A Jersey Shore town starved for sand will — to the relief of local leaders — finally replenish its beach with at least 330,000 cubic yards of sand.
But North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello emphasized that the repairs coming to his city in the next few weeks will be temporary and only cover part of the shoreline.
At the moment, about 10 blocks of the 36-block-long beach can’t be accessed at high tide.
He called the new work a “bridge” to more extensive shore protections throughout a larger Cape May County area expected to make headway in the summer of 2025.
The mayor said Tuesday the emergency nourishment will put “critically needed sand” on the beach to protect shore properties and for the town’s “economic viability.”
In the summer months, North Wildwood’s population typically goes from 5,000 to roughly 40,000 people.
Here’s what we know about the emergency work so far.
Where will the sand come from?
At the end of April, Gov. Phil Murphy’s office and North Wildwood officials announced the “North Wildwood Emergency Beach Nourishment Dredging” project.
The project, which will be led by the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Office of Maritime Resources, comes four years after the state first cited North Wildwood for conducting beach construction without the appropriate permits and over a year into the city’s extensive battle with erosion.
All the sand for the new emergency beach nourishment will come from Hereford Inlet, Steve Schapiro, a spokesman for the NJDOT, told NJ Advance Media in a statement on Wednesday.
The inlet — a natural gap between North Wildwood and Stone Harbor — is a mile wide and constantly influx due to shifting tides and climate change, according to nonprofit Save Coastal Wildlife.
“The project will be entirely from the approved borrow zone at Hereford Inlet. Plans are still being finalized,” Schapiro said.
Rosenello said dredging is preferable to “back passing” sand, trucking it over from sister city Wildwood as North Wildwood had done for years.
“The sand compacts as it’s pumped, it tends to form a much more natural slope into the surf zone. Both of those components make it much more stable,” the mayor said. “As opposed to the mess that we had to use for trucking. You build up these massive piles of sand. They dry out completely. So now, it’s powdery sand and you’re bulldozing powdery sand into the surface.”
A public notice for the work issued Friday, (comments for which will be accepted until May 18) states that as much as 1,030,000 cubic yards of sand could be dredged. At least 333,000 cubic yards are expected to be collected, the notice said.
Using Hereford Inlet to source sand has been a fraught prospect for nearby Jersey Shore towns for nearly a decade.
Right now, federal funds can’t legally be used to dredge the inlet and refill North Wildwood’s beaches — but state and city taxpayer money can.
Who is paying for the emergency project?
New Jersey will dedicate $10 million in taxpayer funds for North Wildwood’s emergency beach repairs, state officials confirmed.
North Wildwood’s mayor previously said the city may contribute money for the interim project as well. He did not clarify how much.
NJDOT officials said the emergency project’s scope could be expanded based on additional local funding.
The new $10 million allotment is a drop in the bucket given the Garden State’s history.
Beach replenishments have happened steadily in New Jersey — with at least $3 billion worth of sand pumped and poured across our shores in the last 90 years.
When will the repairs be completed?
Weather permitting, the emergency repairs are scheduled to be done by July 4, North Wildwood officials said.
“The dredged sand will be spread and graded within the fill area by bulldozers to authorized federal design template specifications,” federal officials said.
The mayor said these projects typically require a couple of blocks of the beach to be closed at a time.
“In talking with the state, they seem very comfortable that they can be finished by July 4, and that would be great,” Mayor Rosenello said. “If it’s a little bit past that, that’s fine too.”
While local officials are planning for — and counting on — work being done by early July, the U.S. Army Corps project notice said the emergency construction could run from mid-May up to August.
Will the beach be fully replenished?
No.
“NJDOT is working on a design that we hope will extend sand from around the north jetty to at least between 7th and 8th (Avenues),” Schapiro, a department spokesman, said.
Rosenello called the project a big improvement.
“Is it going to make the entire beach from one end to the other built out exactly to the Army Corps profile? That’s not what we’re expecting from this project,” he said.
Various sections near the North Wildwood Sea Wall are closed due to the state of the erosion.
Rocky jetties have signs that ask visitors to keep off and, when fierce waves come in, the gazebo and railings are often sprayed with water.
In a Friday project outline, the Army Corps said: “The proposed beach re-nourishment area is located between East 2nd Avenue and East 26th Avenue.”
State and local officials shared that a final design was still in the works.
Will North Wildwood still ban tents on the beach?
Before the emergency work was announced, North Wildwood said it would likely ban tents, canopies and cabanas for this summer given the dwindled state of the beach.
Will that still be the case?
Rosenello said — ahead of a City Council meeting to decide the matter May 7 — that North Wildwood will still seek to ban those kinds of beach fixtures. However, the city will add provisions.
“We are tweaking that ordinance to give City Council more flexibility on how that is enforced,” the mayor said.
Instead of an ordinance that would amend city code that is over 70 years old, Rosenello said North Wildwood will implement the ban by resolution. That means at any future meeting the council will be able to rescind the policy.
The success of the emergency beach replenishment could dictate if the ban remains in place, he said.
Are North Wildwood and New Jersey still locked in a legal battle?
Yes.
The $33 million legal bout — which partly stems from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection fining North Wildwood $12.8 million for unauthorized beach repairs — continues.
However, Rosenello said he hopes the latest emergency work is a step in the right direction to alleviate the tension.
“Governor Murphy stepped in and really just in my opinion showed true leadership and with the assistance of Senator (Mike Testa, R-Cumberland) they were able to — in a bipartisan way — put this thing together,” Rosenello said.
