Beach Replenishment update 8-19-09

STONE HARBOR - Borough officials are awaiting word on whether a dredge pumping sand along Cape May County beaches will reach Stone Harbor in the summer or the fall.

Stone Harbor and North Wildwood will be the last two municipalities to receive sand through a massive $22 million, four-municipality beach replenishment funded mostly by state dollars.

At a Borough Council meeting, state officials on Tuesday afternoon detailed plans for Stone Harbor's $2.5 million beach fill, of which the borough is paying about $637,000.

But officials said the project, which is proceeding south, does not necessarily have to hit Stone Harbor before North Wildwood.

Since the work requires temporary beach closings, it would be advantageous to Stone Harbor to have its relatively smaller and less time-consuming beach after North Wildwood's.

Work could take place in the fall instead of late August, when beaches are still stocked with vacationers.

The dredge in Stone Harbor will borrow 245,000 cubic yards of sand from Hereford Inlet and pump it on beaches between 98th Street and 111th Street, said Ben Keiser, manager of the state Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Coastal Engineering.

The dredge, which churns sand from the sea floor and sucks it through large tubes like a vacuum cleaner, will operate for about nine days in Stone Harbor, working 24 hours a day, Keiser said.

In comparison, North Wildwood's project will include nearly 1.2 million cubic yards of sand and will take more than a month, Keiser said.

The dredging operation will close 1,000 feet of beach at a time - about three blocks - while sand sludge is pushed through the tubes and leveled out by heavy machinery.

The dredge started in Strathmere, Upper Township and currently is stocking sand on Sea Isle City beaches on its way to Stone Harbor and North Wildwood.

The phase of the project in Sea Isle City, which is receiving about 400,000 cubic yards of sand, still has more than a week of work left, depending on the weather, Keiser said.

Stone Harbor, which has the smallest of the four local beach fills, was not originally included in the beach replenishment work, but was added later as an option.

E-mail Brian Ianieri:

BIanieri [at] pressofac [dot] com (BIanieri [at] pressofac [dot] com)