Nearly $30M beach project to start soon for Avalon and Stone Harbor

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District announced this week that it will begin a $28.8 million beach replenishment project over the winter for Avalon and Stone Harbor to protect the Shore towns from future storms.

In all, a contractor plans to pump 695,000 cubic yards of sand from the ocean to the beaches.

The work will be carried out by the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Oak Brook, Ill., for “periodic nourishment.” The company plans to dredge sand from Townsends Inlet, then pump it through pipes to the beaches. The sand will be graded into dunes and berms to reduce damage from storms.

In Avalon, crews would place 231,000 cubic yards of sand from Ninth to 18th Street. However, the amount of sand could increase if needed.

In Stone Harbor, crews would place 464,000 cubic yards of sand from 90th to 123rd Street, and that amount could also increase.

“This work helps maintain the dune and berm system in Avalon and Stone Harbor, which reduces the risk of storm damages to infrastructure,” said Stephen Rochette, a spokesperson for the Army Corps.

The Army Corps, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Avalon, and Stone Harbor are partners in the project. The federal government is covering 65% of the cost, the state about 26%, and municipalities about 9%.

Both of the Shore communities are among the wealthiest along the southern portion of New Jersey’s coast.

For example, Avalon was ranked as the most expensive zip code in South Jersey in 2021 and one of the top 100 most expensive zip codes in the U.S., according to a recent Inquirer story. It’s average home value surpasses $3.4 million. And the average sales price of single-family homes in 2022 year-to-date is over $4 million.

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Not everyone is happy about the project, saying it amounts to federal dollars being used for the benefit of the wealthy and part of spiraling costs as a bulwark against climate change.

“It’s time we faced facts,” said Ross Kushner of the New Jersey Coastal Alliance. “The sea level is rising. Public funds are limited. Most damage from coastal storms is caused by flooding and storm surges in back bays and rivers. Piling more and more sand on the beaches of the uber-rich can never correct that. How we address these problems needs to make sense.”

Work is expected to begin in February or early March. In some areas, existing dunes will be repaired. But most of the work will include widening beaches between the dune and the water line.

The project is part of the larger Townsends Inlet to Cape May Inlet Coastal Storm Risk Management Project. That project includes work on the Townsends Inlet seawall in Avalon and the Hereford Inlet seawall in North Wildwood.

Beach projects are a sore point in neighboring North Wildwood, where the town is in a legal battle with the DEP.

» READ MORE: North Wildwood sues N.J. for $21M over beach dune fight and acknowledges impact of climate change

North Wildwood is suing the department for $21 million to recoup what it says is money it has spent fighting beach erosion the last decade because the state hasn’t yet started a large replenishment project as part of the federal work. That complex project includes Wildwood, West Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and Diamond Beach (part of Lower Township).

Meanwhile, the DEP sued North Wildwood in December, seeking to stop it from buttressing its dune system with what the state calls an illegal 400-foot steel bulkhead the Shore community plans to install after fall storms caused beach erosion. A hearing is set for Feb. 1.

This story has been updated to reflect that the court date for the NJ DEP and North Wildwood has been changed to Feb. 1 and to note comments from the New Jersey Coastal Alliance.