnor Heights and a few areas of Margate. That’s according to Abbott.

Shelter Island

Shelter Island is a former sewage treatment facility located along the Intracoastal Waterway in Ventnor City west of Absecon Island. The site is heavily vegetated with large trees on the berm of the CDF (confined disposal facilities). The sewage treatment facility is associated with the Ventnor municipal dump, directly across Beach Thorofare on the barrier island. Apparently, sludge was concentrated into large bins in the landfill that were trucked away when full. The liquid waste was treated with chlorine gas on site and piped across Beach Thorofare to Shelter Island where it was discharged into the bay waters.

There has been discussion in the Atlantic City Press about using this site for renewed dredging activity, but thus far no real movement has occurred.

http://crcgis.stockton.edu/iboat/atlanticcounty/

Residents like Dan Gotlieb say: focus resources where resources are needed. Back bay. Not ocean front. After the Sandy devastation, there were 998 construction permits issued in Margate. Only 2 were on the beach block. The rest were on or near the back bay.

1 thought on “Army Corp & NJDEP Avoids 75% of Taxpayers, Schedules Meeting for Sept. 12”

  1. Dan’s right about the flooding and wrong about focusing resources. Here’s why. The beach project might appear done but it’s not. Since the berm part has been completed many in Margate struggle to deal with it just to use the beach, which is now a half block further away from the street ends over an artificial dune. The solution for this access issue and for the loss of the use of more then half the beach for recreational use is to rebuild the Margate Boardwalk in the “dead zone” directly behind the dune part of the berm design. The Army designed and built a berm system suitable for a town with a Boardwalk , except we don’t have one. Ventnor and AC do and because they do access isn’t an issue plus they have all the endless amenities a Boardwalk delivers the Island communities.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.