ORTLEY BEACH, NJ – Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill today is asking the federal government to once again replenish sand lost due to a nor’easter this past weekend in Ortley Beach. Hill continues the neverending battle against mother nature to protect the oceanfront community that has already cost tens of millions of dollars in replenishment over the past two decades.
After this weekend’s storm, most of the sand was bought and paid for by taxpayers since several beach sand replenishment projects in the ten years since Superstorm Sandy have washed out to sea again. This week’s storm brought the new shoreline within several feet of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dune system, leaving little room for beachgoers this summer season.
Ortley Beach is already scheduled to get its second installment from the federal Superstorm Sandy beach replenishment project this coming fall, according to the US Army Corps proposed timeline.
The Township has requested replenishment assistance from the US Army Corp of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and is preparing to issue an emergency replenishment contract, Hill said.
Last spring most of the beach sand beyond the dunes in Ortley Beach was washed out to sea just three years after the massive project was completed.
Hill dumped nearly a quarter-million dollars worth of local taxpayer-funded sand along the beach last spring.
