Avalon Prepares Beaches for Memorial Day Weekend

2010 Avalon Beach Patrol from Mickey 007

The Avalon Department of Public Works is re-opening some beach paths in Avalon’s north end in advance of Memorial Day weekend.  Throughout the winter and spring, beach paths from 10th-17th streets, and 23rd-25th streets have been closed due to severe beach erosion.  Public Works Director Bill Macomber reports that beach paths from 16th Street south to 25th Street, with the exception of 23rd Street,  will be open in advance of the holiday weekend as safe access to the beaches at these streets will be constructed.  Beach paths are still expected to be closed from 11th Street south to 15th Street due to severe erosion.   These paths are closed, and the public is encouraged to access a safe, open beach path to the north or south of this area.

The Borough of Avalon has closed select beach paths due to public safety concerns in advance of a major beach fill project that is scheduled to begin in June.  Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company of Illinois has been contracted to hydraulically pump 700,000 cubic yards of sand from 8th Street south to the border of 25th-26th streets.  This project will proceed 24 hours a day, seven days a week once the pumping of sand onto the beach front begins and will only stop due to unsafe weather conditions or mechanical issues.

The Avalon Beach Patrol will be staffed for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.  Protected beaches in Avalon include 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 26th, 28th, 30th, 32nd, 35th, 38th, 40th, 43rd, 50th, 57th, 61st, 65th, 69th, 73rd, 76th, and 79th street beaches.  During low tide, the Beach Patrol may be able to move extra lifeguard stands to the 12th and 15th street beaches this weekend; however, beach paths at those streets will remain closed to the public.  The Avalon Beach Patrol encourages all residents and visitors to only swim immediately in front of a guarded lifeguard stand for safety purposes.  Ocean water temperatures this week are averaging in the upper 50s to near 60 degrees.

Starting on Saturday, May 23rd, beach tags will be required for beach goers in Avalon.  Beach tags must be worn by all individuals using the beach 12 years or older from 10am-5pm from May 23rd through September 6th.  Preseason beach tags may be purchased on or before May 31st at the Beach Tag Booth at 30th Street and the beach, or from any beach tag checker.  Pre-season beach tags are $22 for the season, $12 per week, and $6 per day.  Recioprocity of beach tags is observed between Avalon and Stone Harbor.  Avalon is proud to offer free beach tags to all veterans of the United States Armed Forces, as well to all active military members and their immediate families.

Here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions regarding the upcoming beach fill project in Avalon:

FAQ’s Regarding Avalon’s Upcoming Beach Fill Project

The Bor­ough of Avalon will be hav­ing a major beach fill project in the north end of our com­mu­nity. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Com­pany was awarded a $6.3 mil­lion con­tract for the beach fill, which is ten­ta­tively sched­uled to begin on or about June 9th, and by con­tract, must be com­pleted by June 29th. The dredge “Illi­nois” will be used for the Avalon beach fill project; it is cur­rently peform­ing work of an emer­gent nature in our neigh­bor­ing com­mu­nity of Strath­mere, Upper Township.

Here are some Fre­quently Asked Ques­tions con­cern­ing the Avalon beach fill project:

Where will the beach fill take place? Sand will by hydrauli­cally dredged from Townsend’s Inlet between Avalon and Sea Isle City and placed on the beach between 8th Street and south to the bor­der of 25th-26th streets. Approx­i­mately 700,000 cubic yards of sand will be placed on the beaches.

Why do com­mu­ni­ties like Avalon do beach fills? Two pri­mary and equally impor­tant rea­sons. First, the beaches and dunes pro­vide the first defense against any large storm event and pro­vide Avalon with a high level of pro­tec­tion. Sec­ond, the beaches pro­vide a big recre­ational ben­e­fit for our entire com­mu­nity. Beach fills pro­vide resiliency for our com­mu­nity which, in part, helps Avalon main­tain an AAA bond rat­ing from Stan­dard and Poor’s, and a 25% dis­count on flood insur­ance rates, along with a rat­able base of $7.3 billion.

Is this a good time for Avalon to receive a beach fill? Yes, espe­cially for the pro­tec­tion ben­e­fit. The beach fill will take place at the very begin­ning of the Atlantic hur­ri­cane sea­son and will pro­vide the Bor­ough with a high level of resiliency shall a major Atlantic storm arrive dur­ing the sum­mer or fall. A reminder, Hur­ri­cane Sandy made land­fall in New Jer­sey in late Octo­ber, 2012.

Will the beach fill oper­ate 24 hours a day? Yes, once the beach fill begins it is a con­tin­u­ous oper­a­tion. Hydraulic beach fills only stop for a mechan­i­cal failure/safety issue, or due to a storm that would put the dredge at risk being in the inlet.

Which beaches are nour­ished first? Just like other beach fill projects in Avalon the beach fill will begin at the 8th Street Jetty and move south along the beach­front. The beach fill will con­clude at 26th Street at the end of the project. As beaches are filled in, the con­trac­tor adds more pipe to pump the slurry (sand and water) onto a beach while mechan­i­cal equip­ment spreads the sand for a pro­tec­tive beach.

Will all of the beaches be closed? Absolutely not. About two blocks of beach directly to the north and south of where the work is being done will be closed, with all other beaches in the Bor­ough being open. As the project moves south, beaches that had been closed for the beach fill will be reopened with a safe crossover of the dredge pipe for the pub­lic to enjoy the beach. At all times, all other beaches in the Bor­ough will remain open.

Will I be able to get up close to the beach fill as it occurs? No. Safety crews will be on site 24 hours a day to pre­vent the pub­lic from access­ing the imme­di­ate area where the beach is being filled. The Bor­ough of Avalon respect­fully asks that you refrain from attempt­ing to access a beach path that is closed for safety. Kindly go a block or two to the north and south of the beach fill work to access an open beach. Remem­ber, Avalon offers free park­ing adja­cent to the beach and our beach tag booth at 30th Street where you can park your car and enjoy the beach.

What will the impact be on the neigh­bor­hood adja­cent to where the beach fill takes place? All tem­po­rary lights will be shined away from homes dur­ing the overnight hours to pro­vide light­ing on the beach at night. The dredge is in the inlet so noise from the dredge not be heard onshore. Noise on the beach will include the heavy equip­ment that is spread­ing the sand on the beach on the block that is being worked on, along with light noise from the slurry mov­ing through the pipe. On aver­age, a beach fill moves at a rate of about one block per day with no interruptions.

Are beach fill sched­ules absolute? No. As men­tioned above, there are fac­tors that can tem­porar­ily halt a project includ­ing bad weather or mechan­i­cal failure/safety issues. The Bor­ough will con­tinue to pro­vide updates on this activ­ity and sched­ules when they become available.

There are already beach paths closed in the north end. Will they reopen? Yes, these beach paths will reopen once the beach in front of them has new sand and it is graded out by the mechan­i­cal equip­ment. As of May 5th, beach paths from 10th-17th streets, and 23rd-25th streets are closed due to safety issues largely caused by large cliffs of sand from severe ero­sion. In advance of Memo­r­ial Day week­end, the Avalon Depart­ment of Pub­lic Works will eval­u­ate these beach paths to see if sand can be tem­porar­ily moved to cre­ate safe access to the beach. If that is impos­si­ble, the beach path will remain closed until the beach fill occurs on that spe­cific block.

This will be Avalon’s first hydraulic beach fill project since March, 2013 fol­low­ing Hur­ri­cane Sandy. Updates on the beach fill project will be pro­vided on Avalon’s offi­cial web­site, www.avalonboro.net; on the Bor­ough of Avalon’s Face­book page; on ShoreTV Com­cast Chan­nel 97 (Avalon/Stone Harbor/Sea Isle City), and other media outlets.

2017-01-02T18:58:31-05:00

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