The southern end of Ocean City will have to survive another full hurricane season before a massive project to restore dunes and rebuild eroded beaches begins.
The work is expected to begin in late November, Richard Pearsall, spokesman for the federal Army Corps of Engineers, said on Wednesday.
The $70 million project is out to bid, but no contract has been awarded, Pearsall said. A contract should be in place later this summer.
The project will end 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. Since then, the city used sand recovered from streets and trucked in from the mainland to rebuild a sand berm and to elevate beaches between 49th and 59th streets.
Beaches on that part of the island disappeared during some high tides even before Sandy hit in 2012. The temporary sand berm has held since Sandy, and the south end beaches have accommodated the usual crowds all summer.
But property owners and regular beachgoers fear that one strong storm could eat the beach and berm, leaving properties as exposed as they were after Sandy. Earlier this spring, city officials announced that they anticipated the project to begin shortly after Labor Day.
Hurricane season typically peaks in September and officially extends through all of November.
The Army Corps has approval to complete a multi-town project (with Strathmere and Sea Isle City) to rebuild beaches and restore dunes. The federal government will pay 100 percent of the $70 million price tag as part of Sandy disaster relief. The southern part of Ocean City would then be on a regular maintenance cycle for federal Army Corps beach restoration as the northern part of the island is.
The entire project will include the dredging of 4.2 million cubic yards of sand from a harvest area off the coast of Ocean City. It will bring 1.6 million cubic yards to Ocean City alone — in the area between 34th and 59th streets, with the other 2.6 million going to Strathmere and Sea Isle City.
Pearsall said the contractor will determine where the project will start — which of the three towns gets sand first.
The funding and permits are in place.
The city has signed easement agreements from the owners of all but seven properties, and the city has taken the easements from the seven by eminent domain. The easements allow the work to proceed on portions of the beach that are privately owned (but unbuildable).
The Army Corps is reviewing draft appraisal reports from the City of Ocean City to the owners of the seven properties. The city will offer compensation for the taking of the easements, but it will not release the appraised values until the Army Corps completes its review and the appraisals are sent, according to City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson.
The city has said it will continue to monitor the health of the south-end beaches until the Army Corps project begins. It is prepared to harvest and move sand from other parts of the island and to bring in more sand from off the island, if necessary.
