Shore towns to Margate: Don't block the dune

VENTNOR, N.J. - The message was clear Wednesday morning from the mayors of Ventnor and Longport to Margate, the beach town that sits between them: Get out the way and allow a protective dune to be built.

After filing suit against the state Department of Environmental Protection, Margate will appear in federal court on Thursday to continue to plead its case to prevent the DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers from proceeding with a $74 million project that would build a contiguous dune along the length of Absecon Island from Atlantic City south to Longport.

U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb in December told the DEP that its reliance on an administrative order from Gov. Christie to seize municipal easements - like those from Margate - was "misplaced." She told the sides to try to come to an agreement, but a meeting in Philadelphia last week between Margate's lawyers and the DEP proved fruitless.

"There's more at stake here than just Margate. We're here today to make that point," Ventnor Mayor Michael Bagnell said at a news conference Wednesday at Oxford Avenue and the Boardwalk.

The Boardwalk location was chosen because the town has archived photos that illustrate the devastation wrought at the spot by an unnamed 1944 hurricane that barreled up the coast and wiped out homes and businesses. Newspaper headlines from the era also documented the damage.

Bagnell said rebuilding the Boardwalk after that storm cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and replacing Ventnor's 1.8-mile wooden walkway now would run more than $18 million.

Before Hurricane Sandy, Longport had resisted federal dune building, but it voluntarily gave its public easements to the state so the latest project could move forward.

"We are trying to make the statement that we are very much concerned about what could happen when the next hurricane or nor'easter hits us, and we want the federal court to understand this," Longport Mayor Nick Russo said.

Margate has argued that the state's one-size-fits-all plan - created following Sandy and Gov. Christie's order to build a dune system along New Jersey's entire 127-mile coastline - is too arbitrary to justify the involuntary taking of beachfront to build a dune.

Voters in two referendums last year told Margate officials that they don't want a dune either. Reasons for dune opposition in the town run the gamut: A dune would obscure the view of the beach and ocean, take up too much room on the beachfront, create drainage problems during high tide and flooding, and ultimately scour sand off the beach, according to Margate City Solicitor John Scott Abbott.

Abbott said Margate has a bulkhead system that works sufficiently to protect the beach and nearby properties.

"Residents don't want the dune, and they have made that clear to us," Abbott said Wednesday.

Officials from Margate did not attend the Boardwalk news conference but issued a statement noting that while the town respects the opinion of its neighbors to its north and south, they are trying to do what's best for their own community.

"Margate's unique features - in particular the bulkhead system adjacent to our beaches - render the state's plan inappropriate for our city," the statement read.

"We completely support the rights of our neighboring communities to pursue whatever plan works best for them. We, of course, will do the same for our community."

While Margate wants the Absecon Island dune project to essentially skip over it, the DEP has said such projects ultimately provide little protection unless a strong dune line is created along the entire length of a barrier island.

Margate officials seemed unfazed by the engineering concept.

"While we felt it was a victory in December for the judge agreed with us that the state had improperly seized the beachfront for the project, it's unclear what her final ruling on this will be," said Robert E. Andrews, the former congressman who has been hired by Margate to represent the city in the matter.

Andrews said that at its meeting with the DEP in Philadelphia on Friday, Margate officials suggested that the proposed Army Corps contract be modified so each town could address its specific storm protection needs. The DEP declined to make the concession.

"We certainly respect the view of the elected leaders of our neighboring communities, and we feel the DEP and the Army Corps should show similar respect by modifying their proposed dune construction contract," Andrews said.