Wildwood Nj Calendar 2024
North Wildwood seeks emergency OK for new bulkhead
NORTH WILDWOOD — With still more storms in the forecast, and water breaching the dunes in several spots, the city on Friday submitted an emergency application to extend its bulkhead along the beachfront.
Mayor Patrick Rosenello said earlier in the week that the city would ask for the emergency authorization, and representatives of the state Department of Environmental Protection have promised to consider the request.
In a 20-page letter to officials with the DEP’s Division of Land Resource Protection, provided by Rosenello, consultant Peter Lomax argues the city has no time to waste in starting work on a new protective bulkhead.
Storms continue to gnaw away at the city’s protective dune line, Lomax argues.
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“Most recently, several coastal storm events between Jan. 9 and 14 of 2024 have resulted in a significant loss of sand from both the beach berm and remnant dune system, leaving a multi-block section of the city at peril and without an effective barrier to mitigate storm surges and associated wave action,” the letter reads.
Even without a storm, regular waves are licking the foot of the dune.
“The depletion of sand from the city’s overall beach/dune system has reduced the elevation for the beach such that sections of the remnant dune mass are now located at the edge of a normal wave runup at a normal high tide,” the letter reads.
The city and the DEP have long wrangled about the best options for shore protection, with the state accusing North Wildwood of working without a permit on projects that do more harm than good, and North Wildwood countering that the seaside community is under immediate threat from erosion, which Rosenello says the state has failed to address for years.
Work is underway securing permits for an island-wide project that will include new beach for North Wildwood, which projections indicate is about two years away. It’s always about two years away, Rosenello has said in previous interviews.
In the fall, the city installed new bulkhead in front of the Beach Patrol headquarters at 15th Avenue. The city’s proposal would run new bulkhead behind the dunes, between the beach and a bike path, along the beach to 14th and 13th avenues, and connecting to the existing seawall about half a block south of 12th Avenue.
Details submitted to the state include an image outlining 10 areas where the dune in those blocks has been over-washed.
The city remains committed to obtaining wetlands and Coastal Area Facility Review Act permits for the work but cannot wait the months that will be needed for those approvals, Lomax writes.
“Given the impending nor’easter coastal storm forecast for this coming Sunday and Monday, as well as an extended storm season still to come, it is therefore necessary to pursue an emergency authorization since the threat of a dune breach remains imminent,” the letter states.
He argues more than 750 feet of steel bulkhead is the best option for protecting the city from future storm damage. Work could begin by Jan. 29, the letter states, at a cost of $1,850 per foot to be funded by the city. That would mean a cost of close to $1.4 million.
It will be topped with boardwalk-style decking, city officials said.
The project could be completed by March 22, depending on the weather.
“With a breach to the dune, the city feels that future storms could pose a more significant threat to the City, its infrastructure, and public and private properties,” reads a Friday statement from the city.
City officials said the aim is to prevent damage to properties or infrastructure.
Contact Bill Barlow:
609-272-7290
Twitter @jerseynews_bill
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