In the Press...
WOBM news article; Smith helps secure funding'"Ocean County, NJ gov't to help municipalities foot portion of bill for beach replenishment projects'"We've been pushing on beach replenishment and frankly, the Army Corps -- they are an amazing organization that do it right -- we've had meetings on the Shoreline a couple months ago, a couple months before that, couple months before that -- constantly trying to get more work done," Congressman Smith told Townsquare Media News in January. "We were running into a funding crisis with beach replenishment for the Manasquan Inlet to the Barnegat Inlet. They (the Army Corps of Engineers) were claiming that there was no money. I asked them, on January 5, by way of letter and correspondents and conversations to look at the infrastructure bill that had just passed that had a whole resiliency component to it, that that would be a great source of funding to do beach replenishment -- a five-year re-nourishment is what we're asking for." So, after years and years of pushing for solutions to address beach erosion, dunes, and the sea life, municipalities in New Jersey, including here in Ocean County, will be getting beach replenishment work done. The next challenge is paying for the rest of what is owed, and it's a hefty, hefty bill being doled out to the state and municipalities.
In Ocean County, the Board of Commissioners and 2022 Director John "Jack" Kelly announced that it's an estimated $60-million overall project beginning next year with the Army Corps of Engineers paying $30-million of that amount (thanks to Congressman Chris Smith) which would leave $30-million in the mailbox of the state and municipalities.
Commissioner Kelly said that Ocean County will foot about $4-million of that bill for the municipalities here along the northern barrier island -- Berkeley Township, Seaside Park, Seaside Heights, Toms River, Lavallette, Brick, Mantoloking, Bay Head, and Point Pleasant Beach -- that are getting work done starting next year. "The county agreed to help the towns pay their share, splitting the $8 million local cost that otherwise would have been paid for only by the nine municipalities," Kelly said in a written statement. “We received a call from the local mayors and they asked us to help. There was an immediate consensus among the commissioners that we needed to help."
The issue was the focal point of a meeting between the County Commissioners and the aforementioned towns plus Point Pleasant Borough -- there for moral support, Commissioner Kelly explained. It's not just Superstorm Sandy that left damage, there have been several storms of much less magnitude that have snarled Ocean County beaches in recent years as well. In this major beach replenishment project work will be done in the aforementioned towns in different allotments of funds: · Bay Head: $714,000.00. · Berkeley Township: $159,000.00. · Brick Township: $450,000.00. · Lavallette: $336,500.00. · Mantoloking: $645,000.00. · Point Pleasant Beach: $135,500.00. · Toms River Township: $975,000.00. · Seaside Heights: $375,000.00. · Seaside Park: $191,000.00. This article was published on September 16, 2022 and can be found online at: Read More: Ocean County to help municipalities pay for beach replenishments | https://wobm.com/ocean-county-nj-government-to-help-municipalities-foot-portion-of-bill-for-beach-replenishment-projects/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral |