STONE HARBOR BEACH FILL PROJECT TO BEGIN 

THIS WEEKEND

(Stone Harbor, NJ)- A major beach fill project in Stone Harbor is expected to begin during the upcoming weekend of Saturday and Sunday, April 13th and 14th. The project will place approximately 420,000 cubic yards of sand onto the Borough’s beachfront in advance of the summer tourism season.

“This beach fill is necessary for both the protection of our community and for our upcoming tourism season”, said Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters.   “Our beaches took punches from two recent Atlantic hurricanes and work to restore the beaches to conditions that existed before these storms will be finished before Memorial Day weekend”.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers plans to pump 420,000 cubic yards of sand from the Hereford Inlet onto sections of the Stone Harbor beachfront that were battered during Hurricane Irene in 2011, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Stone Harbor and Avalon had an agreement with the Corps to conduct a beach fill project last fall to repair damage from “Irene”; “Sandy” arrived before the beach fill was scheduled to begin and further eroded the Seven Mile Beach. The Corps agreed to repair damage from both storms in both communities. Avalon’s portion of the beach fill project concluded at the end of January, 2013.

Norfolk Dredging is under contract to conduct by the Corps for the beach fill project in Stone Harbor. The dredge “Charleston” has been mobilized from Fire Island, New York to its current location in the Hereford Inlet between Stone Harbor and North Wildwood. The dredged beach fill project is expected to begin sometime this weekend at the jetty located at the southern end of Stone Harbor and proceed north. Sand will be placed from 92nd Street south to 114th Street, and from 119th Street south to the terminal groin. The Stone Harbor beach fill project is scheduled to be completed before Memorial Day weekend, 2013. The dredge will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week during this project. Dredging will be interrupted only for unsafe weather conditions or mechanical issues. During the beach fill project, a few blocks of the Stone Harbor beachfront will not be accessible for safety reasons.

Stone Harbor officials will attend a beach fill progress meeting on Wednesday, April 17th. Various dune, crossover, dune grass, and sand fence work is also part of the Seven Mile Beach nourishment project.