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The work follows $400,000 spent last month to install a steel bulkhead after damage by Tropical Storm Ophelia and Hurricane Ian, North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said, noting the structure surrounds and protects beach patrol headquarters.
Near the 15th Avenue section of the beach, a breach stretching about 150 feet wide leaves an open hole at high tide to homes and businesses.
Work approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will plug the hole with a temporary dune, the mayor said. Rosenello noted that the emergency construction began Tuesday and should be done next week.
And the city has to foot the entire bill.
North Wildwood "is the only municipality not getting any financial help (from the state) and has not in 10 years," the mayor said on Wednesday, Nov. 1.
It's involved in litigation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to get such aid, he said.
Meanwhile, North Wildwood has been waiting about 10 years for an island-wide $20 million beach replenishment project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It includes building a flat beach to eliminate damage to the temporary dunes. That construction project is now slated to begin in the summer of 2025. Without that flat beach in front of a temporary dune, the dune doesn't last very long, the mayor said.
But the city must wait for the federal project which was approved as part of the Hurricane Sandy Recovery Act of 2013.
"That's not helpful to us for the next two years battling some of the most severe beach erosion in the state," Rosenello said.
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