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If the state and federal governments want to protect homeowners and infrastructure against future storms, they might need to reconsider their plans.
That’s why Berkeley officials feel Island Beach State Park should be part of the Army Corps of Engineers’ beach replenishment plan on Ocean County’s northern barrier island.
Or if they won’t extend the dune, the township’s Waterways Advisory Commission suggests the state install a steel sheathing wall to bolster the state park’s existing dunes, like in Mantoloking and Brick.
To read more stories about shore protection since superstorm Sandy, see
Beach Replenishment.
Township officials worry the dune system at the state park is not strong enough to protect the properties behind it against a future storm.
“It’s not only a public safety issue. We lost millions in ratables because homes were damaged,” Berkeley Mayor Carmen Amato Jr. said, explaining Sandy wiped out $40 million in taxable property in the township’s hardest-hit spots — Bayville, Pelican Island and South Seaside Park.
The Army Corps of Engineers plans to build an 18- to 22-foot dune and widen the beach to 200 feet along the roughly 14-mile coastline from the Manasquan Inlet to the southern end of South Seaside Park.
It was estimated at one point to cost $86 million, though Stephen Rochette, a corps spokesman, said that amount could rise pending an ongoing review.
The Army Corps did a several-year study of infrastructure, storm models and potential damage of the project area. Officials found there wasn’t enough potential storm damage at Island Beach State Park to justify the cost of including it in the project, Rochette said.
“It’s a simple matter of economics,” he said. “It would not be a cost-effective use, which is the whole purpose and justification for these projects.”
Berkeley passed two resolutions — one last summer about the same time as Lacey and another in January — urging the state and Army Corps to reconsider the state park’s part in the project. The Central Regional School District in Bayville backed the township with its own resolution in February.
The township commission’s study found four breaches at the state park during Sandy.
“The Island Beach State Park dune system to this day remains compromised,” William McGrath, commission chairman, said in the study. “This would allow the next superstorm to do even more damage than superstorm Sandy. That, combined with the fact (that) sea level (could) rise of up to 1 foot in the next 50 years, makes it more imperative to strengthen the existing dune system.”
Bob Considine, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said they are reviewing the documents from Berkeley, but there have been multiple, community-based efforts to replenish the state park’s dunes since Sandy