Ocean City will seize property rights from seven owners to make way for a massive beach replenishment project for the island's eroded south-end beaches.
City Council vote unanimously Thursday to approve a resolution authorizing the taking of the seven properties.
The action is necessary before the Army Corps of Engineers can put project work out to bid in advance of dredging that is expected to begin in the fall.
Ocean City Business Administrator Mike Dattilo reported to council on Thursday that a project partnership agreement between the federal Army Corps, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the city has been signed. Dattilo called the agreement the "most significant step" in the process."
The Army Corps has approval to complete a multi-town project (with Strathmere and Sea Isle City) to rebuild eroded beaches and restore dunes decimated by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. The entire project is expected to exceed $100 million, and the federal government will pay 100 percent as part of Sandy disaster relief.
The project will end a long waiting game for property owners at the south end, where the ocean met the bay during Sandy and flattened protective dunes. Since then, the city used sand recovered from streets and trucked in to rebuild a sand berm between 49th and 59th streets.
In Ocean City, some beachfront owners hold deeds that grant property rights that extend to the ocean (even though building on the beach portion is not permitted). The city must obtain easements from all the owners who have rights to unbuildable land on the beach before the long-awaited project to restore eroded beaches between 34th Street and Corson’s Inlet State Park can begin.
The city needed about 100 easements, primarily in the area between 24th and 40th streets, when it started collecting in summer 2013. By October, 39 easements remained outstanding for the project area between 34th and 59th streets. The number is now only seven, according to City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson. The seven properties are in an area between 34th and 40th streets where a wide and healthy dune system survived Superstorm Sandy. One of the holdouts, Nicholas Talotta, was awarded $70,000 in a lawsuit that ruled that Ocean City must compensate him for his loss of ocean views from dunes constructed in the 1990s. Talotta had signed a 1995 easement agreement that promised dune heights would be limited. The city is appealing the amount of the award. McCrosson said the city will now begin discussions with the seven property owners about what compensation is fair for the taking of their unbuildable property by eminent domain. The seven property owners are as follows:__________
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