{"id":7687,"date":"2020-05-28T00:57:49","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T04:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=7687"},"modified":"2020-05-28T00:57:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T04:57:49","slug":"brick-toms-river-to-team-up-on-elevating-streets-in-normandy-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2020\/05\/brick-toms-river-to-team-up-on-elevating-streets-in-normandy-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick, Toms River to Team Up on Elevating Streets in Normandy Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Normandy<\/a>

Normandy Beach, Brick and Toms River, N.J. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

The township council of both Brick and Toms River this week voted unanimously to jointly obtain state funding that will be used to raise streets in the oft-flooded Normandy Beach section \u2013 a neighborhood which is divided between the two towns.<\/p>\n

In Brick, Normandy Beach residents \u2013 before in-person meetings ceased due to the coronavirus pandemic \u2013 appeared at several council meetings to press the issue of flooding in their neighborhood. Some residents told stories of missing school and work, or even deliveries due to the flooding at high tide during storms or full moons. Most of the residents favored hard infrastructure improvements as a solution. Brick also took the step of hiring an engineering firm, ACT Engineers, which was responsible for creating a wide-ranging plan to combat flooding in Ocean City, to take a detailed look at the Normandy Beach scenario.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re still doing the study, and we\u2019re going to be setting up the neighborhood meetings, but one of the recommendations is going to be road elevations,\u201d said Brick Mayor John Ducey. \u201cSo the time to act is now in getting the funding from the state so it won\u2019t be on the backs of Brick\u2019s and Toms River\u2019s taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project will be funded through a grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for which both towns have joint applied. Brick Mayor John Ducey said he was confident the funding will, indeed, be awarded.<\/p>\n

Toms River has seen major success in reducing flooding in some neighborhoods, including Ortley Beach and Silverton, through road elevations. Township officials believe raising the road will work in Normandy Beach as well. While Brick is experimenting with newly-designed flapper valves at outfall pipes, Toms River has largely dismissed those devices as an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will prevent that flooding,\u201d said Toms River Mayor Maurice \u201cMo\u201d Hill. \u201cThe flapper valves, as we know, don\u2019t work, particularly when the tide is high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStreet elevations have been successful in the past,\u201d Hill continued. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t eliminate the flooding totally, but it does do a pretty good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ducey said engineers with ACT have already determined that elevating roads in the neighborhood would help reduce flooding, and several can be raised even before the firm authors a lengthy, final report on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting the funding now in place makes sense, so we don\u2019t have to miss a whole cycle of funding,\u201d said Ducey.<\/p>\n

The streets included in the plan are:<\/p>\n