North Wildwood repairs dune affected by remnants of Ian
NORTH WILDWOOD, NJ (CBS) -- North Wildwood regraded its 16th Avenue dune Thursday despite the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) rejecting the city's request to regrade the dune and install a bulkhead.
The city submitted an emergency authorization to the DEP earlier this month after city engineer Jim Verna said Ian's remnants washed away more than 80% of the 16th Avenue dune.
Depending on what happens this storm season, Verna and other city officials fear the dune could collapse.
"Depending on the magnitude of the breach, our biggest concern would be potential hazards to the public, to life and property, and then my immediate concern from an engineering standpoint, on top of that, is the drainage system," Verna said. "It's probable that sand will wash into the system rendering it incapacitated, and we would suffer widespread flooding in addition to continued erosion."
Besides regrading the dune, North Wildwood wants to install a bulkhead behind the dune to prevent potential flooding of businesses and its beach patrol headquarters.
The state denied the city's emergency authorization, saying the city didn't prove there was an imminent threat to loss of life or property, and it argued that installing a bulkhead could lead to more erosion.
"It's just a matter of protecting the public. This isn't a case where the city's intentionally looking to do things. We're not looking to pick a fight with the state," Verna said. "It's just the city's position that they're not doing everything that they're actually obligated to do."
Besides the emergency authorization, DEP said the city still has a pending permit application to build a bulkhead at the same location, but DEP said the application has had "administrative deficiencies" since 2020.
In an email, DEP said, in part, "If the City proceeds with bulkhead installation, any dune disturbance including the requested 'reshaping,' or proceeds with reconstruction of the 25th Avenue accessway without DLRP [Division of Land Resource Protection] authorization, it will be subject to enforcement action including Civil Administrative Penalties. It should also be noted that, among other items, the beach patrol structures to the south of 15th Avenue were constructed without the required DLRP permits and are included in the Notice of Violation issued to the City in June of 2020."