Over the weekend, Ventnor’s southern beaches got battered. Mother Nature taking back what is hers.
Oceanfront surge and howling wind vaporized a good chunk of the Ventnor beach and dune system.
Beach elevation is noticeably lower. Top layer of sand scoured.
Time to build a master jetty at the bottom tip of Longport?
Dr. Stuart Farrell of Stockton University was a guest on the Don Williams radio show, on Oct. 15, 2019. Listen below.
WOND callers: Why give all that money to ACOE, Army Corp of Engineers? Just to keep them busy for next 50 years? Scam.
Listen to WOND Radio dune, beach & jetty discussion with Dr. Farrrell here:
By Spring, most of the beach should returns to it’s summery goodness. Altho, we bet the southern Ventnor dunes will look like hell.
Controversial dune building and beach replenishment in Ventnor, Margate and Longport. Worth it?
Long stretches of Ventnor beach are ‘cliffing’… or ‘scarping’. Paths and dunes now feature precipitous ‘drop offs’. Some more than 7 feet high.
Exercise extreme caution. Not only danger of falling, but sharp debris everywhere. Chicken wire and broken lumber. Remnants of dune fencing.
LISTEN: Ventnor Mayor Fights Back Against NJ DEP
Can Ventnor City Hall address the obvious safety issue? Or will NJ DEP withhold permission to fix?
Maybe both parties will just let Mother Nature handle it.
Former NJ Congressman Frank LoBiondo had the juice to get beach funding. Not sure if his replacement, Jeff Van Drew, can score Federal funding.
Offshore dredging & beached replenishment typically happens every 3 – 5 years. That’s IF there’s Federal money available.
Downbeach Replenishment Costs:
- Federal government pays 65%
- 25% comes from New Jersey DEP
- 10% handled by local taxpayers
Maybe it’s time to bite the bullet and incur the cost of doing this once. Install gabion baskets filled with rip rap in the face of the dunes and then just a small coating of sand. Cut walkways in between baskets and cover with sand. So, it always looks like a beach. Then when a storm comes in hard we only need a dressing of sand to put it back to pre-storm conditions. Less damage and less expense every 3 – 5 years.
The stabilization vegetation is nice but in hard times they don’t hold enough. Just a thought.
Is anyone surprised? One storm and poof, the dunes are erased. A more permanent solution is needed or don’t waste taxpayer’s dollars. Look to the Dutch for the technology needed to actually install a system that will work.
Does the acoe come back every year or is that it?
No, they only return to assess the situation by contract every three years. Then if sand is required they go to Congress for more $$. If Congress is in a generous mood they get some % of what they ask for and then they put it where the ACOE thinks it’s most needed.
Here’s a suggestion that would solve the issue. Build a sand bypass on the Brigantine side of the Absecon Inlet Jetty. All the sand below the high tide mark is State-owned and Brigantine needs to allow it to be mined and sent through a bypass tube like the ones used from a dredge to the AC side. Once long ago it was the sand moving across a shallow Inlet there that naturally replenished Absecon Island. At the end of the 19th when steam dredges arrives all the inlets were either artificially created like Absecon Inlet or deepened like many others. The result were huge sand traps that have been endlessly dredged to keep these channels open for shipping, fishing fleets, and recreational fishing and boating. The price no more or very little natural replenishment. A sand bypass which is essentially a land located dredge would supply a steady source of sand for Absecon Island and replace the need to mine the protective shoals offshore. Of course, the Dredgers would hate it wouldn’t they? That’s another issue entirely.