Letter to the editor: Readers of the recent Press of Atlantic City article “Judge lets state proceed with Margate dune project –for now” may have concluded that Margate got buried in the sand by the court. But reading the judge’s ruling in its entirety indicates that Margate was successful in achieving its objective, receiving the relief it had asked for at this stage of the legal process.
Margate had asked that the project sponsors be stopped from awarding contracts to proceed with the project. Secondly, it asked that the state be prevented from taking city-owned and private property needed for the project without first filing an action for eminent domain as required by law.
Although the court ultimately ruled that the Army Corps can award contracts, it also ordered that the state must file eminent domain proceedings to obtain rights to that beach area. The result? The property owners with these riparian rights will get the opportunity in state court to make the case that the state seized their property without affording them the opportunity to contest the seizure. That is what Margate was asking for in federal court.
Also, the comment by the representative from the Sierra Club was way off the mark. This action is not a class war, a matter of “rich” self-interests vs. everyone else. It is driven by the voters of Margate.
There is ample evidence to support the claim that this project is not needed for Margate and would saddle taxpayers with millions in costs over many years to replenish sand that will wash away. Margate suffered relatively little damage from the ocean during Sandy, and its beaches are not eroding.
The city did not request this project and seemingly does not wish to be dictated to by government entities that are unfamiliar with its beaches or, apparently, with the disruption caused by government intervention on the Ventnor beaches. The city is simply asking for the opportunity to show that a manmade wall of sand is not the most technically or cost-effective form of storm protection for Margate.
Hopefully this latest development will encourage the state to consider alternative solutions that are in everyone’s best interest – solutions that include reinforcement of the bulkhead system and that address the most pressing storm protection need in Margate, flooding from the bay.
Dan Gottlieb
Margate