Point Beach Repairs, Dredge Coming

CAPE MAY POINT — Sand will be removed from the Coral and Whilldin avenue beaches, which have been closed, to swimmers since beach renourishment in 2004.
The extended beach placed swimmers too close to beach saver reefs just offshore.
Sand from those beaches will be placed on St. Pete’s Beach, which has suffered the effects of erosion.
At a Feb. 12 borough commission commision, two supervisors for a dredge and beach fill project that is about to begin in Cape May State Park explained the project.
A 2004 beach renourishment made a dramatic improvement in the size of the borough’s beaches.
William Dixon, supervising environmental specialist, Bureau of Coastal Engineering, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, said the beaches “were performing very well,” except St. Pete’s Beach.
Dwight Paken, project manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said St. Pete’s beach was the only borough beach that did not have a beach saving structure protecting it and pulling the sand inward.
Dixon said about 25,000 cubic yards of existing sand will be excavated from Coral and Whilldin avenue beaches, amounting to about 900 linear feet of beach. That sand will be moved to St. Pete’s Beach with a bulldozer, excavator and two dump trucks over a five-week period.
Paken said studies look at how much sand from beaches is lost every year from storms and erosion and the quantity of sand needed for the next four years is established.
He said a “slug of sand,” called advanced nourishment is placed on the beach between the high tide area and flat section of beach so after four years the beach still has a minimum level of protection.
It was difficult for Army Corps engineers to model beach replenishment for the Coral and Whilldin avenue beaches taking into account beach saver breakwaters located there, said Paken.
“The beach stayed much better than we thought…” he said, noting the beach saver reefs are working.
Keith Rice, a former borough commissioner, asked if there was any consideration of installing a beach saver reef at St. Pete’s Beach.
Paken said reefs installed on other borough beaches were the result of specially appropriated funds.
“We could certainly look at how much we would save by having a reef put in there versus putting sand in there,” he said.
Initially, installing a reef is a much bigger capital outlay, said Paken.
Dixon said the dredge, the Padre Island, would arrive off the state park between Feb. 20 and Feb. 24. He said the dredge picks up sand from an offshore borrow area, comes in close to the beach and pumps in sand.
A total of 70,000 cubic yards of sand will be placed between the World War II bunker and the lighthouse groin.
“We were going to do a large project with Cape May City, the Coast Guard base and Cape May,” said Dixon. “The bids came back excessive, way beyond what the government could afford, so we repackaged the bid, reduced the scale of the project…”
He said most of the sand would be placed within the state park. Dixon said 1,000-foot sections of the state park beach would be closed where work is taking place.
State and Army Corps inspectors will be on duty 24 hours per day to check for munitions following a number of old bombs turning up on Long Beach Island following a dredge fill.
Dixon said he did not expect to find any munitions in the borrow area. The dredge uses two screens for munitions, he said.
The $4.5 million cost of the project, which includes Cape May State Park and the Lower Cape Meadows, is born by the state, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Cape May Point.
At the request of the borough, vegetation will be planted adjacent to the Whilldin Avenue beach access and pedestrian crosswalks will be relocated to the north/northwest at Cape and Lincoln avenues featuring a gentler slope, said Dixon.
He said sediment would be removed from two ponds created in the state park for piping plover feeding habitat and taken to the former magnesite plant site.
Contact Fichter at (609) 886-8600 Ext 30 or at: jfichter@cmcherald.com