Had there not been a massive breach in Mantoloking during Superstorm Sandy, there is a good chance mainland neighborhoods across the bay would not have seen flooding to the levels they did.
With that in mind, part of the focus of township officials in the continuing post-Sandy recovery is shoring up Brick's ocean dunes in order to protect both barrier island and mainland homeowners.
In Toms River, a debate is emerging over private beach associations signing permanent easements which would permit the renourishment work to commence on once-private property.
So far, Toms River officials have been unsuccessful in convincing the associations to allow access to their beaches in order to restore the dune network, but in Brick, cooler heads seem to be prevailing.
"I personally don't think it will be too much of a problem in Brick," said Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis.
Business Administrator Scott Pezarras has been in touch with the owners and association representatives of private beaches, the mayor said, and indications are that the process is beginning to go well.
Brick also maintains three of its own public beaches complete with ammenities such as restrooms, showers and a snack stand, more than satisfying public access requirements under federal guidelines to receive beach replenishment funding.
Though access to some beaches is privately controlled in Brick, the public is not barred from physically walking on those beaches, pursuant to various court rulings.
"You can go to Brick Beach III and walk all the way up to Point Pleasant, if you want to," said Acropolis.
In the past, holdout homeowners in nearby Mantoloking Borough have often taken the blame for the northern barrier island failing to have its beaches and dunes renourished. But at a meeting Jan. 7, borough officials there urged homeowners to sign easements, informing residents that the easement would only be used for beach replenishment efforts - not the construction of a boardwalk or bathrooms outside one's front door.
But for those who may still refuse to sign the easements, Sandy may have raised the stakes, thanks to the Mantoloking breach that led to thousands of mainland residents' homes being flooded.
"If we had a homeowner or two homeowners who didn't want to sign it, we would sue them," said Acropolis. "We would tell them that they're putting our mainland residents at risk, and you'll be held responsible for damage to their houses. If you have a piece of property where you allow the ocean to break through and damage other people's houses, you should be sued for that."
I totally agree.
Then the people who own this property must be forced to allow the Mayors to enter and remedy at all location along the coast. They are Barrier and there for a reason did the people who built there not be told as you just told me to protect the mailland not to insure a private beach and spectacular View!!!
A) The law does not allow government to access private property forcefully except through the eminent domain process (or an easement - effectively, permission - granted by the property owner). B) The eminent domain solution, thanks to the Harvey Cedars case, carries financial risk: http://barnegat-manahawkin.patch.com/articles/sandy-doesn-t-change-attitudes-about-dune-lawsuit-attorney-says
In our community it has never flooded in over 30 years. But with the breach at Mantaloking I sustained about a foot of water throughout my house when the Kettle Creek ran over. Now is the time to stop any rebuilding and build up those dunes. Last week I viewed the steel wall on my ride over to Rt.35 . With all the damage from Sandy I wish the wall was higher and longer to save the mainland. Maybe if the " I need my ocean view" homeowners were held liable for loss of property throughout the town, held liable for the businesses lost, police, EMS overtime, electrical company repair bills maybe then they will think differently. C.K.
Look at the spinoff and collateral damage caused by such a horrible decision. How much mor;;e money will this now cost government and the people .
Most areas of the Barrier Island had very good dunes and were very well maintained by the beach associations, private owners and the towns. There were some areas that the dunes could have been maintained better, but very few. Unfortunately the strength of this storm not only eradicated ALL the dunes both big and small but carved the ocean front sand away more than 6 feet under what was ground level. There is no sand dune that could have survived this storm, no matter how well maintained. The areas with less damage had sea walls and good dunes, however once again even a good seawall was not eneough to avert the damage from this storm. It is an unfortunate misnomer that better dunes would have saved more homes on the Ocean, the bay and the bay side of the mainland. Keep in mind the bay flooded as well and came up over the bulkheads and met the ocean, especially in the very "thin" piece of the island north of Brick in Mantoloking. Please understand that everyone wants the dunes to be fixed for everyone on the island but not at the cost of giving up your property rights. The solution is simple have private residents, beach associations and the government work together to get the dunes fixed properly without trying to take rights away from the citizens of the great state of New Jersey.
This is ridiculous and it isn't about views either. We pay disproportional property taxes while most of us cannot vote. We worked hard for this property and the government has given us nothing. The easement is nothing more than a land grab by the government. There is no reason that the dunes cannot be built on public land. Toms River presented us with a very unprofessional easement document which is a joke. They expected us to execute an easement agreement with no delineation of the easement area, without telling us exactly what could and could not be done by the government on the easement. If we were to execute this document our whole complex could be an easement. A boardwalk could be built on our land. We will not give the government carte blanche on our land. If we are presented with a reasonable and focused easement document we will give it consideration. Governor Christie should concentrate his efforts on this instead of grandstanding!
If the government is claiming private land, it surely should NOT be for a boardwalk or anything else but dunes. Protecting comes first, and it is protecting those property owners too. If they say the want to "risk it," well we tried that approach and now I and thousands of others are trying to get insurance companies to pay up to repair our homes. Surely we can not let it happen twice, whomever must sacrifice including myself. I'm sure we will all lose something, but we will gain security in knowing our homes are safe. That is priceless.