BY KAYLA MARSH of THE OCEAN STAR — Significant damage to the borough beachfront caused by recent winter storms has brought together officials across all sectors of government to find solutions to help bring some relief to the impacted area.
Mayor William Curtis recently met with Congressman Chris Smith [R-04], U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commander Lt. Col. David Park, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s [NJDEP] Director of the Division of Coastal Engineering William Dixon, Ocean County Commissioner Joseph H. Vicari, assemblymen Greg McGuckin and John Catalano [R-10], and members of the borough council, on the beach to discuss the significant safety concerns posed by 18- foot vertical sand dune cliffs in Bay Head caused by beach erosion from recent Winter Storm Orlena.
“We were one of the first towns to reach out for help. The storm ended on Feb. 2 and we reached out and said ... we have a very dangerous situation of 18- to 20-foot drop-offs of our new dune, and from Egbert Street north to Karge Street, it is severely damaged,” Mayor Curtis told The Ocean Star. “I would say the three-worst street ends are Harris Street, Bridge Avenue and by far Mount Street.
“We just stressed the fact that the first priority is the dangerous situation. Any child, if they fell over, they could either be killed or severely injured. If it was high tide when they fell over, they could be washed out to sea, because the high tide is coming right up to the eastern toe of the dune, which is no longer. There is no berm anymore. All the groins are completely exposed, and it is just scarfi ng away at the base of the new dune.”
Mayor Curtis also discussed with officials the financial impact the situation could have on the borough come the summer season, if remediation efforts are not taken in the near future.
“It would be a severe financial impact to the Borough of Bay Head to not have beaches this summer. People are not going to want to rent in Bay Head because there is nowhere to go, which will adversely affect our businesses, further hurt our restaurants, and they can’t take another summer of limited patronage,” he said.
“The other issue is we want money either from the federal government or the state or somewhere, to get help. We don’t have the money in Bay Head to fix the beach. We don’t have the equipment. We don’t have the personnel.”
In a press release following the meeting, Rep. Smith pressed the group to prioritize the safety threat and identify repairs to mitigate the danger, even though, according to o cials, the Army Corps has initially determined that the recent storm was not a qualifying event for full emergency federal funding.
“The safety and security of Bay Head’s residents and the surrounding community must be paramount. We can’t leave these 18-foot cliffs exposed,” he said.
In a report sent to Rep. Smith, the Army Corps stated that Bay Head is one of nine towns that suffered “severe” damage following Winter Storm Orlena. The NJDEP classified the damage in Bay Head as “major erosion, which consists of significant or total beach berm loss and/ or significant erosion and scarping of the dunes.”
“I want everybody to know we are doing something. We did a lot from day one and we are getting a lot of help,” Mayor Curtis said, adding that further meetings will be held to formalize actions that will be taken.
“We have applied for an emergency permit to the NJDEP because our general permit does not give us any authority to touch that dune or anything else … so this would give us permission.
“We can’t live with it this way and I certainly feel it would be a terrible thing if we did not get financial or personnel or equipment assistance to correct this short term, and to come up with solutions for the long term … we are doing everything we can and I am very impressed with the people that have reached out and what they have done to help us along in this short period of time.
“I think what needs to be done is to get away from the template that they used to build the beach replenishment because they are a little too far east of our rock wall revetment, and that took away a lot of blanket space on the beach. If we move it closer westward to tie it in with the toe of the rock wall revetment, I think it would be much safer, much better and would produce a much larger beach that will stay.”
The above article appeared in the Feb. 19, 2021 print edition of the Ocean Star.