WILDWOOD – A long-awaited project to build a dune and berm the length of the Wildwoods may soon be one step closer to completion.
On a recent conference call that included state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Shawn LaTourette and elected officials from North Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Lower Township, the two remaining holdouts – Wildwood and Lower – made a verbal representation that they will attempt to pass state aid agreements, a necessary step to get the project started, sources with knowledge of the conversation told the Herald.
The project, which has been in the preconstruction phase for close to 10 years, is desperately needed by North Wildwood, which has been victimized by devastating erosion of its beaches and has undertaken unauthorized projects that it said were necessary to protect the city, which has landed it in hot water with the environmental regulator.
Once the project is completed, the island would have a protective dune running its length, with an elevation of 16-feet North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88).
“North Wildwood is experiencing significant erosion of its berm and dune. What was the largest beach in the state now suffers from tidal flooding and wave run-up over a formerly protective beach,” a description of the project on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website states.
“In contrast to North Wildwood, sand accretion in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest is causing extensive maintenance problems and health hazards with their stormwater management system. The excess sand clogs stormwater outfalls, creates pools of stagnant water, produces unhealthy beach conditions, and causes associated interior flooding,” the description continues.
The project would use sand from the beaches of Wildwood and the Crest and hydraulically pump it up to North Wildwood, as well as back from the shoreline to the proposed dune area. The federal government would pay for 65% of the project, with the state taking on the bulk of the remaining share and local government paying 25% of that remaining 35%.
Wildwood and Lower Township have yet to sign off on the island-long project, questioning its necessity in those towns where beaches are so wide that taxi services are offered to take visitors across the sand toward the ocean.
There have been concerns raised about how the project would reduce ocean views and impact large events, like concerts, which are held on the expansive beaches and are major revenue generators, specifically in Wildwood.
“We always want greater shore protection for our community, but we are also concerned about the number of events and activities that take place on our beaches,” Wildwood City Administrator Steve O’Connor told the Herald Feb. 22.
Both Wildwood and Lower Township are planning to address the state aid agreements as part of the agenda for their municipal governing body meetings Feb. 22, O’Connor and Lower Township Manager Michael Laffey both confirmed to the Herald.
North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest already signed their state aid agreements, but the project had not advanced while waiting for Wildwood and Lower Township to consent. The state will now need to negotiate with private individuals who own portions of the beach in both municipalities and get them to sign off before construction can begin on the dune project.
In Diamond Beach, part of Lower Township, this could still be a significant obstacle. In Wildwood, there is also a significant portion of the beach that is privately owned.
Wildwood Board of Commissioners meet at 5 p.m. Feb. 22, and Lower Township Council meets at 7 p.m. that night.
A DEP spokesman said he could not confirm the call between the municipalities and the DEP commissioner but said to reach back out following the municipal meetings.
