Beachgoers will find they will have more room next summer, especially in the southern part of Ventnor where the sand has migrated and narrowed the bathing beach to the foot of the dune during high tides, and in the northern part of Atlantic City.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notified the city that it has awarded a contract to replenish the beach as part of the long-standing beach replenishment agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
According to Army Corps spokesman Stephen Rochette, a $38.2 million contract has been awarded to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company to pump 1,278,000 cubic yards of sand from the ocean onto the beach throughout Ventnor and in the northern portion of Atlantic City, which has eroded and limits beach usage.
Rochette said the company will use a hydraulic cutterhead dredge for the Atlantic City portion of the project and a hopper dredge for Ventnor.
The project is slated to begin in mid-November, Rochette said.
According to the DEP’s Coastal Management program, “an engineered beach and dune design includes periodic nourishment to replace the sand that has been eroded from the engineered beach and dune design template – often into offshore bar systems and alongshore.”
The Division of Coastal Engineering is responsible for administering the shore protection program which ensures the stabilization, restoration or maintenance of the shoreline. Shore protection is becoming imperative because of climate change, subsidence and erosion of the beaches during increasingly stronger winter storms.
Ventnor Public Works Commissioner Lance Landgraf said the city has not been given a firm timeline for replenishment, which is also referred to as renourishment, but the work is likely to continue through the winter and be completed by spring.
The state’s beach replenishment contract provides for cost sharing between federal, state and local governments, with the federal government providing 65 percent of the total cost, and the state and municipality sharing the remaining 35 percent, with the state paying 25 percent and the city paying 10 percent.
Ventnor doesn’t have exact numbers yet, but the city’s expected share of the cost will be between $700,000 and $900,000, Landgraf said. The cost has been funded through prior bond ordinances.
The city’s beach was last renourished in 2021 as part of the city’s 50-year agreement with the state, and in 2017 when the dune system was put into place statewide. Landgraf said the city had dunes long before that.
“Our original dunes were built in 2002-2003,” he said.
Prior to that, Landgraf, a planner who currently works for the CRDA, worked with city engineer Dick Carter on beach protection in the 1990s.
The worst spots are south of the Ventnor Fishing Pier, Landgraf said. North of the pier may include moving sand around to conform with the state’s preferred dune template, he said.
In other beach related discussion, the Board of Commissioners recommended beachgoers remove any beach chairs, boogie boards or surfboards that have been left in the beach corrals to remove them before the end of October. On Nov. 1, Public Works will remove and dispose of any items left behind.
Also, the board announced that due to the beach replenishment project which could affect off-season fishing along the coastline, the Ventnor Fishing Pier will remain open until the end of October.
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