A collection of federal, state and local officials sat in the same room Thursday night and uttered the words property owners on the south end of Ocean City have waited eight years to hear: Beach replenishment will start next week.
A federal Army Corps of Engineers project to rebuild eroded beaches and dunes between 36th and 59th streets in Ocean City is expected to start Thursday, April 16.
The work was first authorized in 2007 but did not receive funding until Superstorm Sandy sparked a renewed push to protect coastal property throughout the Mid-Atlantic — with $1 billion going to New Jersey projects alone.
The federal government will pay for 100 percent of a $57.6 million project that includes Strathmere and Sea Isle City.
The announcement was part of an update at the public City Council meeting April 9 provided by representatives of the federal Army Corps of Engineers, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the City of Ocean City and the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company.
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The officials largely confirmed plans and timelines that already had been reported. But the confirmation marks the very last days in a long waiting game for property owners in southern Ocean City, where the ocean met the bay during Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 and flattened protective dunes. Even before Sandy hit in 2012, beaches on that part of the island disappeared during some high tides.
The work should proceed as follows:
- The contractor already is staging equipment on the beach near a feeder pipeline just south of 42nd Street.
- A hopper dredge, the Liberty Island, is on its way from Florida and should arrive next week after a stop in Norfolk, Va.
- Unlike the cutter dredge that the Army Corps used for a north-end project in 2013, the hopper dredge is an ocean-going ship. It will travel to a borrow area about two miles off Strathmere. The dredge will pump sand (about 4,000 cubic yards at a time … in about 40 to 45 minutes) from the ocean floor to its hold. The ship will then travel closer to shore, hook up to the feeder pipeline and pump sand onto the beach.
- Intake screens will filter debris (unexploded munitions were famously an issue during a Long Beach Island project more than a decade ago) during both the intake and outfall processes.
Sections of pipeline are now stacked on the beach at 43rd Street, a half-block south of where the feeder pipe lands on the beach. - Heavy equipment will build dunes and contour the beach.
- The project will start at 42nd Street and move north to 36th Street. (Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager Dwight Pakan said the area between 34th and 36th street does not need the sand.
- About 1,000 feet of beach will be closed at a time as the work proceeds down the beach.
- Dune crossovers (56 of them, including crossovers at mid-block) will be constructed as the work proceeds.
- Dunes will have an elevation of 12.8 feet (NAVD88) with tops 25 feet wide.
- When the project reaches 36th Street, the on-beach pipeline will be removed and work will proceed southward to 49th Street.
- When that work is finished, the feeder pipeline will be redirected to 55th Street. Work will then proceed from 55th Street northward to 49th Street. The last stretch will be from 55th Street southward to 59th Street.
- Officials estimate a July 15 finish for beachfill work in Ocean City. (Working from a separate cutter dredge, beachfill work will begin in Strathmere on April 20 and finish in Sea Isle City on Sept. 15.)
- Dune grass planting will start on Nov. 15.
During the project, safety personnel will patrol beaches 24 hours a day. Access points for equipment will be at 34th Street, 57th Street and 59th Street.
While the cutter dredge can work at a greater capacity when it’s running continuously, the hopper dredge can work in rougher seas. Over the course of a long job, the two types of dredges typically require the same amount of time to complete work, according to Kevin Zimmerman of Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company.
After completion of the initial project, the southern end of Ocean City will be part of a three-year cycle for renourishment projects. For those projects, the federal government will pay 50 percent and the state government 50 percent. Of the state portion, Ocean City will be responsible for 25 percent (making Ocean City’s share 12.5 percent of the total cost).
The borrow area for the initial project is far offshore because it requires so much sand, but future renourishment projects could potentially be taken from the shallow waters off Corson’s Inlet, according to Pakan.
Detailed information on the project and proposed timeline can be found at: www.nap.usace.army.mil/GET.
The city will be providing free shuttle service from the closed area to adjacent beaches that are open. The shuttle service will tentatively begin on Memorial Day Weekend.
