During the AUGUST 19, 2026 Longport Commission mtg, Solicitor Affanato noted that Business Administrator Dellane received a request to reduce dune heights to the original dune template as designed by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Solicitor Affanato said that the current agreement does allow the Borough to shape the dunes, but he explained that the Borough’s current beach maintenance agreement expires in October.
Affanato noted that the beach maintenance permit needs to be renewed for five years and at this time he is unsure if the NJ Department of Environmental Protection will include the same language allowing for the shaping of the dunes.
Borough cannot move forward with this process until the beach maintenance permit is renewed. The dune shaping process is somewhat significant and could be quite costly if done boroughwide.
Solicitor Affanato noted that in Margate, some individual homeowners were able to fall under the umbrella of the city’s dredging permit and dredged their own riparian rights property and at their own cost.
He noted that possibly individual homeowners could at their cost, have the dunes located in front of their homes shaped to their original template, but that it was too early to know if this was possible and that the two situations are different.
Approximately three homeowners had recently contacted the Borough and expressed interested in shaping the dunes in front of their homes.
Solicitor Affanato said that process to renew the Borough’s Beach Maintenance Permit has begun.
