Jersey Shore mayor upset by state of beach replenishment project

The mayor of a Jersey Shore town says that he is upset by how a beach replenishment project by the Army Corps of Engineers is fairing.

News 12 Staff

Oct 2, 2019, 10:38 PM

Updated 1,900 days ago

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The mayor of a Jersey Shore town says that he is upset by how a beach replenishment project by the Army Corps of Engineers is fairing.
Bay Head Mayor Bill Curtis says that the ocean reached the newly constructed sand dunes during high tide this week.
“I got several calls from people who said, ‘You have to come down to the beach to see where the water is,’ because it came past the fence,” Curtis says. “You saw the water line, that was working its way up to the dune."
Bay Head Business Association President Eric Beyer says that the ocean left pools of water by the dunes Tuesday. He says that if this were to have happened during the summer, people would leave the beach so that they didn’t get wet.
“I don't know what they're going to do. I mean, the answer’s not to throw more sand at it. You can see there's plenty of sand there. I think it's just the way it's been laid out."
The mayor says that the replenishment project was only completed three months ago.
Some Bay Head homeowners fought against the $128 million project along northern Ocean County, fearing it was a waste of taxpayers' money. But the homeowners lost their battle in court.
Curtis says that he spoke with someone from the Army Corps Tuesday, who assured him that this was normal.
“We will lose a little bit of sand. It will be sacrificial sand, but I don't think they ever thought it would be up to these fences at this time,” the mayor says.
The dune and beach replenishment project stretched from Seaside Park to the Monmouth County border. Jenkinson’s in Point Pleasant Beach reached an agreement to construct their own privately funded barrier between the inlet and Arnold Avenue.