CAPE MAY – An agenda item for the regular Cape May City Council meeting May 17 merely stated “DeSatnick Foundation,” giving no hint as to the content of any presentation.
What was certain was that the topic at hand would be beach safety since that foundation is dedicated to helping those who have suffered spinal cord injuries along beaches in several New Jersey counties.
Chad DeSatnick, who suffered a spinal cord injury while swimming at the city’s Poverty Beach in 2001, began the discussion by thanking council for its approval of the annual Around the Cape Paddle, a fundraising event scheduled for July 17. The meeting then veered to more controversial issues.
In November 2021, DeSatnick published a letter to the editor in The Press of Atlantic City in which he alleged that the city has failed to act on dangerous beach conditions. DeSatnick, along with members of his family, has been advocating for beach safety through several city administrations.
Dennis DeSatnick, Chad’s father, chaired the city’s Advisory Committee on Beach Safety until a proposed new resolution altering the mission of the committee surfaced at the end of 2021. The proposed new resolution broadens the scope of the committee’s mission and, for both Dennis and Chad DeSatnick, placed less emphasis on the safety issues. Both resigned from the committee.
The argument concerning the safety of the Cape May beaches rests on an association (many say an unproven association) between beach replenishment efforts and the creation of a dangerous slope condition in the surf zone, the area between the high and low tide marks on the beach. Wave action, strengthened by those beach conditions, is seen as a major contributing factor to what the DeSatnicks say is a higher-than-expected number of spinal cord and other injuries.
Neither Chad nor Dennis DeSatnick have advocated an end to beach replenishment. Chad DeSatnick underscored that point in his presentation.
They argue for greater city investment in beach safety, coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop a demonstration project to make the beaches safer, the hiring by the city of a coastal engineer to study the issues, and continued focus on safety as the central mission of the advisory committee.
Chad DeSatnick claims to have data that demonstrates the need for action and the dangerous conditions on the beaches. The Army Corps of Engineers has maintained that there is no data that demonstrates a link between beach replenishment and dangerous surf zone conditions.
A potential study project proposed by Stockton University’s Coastal Research Center, in 2016, was not implemented by the administration of Clarence Lear when it took office in 2017.
Chad DeSatnick was particularly dismissive of an article in the Cape May Sentinel by Bob and Barbara Dreyfuss in December 2021. In that article, the authors argued, after a survey of available information, that there was “no data to show that Cape May’s beaches are dangerous.”
At the same May 17 meeting, the council heard a presentation by Dr. Stewart Farrell, who heads the Coastal Research Center, on a new study of sand movement with which the city is moving forward. That study may provide some insight into the issue of slope development, but it is not a sufficient response in the mind of Chad DeSatnick.
DeSatnick feels that conditions on the city beaches warrants having the city manipulate sand now to reduce the surf zone slope. He maintains that the city’s proposed resolution for the advisory committee mission, a resolution that has not yet been acted upon, is a “step back” on beach safety.
The city responds that safety is, and always will be, an unwavering priority. Solicitor Christopher Gillen-Schwartz said the city administration is acting to gather the best information, so that it can make informed decisions going forward.
In public comment, one resident, William Seeger, noted that the view from the audience’s perspective was that the discussion seemed unanticipated. He urged the council to do a better job of vetting the content of presentations before allowing them to be added to the agenda.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
