{"id":1674,"date":"2018-02-21T01:15:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=1674"},"modified":"2018-02-21T01:15:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T06:15:00","slug":"seaside-heights-beach-replenishment-disaster-looks-to-be-averted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2018\/02\/seaside-heights-beach-replenishment-disaster-looks-to-be-averted\/","title":{"rendered":"Seaside Heights Beach Replenishment ‘Disaster’ Looks to be Averted"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Beach<\/a>

Beach replenishment in Ortley Beach, N.J., as of June 14, 2017. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Sun, sand and surf will be alive and well in Seaside Heights this summer.<\/p>\n

Borough officials say they are confident the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not shut down borough beaches during the height of the busy summer tourism season so a beach replenishment and dune-building project can take place. Work on the project was originally scheduled to be going on now \u2013 in the winter \u2013 but mechanical issues and foul weather have delayed work in other towns, pushing back the Seaside Heights portion of the project.<\/p>\n

“It looks like we\u2019re going to be scheduled for the end of August,” said Mayor Anthony Vaz, adding that final confirmation of the new project date would likely come Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Vaz praised U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur and Gov. Phil Murphy for supporting the borough’s position that beaches should not be closed in a town so dependent on summer tourism revenue.<\/p>\n

“Tom MacArthur has been 100 percent supportive, and\u00a0Governor Murphy\u2019s office has called and been on top of it,” he said.<\/p>\n

The project, Vaz said, will begin on the north end of town where few activities are planned \u2013 so even if the work begins before Labor Day, the beach experience for visitors should be be greatly affected. There is also the possibility that there will be additional delays.<\/p>\n

“We only have a few activities planned for September and they\u2019re all on the south end,” Vaz said. “Even if they get stuck again \u2026 I don\u2019t care if they start in October, that\u2019s okay with me too.”<\/p>\n

The one remaining issue \u2013 one that is unique to Seaside Heights \u2013 is the fact that the borough utilized fixed, wooden entrances to the beach from the boardwalk. Those entrances have already been removed due to the fact that the project was supposed to have taken place over the winter. As it currently stands, there is no way to access the beach, though crews have already started working on a temporary entrance for this weekend’s Polar Plunge event.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ll build, lease or make portable ramps,” Vaz said. “They may not be the type we\u2019re used to, but we\u2019ll have something.”<\/p>\n

The Army Corps’ contractor, Weeks Marine, will install permanent ramps that do not disturb the 22-foot dune that will be built as part of the project.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sun, sand and surf will be alive and well in Seaside Heights this summer. Borough officials say they are confident the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not shut down borough beaches during the height of the busy summer tourism season so a beach replenishment and dune-building project can take place. Work on the project […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[99,11],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-ocean-county-news","tag-beach-replenishment","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/DSC_0192.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}