Ortley scrapes through – sand en route to storm-scraped coast

The storm and the sand on the Toms River beachfront wrestled to a draw this weekend.

Blizzard-battered dunes were reduced to about five percent of their normal size and density, said Township Engineer Robert Chankalian after Monday's visual inspection of Ortley Beach and vicinity.

"If I had to put it in simpler terms, it's about 4,000 truckloads of sand we lost. About 4,000 dump trucks," Chankalian explained, adding that the storm left a drop of about nine feet from the boardwalk to the beach.

Township public works crews, using lead time as the massive weather pattern rumbled north, spent several days scarfing sand into, essentially, a second set of dunes fronting those already standing.

"The dunes did their job," Chankalian said. "We didn't have any damage to the roadway. We lost a couple of staircases from the boardwalk, but generally speaking, expensive infrastructure wasn't lost."

In clarifying the staircase issue, Chanklian said that a couple of them lost sections of bannister railing, but the boardwalk itself and the walk-overs remained intact.

Still, he cautions the curious to avoid the boardwalk for safety reasons. It's currently closed to general foot traffic.

Chankalian's observations, along with those of engineers and emergency management coordinators statewide, enter data that state officials will submit to determine if New Jersey can qualify for federal disaster relief.

While township officials continue to wrangle over beach access easements with several property owners, the Army Corps dune reinforcement project remains on hold.

Even optimistic projections place it several years away if eminent-domain actions are employed and protracted court battles ensue.

In the meantime, Earle Asphalt has begun its procedure to begin trucking in replacement sand this Wednesday, as part of its ongoing contract that has cost the town more than $1,000,000 since it began.

"The Army Corps has the only sensible long-range solution," Chankalian said. "If we ever get word that the Army Corp project isn't going to happen, we'd have to regroup, but right now that's our focus."

On the upside for bayfront home owners, work is nearly ready to begin on several street elevations. Chankalian noted one targeted street that's less than a foot above sea level.

"Historically, what hindered [road elevation projects] was the height of the homes. But since Sandy, the homes are being raised, and it allows us to raise the road with them."

Chankalian concedes that "in a hundred-year flood, it's still going to flood," but says that the "nuisance flooding will decrease dramatically."