LBI- Beach-Replenishment -Online Petition

[NIGHTSTRIKES]

This is from the Surfrider Foundation,But
This Will Benefit Fishermen ALso...

Check It Out, Thanks,
LBI Petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/lbibeach/)

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Here is More Info:
DEP chief: LBI beach project will start in fall
By JARRETT RENSHAW Staff Writer, (609) 978-2015

LONG BEACH ISLAND - The long-awaited and highly anticipated 17-mile Long Beach Island beach-replenishment project will begin in September, despite growing concerns over possible lack of federal funding, the state's top environmental official said Wednesday.

State Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell made his announcement on the heels of the proposed federal budget, which called for $154 million for beach-replenishment funds nationwide, including $17 million for projects in New Jersey.

"There are provisions in place to protect our access to federal funding ... and if we have to, we (the state) will front-end some of the costs to get the project started in September," Campbell said.

Campbell also addressed the issue of the federally required public beach access situation that threatened the future of the project. He said the issue is being resolved and would not threaten its future.

The project would build a 17-mile-long dune, or mound, along the island's beaches that would help prevent erosion, similar to the current project in Atlantic City.

The project also would provide beach renewal work to be done every seven years.

The project would cost $50 million to $60 million over the first five years, including at least $18 million in the first year.

The news came as a surprise to many of the key players in the project.

"This is the first I heard of the state's commitment and we are glad to see that we have a partner," said Merv Brokke, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman. He added that until things are finalized everything is speculation.

"I am elated and surprised," said Sen. Leonard Connors, R-Ocean, Burlington, Atlantic, who is also the mayor of Surf City.

Before construction could begin, among other procedures, the state and the federal government must enter into a project-cooperation agreement, which spells out the funding formula.

Historically the formula has been 65 percent from the federal government and 35 percent from a nonfederal partner, such as the DEP.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received $1 million in November from the federal government for the start of construction on the project, but the news out of Washington made the corps think the long-anticipated project would have to wait another year.

"The one million dollars would have gotten us to the beginning of the construction period, but we would not be able to start construction," Brokke said.

The man behind the initial funding was U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton, R-3rd) who met with Army Corps of Engineers officials today in Washington, D.C., to discuss this issue.

"Representative Saxton is encouraged by the news, but he knows it is going to be a long fight this year getting the funding," said Jeff Sagnip, a Saxton spokesman.

Sagnip said last year's budget called for no specific beach-replenishment funding either, but in the final budget it was provided.

The studies and design for the project began in 1993. Although funding has always been one of the major obstacles to the start of construction, another major factor has been beach access.

Long-time Long Beach Township Mayor James Mancini used to say, "When they show me the money, I will get beach access problem resolved."

So before his death late last year, Mancini began tackling the problem after Saxton announced that $1 million had been appropriated for construction of the project.

For a beach replenishment project to receive federal funding it must be public, which is defined by public beach access every quarter of a mile.

Two portions of Long Beach Township, Loveladies and North Beach, have large patches of private beach access.

"We have resolved the problems in Loveladies and we are now working on the verbiage for the contracts in North Beach," said Long Beach Township's attorney, Richard Shackleton, who has spent the last several months helping acquire easements in those areas.

Campbell, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Saxton all said Wednesday that they believed that beach access concerns will be resolved.

"I am confident that all parties will get this thing going and we start construction in September," Campbell said.
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Some surfers fear LBI beach project will calm waves
By MIKE JACCARINO Staff Writer, (609) 978-2010

Many local surfers are concerned that an upcoming Army Corps of Engineers project to replenish Long Beach Island's eroded beaches will put an end to the 17-mile strip of land's lengthy history as one of the best spots in New Jersey to ride the waves.

Residents have held at least two informal meetings to plot strategy and have begun circulating an electronic petition to southern Ocean County politicians to lobby the Army Corps of Engineers for a modification of the current design of the beach project. Nearly 1,900 people have signed.

"Surfers want the beaches saved as much as anyone," said Ship Bottom resident and local surfer Caroline Unger, who wrote the book "Surfing LBI." "We just think that there is a way to do it while protecting the interests of people who enjoy riding the waves."

This fall, the corps is expected to begin work on the LBI Project, a 50-year plan to protect Long Beach Island's beaches from erosion by drastically expanding them with dredged sand. This week, the head of the state Department of Environmental Protection said it would front the money for the project's start even if federal funding is not allocated.

Some believe that tinkering with the beaches may negatively affect the size and shape of the waves, like what occurred in Monmouth County, where an ongoing Army Corps of Engineers beach-replenishment project has, according to some, transformed one-time surfing hot spots into places where it is hardly worth waiting for a sizeable wave.

"From Sea Bright to Long Branch, there were over 20 surf spots that were completely destroyed," said Loch Arbor Mayor Bill Rosenblatt, whose nearby town has held off scheduled replenishment for fear the same would happen there.

"West Long Branch was the epicenter of surfing in Monmouth County. At one time there were three surf shops there," Rosenblatt added. "From the time they re-nourished it until now, the surf was completely gone. It's only coming back now."

Evidence of this, the mayor said, is the surge in Loch Arbor's beach badge sales. Last year, the town sold its 1,000 badges in two days, swamped by local ocean enthusiasts eager for a place where the waves still ran high. Not once in the recent memory did the town previously sell out, he said.

Still, some in the surf community aren't willing to join the movement, either out of uncertainty whether beach replenishment will have the same effect for Long Beach Island or over concern the consequences of not expanding the beach. Last year, erosion so damaged the island's coast that some waterfront homes were left nearly teetering into the surf, with the owners of homes seeing some renters back out of contracts.

"I'm not against it, but I'm not supporting it, either," said Mary Miller, owner of Mary's Surf Shack in Ship Bottom, of the movement to sway local politicians. "There's not enough information to form an opinion. I care about the surf, but I also care about residents who have properties at the end of the beach block."

Likewise, John Gross, owner of Surf Unlimited, another surf shop in Ship Bottom, refrained from signing the Internet petition, despite receiving it from two different people.

"As a homeowner, I'm all for it," Gross said of the Army Corps' plan. The 44-year-old lives on Long Beach Boulevard, and although his home is safely away from the tide, Gross recalled the exact day of a particularly destructive storm more than 10 years ago that brought waters close.

"(My home) is the greatest investment in my life. I don't come for two weeks out of the year. I live here."

According to Rosenblatt and Unger, there may be a way to appease the surfing community while still expanding Long Beach Island's coast. Currently, Loch Arbor, the mayor said, is negotiating with the Army Corps of Engineers for a modified replenishment design. "They've been willing to work with us," he said.

Either way, the topic is likely to be a hot one for some time to come. While Gross steered clear of the petition, his desk clerk, Elaine Molloy, 24, of Beach Haven, signed it last week.

[ 02-27-2004, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: NIGHTSTRIKES ]

[Tigger2]

Personally....I don't think the Government should be putting our tax dollars to work for a select few people. I am a fisherman, I grew up going to LBI, however I do not appreciate having to pay to use the beach with my family. If we have to pay for the use of the beach, then the local townships should be responsible for putting the sand back or the homeowners who have beach side homes should pay. My tax dollars being spent to replenish a beach so the townships can charge me to use them is idiotic.

I say let nature take its course. Too bad for the waterfront homeowners. Mother nature will give and take as she sees fit. When we stop playing god and let nature do its job the environment will be much better served.

Thank you.
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[HutchJr.]

"My tax dollars being spent to replenish a beach so the townships can charge me to use them is idiotic."

Arguably Tigger, where do the funds come from to hire lifeguards, additional police to patrol those beaches, and for workers/equipment to clean those beaches? Beach badge fees. Not enough money comes from those badge sales to replenish beaches. It's federal and state, not local munic.

"I say let nature take its course. Too bad for the waterfront homeowners."

Waterfront homeowners aside, what happens to the tourism dollar when the size of the beach is cut in half, when streets are breached, and side roads are eventually washed out? If beaches are not maintained, how do resort towns continue to draw summer visitors? Without summer visitors, how much tax revenue will the state lose? If the state loses (arguably) millions in additional sales tax, motel tax, restaurant tax, tolls, b&t tax, etc., from the fact that summer tourists turn elsewhere, what will McGreevey tax (sorry, he's not taxing, they're 'user fees') next to close the deficit?

Just a thought.

[Robbo65]

Good points Hutch, My family and I have been going to LBI for vacation for years, and I'll say the last few years when deciding where to stay, one of the first things we checked out was the beach, and how much was or wasn't there.

[NIGHTSTRIKES]

Wave concerns
Surfers fear LBI project will wipe out sport
By ZACH PATBERG Staff Writer, (609) 978-2010
Published: Monday, August 14, 2006
Staff photo by Bill Gross
Surfing Instructor Dave Werner, shown Tuesday with pupil Kevin Cooper, 11, of Media,Pa., in Ship Bottom, is wary of the effect the beach replenishment program will have on surfing, citing a similar project in Monmouth County.
http://pressofatlanticcity-proxy.nandomedia.com/ips_rich_content/375-wave.jpg


Last year, Billy Machotka and his teenage son logged 260 surfing trips to Long Beach Island. Machotka knows this because he wrote them down, along with the temperature and which wetsuit he wore.

Machotka dreads the day he and son Pete, 16, don't wake up together at 6 a.m. on a February morning to ride waves so cold they freeze eyelids and leave thin coats of ice on the beach.

“One day I said, ‘Pete, when you get your license, we won't be doing this together much,'” said the 48-year-old resident of Stafford Township, Ocean County. “He said, ‘Yep, that's right.'”

But the idea of letting his son loose is not what's worrying Machotka most these days. As talk nears action on the landmark project to replenish most of the island's 18 miles of beach, surfers fear the change in shore infrastructure could amount to doomsday for the sport on the island.

The proposal by the state Depart-ment of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers entails dredging 11 million cubic yards of sand from the ocean bed about three to four miles from the beach and spraying it on shore to create a flat beach extending about 100 feet farther into the sea. That, coupled with beefed-up dunes, will better fortify the narrow island against storms.

In December, at the DEP's request, about 50 area members of the Surfrider Foundation took to the beach, measuring slopes and mapping sections. Their job was to identify the best places for surfing and bring them to the DEP to consider when it embarks on the project.

But the foundation saw the entire project design as flawed. The new flat beach would swallow sandbars and jetties — two crucial components for decent waves, which would then be forced to break on a cliff-like shore and crash directly on the beach.
“That drop-off into deep water will be the new shoreline,” said Brian Coen, 30, a six-year Surfrider member and 20-year island surfer. “Rather than rolling up to the beach, it's going to explode right there.”
When the foundation came back to the DEP in May, it brought not only a list of hot spots but another project design altogether.
The alternative proposal, backed by two out-of-state coast replenishment experts, calls for shaving off the corner of the project's proposed seaward berm edge, creating a gentler slope into the surf. Although the change would mean reducing the flat portion by a little less than 40 percent, Surfriders' East Coast regional manager John Weber said the revised slope would be barely noticeable and would require using only about 10 percent less sand.
The DEP did not agree, however. And even if it did, any substantial change in the project design would require a reauthorization from Congress that would take years to pass and result in a 15 percent cut in current federal funds, which account for 65 percent of the project's $71 million price tag, according the agency.
“The department does not support a reduction of the beach berm which would result in a reduction of the storm damage protection that the current project design provides,” DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura said in an e-mail.
Both the DEP and the Corps of Engineers pledge that by the first winter after the replenishment is finished, the sandbars will return as the entire beach equilibrates to its former self, “unless there are significant changes in normal wave energies and directions from the historical record,” the corps said.
Despite the DEP's rejection, the Surfrider proposal has become the accepted alternative among many island surfers and the one they insist will salvage not only wave-riding but all beach recreation.
Greg Rudolph, shore protection manager for Carteret County, N.C., wrote in a report he compiled for the foundation that the burial of jetties and sandbars were the “most salient issues” and “could negatively impact swimming safety, fishing, and surfing.”
In a follow-up phone interview, he added that the duration and severity of such an impact were gigantic unknowns, but that the surfers' alternative proposal was worth implementing as it would not significantly increase the island's vulnerability to storms.
Michael Walther, of Coastal Tech in Vero Beach, Fla., who was approached by the foundation to draft its new design, also concluded that the 10 percent reduction of sand pumped onto the beaches was “not extravagant.”
Weber and other surfers point to the replenishment of Monmouth County's coastline as evidence of the poor odds shore towns face when betting on such reshaped beaches returning to normal.
“Some never recovered,” Dave Werner, a surfing instructor, said Wednesday while taking a break from giving a lesson to two 11-year-old boys in Ship Bottom. “Surfers are still coming down here because the waves aren't breaking up there.”
The Monmouth project, which began in 1995 and nourished beaches from Sandy Hook to Manasquan Inlet, was almost identical in construction methods to the Long Beach Island project.
“The whole thing could recuperate eventually and be better off for everyone, but that's a roll of the dice we're not thrilled about making,” Brian Coen said.
Yet Coen and his fellow riders insist the issue goes beyond technicalities. The change in beachscape will in the end alter the course of a pastime, they say, that has thrived on the island for two generations.
“We've got a handful of guys still in the water telling stories of when it got popular,” Coen said from his home in Manasquan, where framed photos of him and his roommate grinding foam line the header above his kitchen. “Now they're out there with their kids.”
To e-mail Zach Patberg at The Press:
ZPatberg@pressofac.com (ZPatberg@pressofac.com)




Bill Machotka, who used to work at Tuckerton Lumber in Surf City to support his surfing habit, now watches as his son, Pete, works with “his crew” at the Surf Shack.
He said that if the worst scenario unfolds — that is, if surfing is smothered on the island — he'll probably relocate to Point Pleasant or Ocean City.
But that, he said, would be devastating. “Here is home,” he said. “You develop a brotherhood over the years where it's not just the waves but the people you're surfing with. It brings you back to when you're a kid. Trying to go to an area like Manasquan where you're not as welcome as part of the crew would make finding that experience again so much harder.”

[ragman]

Sadly, I think the whole repenishment thing is wanted to save someones million$ house from washing into the sea, instead of creating a larger beach. Look at whats happened in Monmouth County. They have nice wide beaches (which most cant access), the fishing went downhill, the surfing went downhill, and people are afraid to let the little kids go out in the water, due to the "improvements";) Anyone notice how Island Beach seems to recover from erosion and major storms? It's because things are allowed to happen naturally, without Mc Mansions built along the dune line, blocking the natural flow of sand being blown back on the beach from the west after a storm. Pump all the sand you want, but Mother Nature is going to take what she wants, when she wants...:)

[striper_man131]

surfers fear LBI project will wipe out sport


without surfers, I have nobody to heave metal at:D

[Bob ECT]

What a waste. When was the last time a house in LBI went down. These places aren't even in trouble. It's the Army Corp looking for another project to waste some money on.

[Fishenough]

Sadly, I think the whole repenishment thing is wanted to save someones million$ house from washing into the sea, instead of creating a larger beach. Look at whats happened in Monmouth County. They have nice wide beaches (which most cant access), the fishing went downhill, the surfing went downhill, and people are afraid to let the little kids go out in the water, due to the "improvements";) Anyone notice how Island Beach seems to recover from erosion and major storms? It's because things are allowed to happen naturally, without Mc Mansions built along the dune line, blocking the natural flow of sand being blown back on the beach from the west after a storm. Pump all the sand you want, but Mother Nature is going to take what she wants, when she wants...:)

I totally agree!!!!! Well put Ragman!! I like how you think.

[Brian E. Mullaney]

What a waste. When was the last time a house in LBI went down. These places aren't even in trouble. It's the Army Corp looking for another project to waste some money on.

Amen Bob - its a load of bullsheet they need to leave it alone :mad:

[TomM]

I'm one of those "million dollar home owners" who everyone complains is the only beneficiary of beach replenishment. In Monmouth County, prior to the project, 25 feet of open sand was a lot. Since I knew the tides and jettys and storm patters, I could practice my avocation of fishing without seeing more than one or two fishermen a night. The beach was usless for anyone other than the experienced who could come down when the 25' was dry and stake their claim right in the middle of it.

After the replenishment the beaches were absolutely breathtaking. My once private beaches are now chocked with what many call "Bennies" whose children play and scream on the beaches from first light through sunset. You don't need a tide chart to find sand. There's enough sand that people bring kiddy pools and fill them up. They fly kites, they dig holes, they make castles and they scream scream and scream. They're your children and grandchildren, sisters and brothers and they're the happiest people I have ever seen.

Oh for the good old days.

[gone_fishing]

I agree to let things happen naturally but reality is that people will never walk away from water front property. Just look at what happens on a yearly basis in the outter banks and what is happening in New Orleans now. They should have demolished the remains of the neighborhoods that are doomed and not rebuild. Instead the storm that flooded the town will be replayed at some point. You cannot hold back Mother Nature. She will win. With that said...I am fine with charging for beach tags. That is for cleaning up after the slobs and for lifeguards.

[IGGY2]

There goes the KJS surf fishing tourney:mad: :mad:

[Whiteyr]

I was down fishing LBI on a friday night in July and Surf City seemed almost deserted. 9 0'clock on a summer Friday night and we were the only ones in the pizza shop - not a phone call or another customer the whole time we were their. I commented on this to the owner who said its getting more and more common as they keep building mega-bucks homes that no-one can afford to rent or whose owners don't need to rent them out. Going away it seems is the place I remember spending two weeks a summer and many a weekend with my family. I'm not sure if the beach replenishment is good for everyone or just the new breed of homeowners who it seems are not interested in filling the place up with tourists. I haven't been to the south end
so I don't know if the same thing is happening at that end of the island.

[wentfishn47]

I haven't been to the south end
so I don't know if the same thing is happening at that end of the island.

They are all going to south end it has been pack full of people this summer!! Holgate has been as busy as I have ever remember and Beach Haven you can hardly move around on the streets with the air heads not paying attention to where they are going or they are lost!!!!

[striper_man131]

What a waste. When was the last time a house in LBI went down. These places aren't even in trouble. It's the Army Corp looking for another project to waste some money on.

I'd have to agree

One Hurricane or big Noreaster and there goes your tax dollars for nothing.

Just like the levees.

[bass ackwards]

What a waste. When was the last time a house in LBI went down. These places aren't even in trouble. It's the Army Corp looking for another project to waste some money on.

Ive personally seen a couple go down. One decent noreaster or storm and many of these houses will be history. I was just surfing in harvey cedars and the high tide mark is like 15 yards from the dune. As a surfer and fisherman I dont like the Amy Corps plain but something has to be done because these beaches produce a lot of money and jobs for people and the state. For the places that dont have public access they should fork up the cash. If all the beaches become eroded people will go to other beaches and bring the cash with them. And for all you people who want nature to take its course, if you really want that we need to start by destroying all jetties we all fish on and most areas wouldnt even be reachable because all acess roads will be gone.

[wentfishn47]

Ive personally seen a couple go down. One decent noreaster or storm and many of these houses will be history. I was just surfing in harvey cedars and the high tide mark is like 15 yards from the dune. As a surfer and fisherman I dont like the Amy Corps plain but something has to be done because these beaches produce a lot of money and jobs for people and the state. For the places that dont have public access they should fork up the cash. If all the beaches become eroded people will go to other beaches and bring the cash with them. And for all you people who want nature to take its course, if you really want that we need to start by destroying all jetties we all fish on and most areas wouldnt even be reachable because all acess roads will be gone.

Bass I agree 100% Brant Beach is real bad between 40th and 50th street some spots you can see the ocean from the road normally you have to walk up a dune opening there you don't. A few years back the surf was coming up under a few houses there.The jetties are a part of the problem as well I think. IBSP repairs it's self well b/c there is no jetties there but north jetty.

[Bigguy]

I'm still waiting for that little blue one person house to be placed on an acsess path in Loveladies.:eek: :p Joe.

[SKUNKED AGAIN]

Some of those multi-million dollar houses along the beach front would make really nice artificial reefs when they fall in to the ocean.

[Longcast]

If you think LBI will be bad, they are planning to start pumping sand from Pt. Pleasant to Seaside in a year or two and those beaches are in good shape.

Jeff

[Fishaholic29]

I was 4158 on the signature page!