Ocean City Hopeful That Army Corps Will Pump Sand to South End

A report submitted Thursday (May 30) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers includes the southern end of Ocean City as one of its "authorized but unconstructed" projects, but it provides no detail on when the work might be completed.

At a City Council meeting later on Thursday, Mayor Jay Gillian and Business Administrator Mike Dattilo characterized the report as a positive sign that the southern end of the island is on schedule to receive an Army Corps beach-replenishment project to restore eroded beaches by summer 2014.

"We're very confident that the timing is going to be just what we're hoping for," Dattilo told council.

The city administration is scheduled to participate in a Friday conference call with officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection in which the city may get more details on the potential timing of the project. Dattilo acknowledged that the report contains no definitive details on the timing or funding of an Ocean City project, but he said the city remains optimistic. 

In the weeks after Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, contractors for the city removed a thick layer of sand that covered the streets and returned it to the beach to create a protective berm to replace a dune system wiped out by the storm. The city also trucked in 90,000 cubic yards of sand as a temporary measure to help rebuild some beach.

But an Army Corps beach nourishment project — which includes pumping sand from an offshore borrow area — remains the best-case scenario for a permanent solution. 

In the Army Corpos report submitted Thursday, Ocean City is listed as part of a $68 million project to restore beaches from Great Egg Harbor Inlet to Townsends Inlet south of Sea Isle City (it makes no mention of the recently completed work from Great Egg Harbor Inlet to 14th Street in Ocean City). The Army Corps had updated Ocean City on Feb. 28 on its plans for a south end project.

The report says the Army Corps will continue to work on an analysis of 18 different approved projects.

"The timing and sequencing of construction could vary based on site-specific factors, such as the complexity and scope of the recommended plan; the need to acquire real estate, easements, and right-of-ways; permitting timelines and environmental windows; and contracting schedules and the pace of contractor progress," the report says. (See attached PDF to read the full report.)

City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said is trying to secure easements 172 property owners who have rights to land seaward of the bulkhead (86 between 34th Street and 59th Street and another 86 between 23rd Street and 34th Street).

After sending out requests in January and follow-ups in February, the city has received only 57 signed easements that would allow beach replenishment work to proceed.

McCrosson said the city will send another letter, and she reminded owners that easements already signed in the 1990s are no longer applicable. But she said the city is also preparing to condemn the easements, a legal process to secure rights for the project, even at the risk of long and potentially costly legal proceedings.

She said she is working toward a Sept. 1 deadline to secure all easements.

"We're going to make sure the easements are no impediment to our timing," Dattilo said.

In a related update, Dattilo said the temporary sand-hauling operation from an offshore quarry is complete. He acknowledged that certain loads of sand contained debris and that city was working with the contractor to "make it right."

He also said an internal harvesting operation to truck sand from the beach near the Ocean City-Longport Bridge to the south end will begin next week.

In an update on the recently completed Army Corps project on the north end of the island, Dattilo said equipment should be clear of almost all beaches by the end of Friday and from the beach at Morningside Avenue by next week.

Work to repair outfall pipes on the beaches will continue through June.