Most northern New Jersey coastal towns say they’ll have at least some facilities open in time for tourists.
ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Three months after superstorm Sandy, the once-devastated Jersey Shore is inching its way back with many beach towns promising that they will be ready for the summer season.
Some towns, such as Belmar and Lavallette, expect to have their boardwalks restored by then although not all amenities will be available.
Others, such as Long Branch and Toms River, will have only portions of their beachfronts restored.
STORY: Senate approves $50.5 billion aid
STORY: Easements stall beach restoration
At the same time, hard-hit towns like Union Beach — which was mostly underwater at one point — struggle to come back. Officials there say the beach and boardwalk may not be ready until the end of the summer at the earliest.
Following is a town-by-town list of coastal towns in the two most heavily damaged New Jersey counties — Monmouth and Ocean — and when those municipalities’ officials hope to have repairs completed.
1. Asbury Park. The boardwalk and beach will be ready by Memorial Day although sections may open earlier, City Manager Terence Reidy said.
Superstorm Sandy left significant damage at the southern end of the boardwalk near the casino and the area immediately south of Convention Hall. The city’s sewer plant also was damaged. The total recovery cost is about $10 million. So far, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has given the city $700,000, Reidy said.
2. Atlantic Highlands. The municipal harbor sustained about $40 million in damage from Sandy, and the marina is in the process of being rebuilt.
To date, the borough has spent about $3 million in its cleanup efforts of the harbor. Harbor officials are planning to reopen the facility by April. Shore Casino will open within a month, and the bait shop will reopen for the upcoming fishing season, officials said.
Borough officials estimate that at least 75% of the costs will be federally financed.
3. Bay Head. Borough beaches will be ready by summer, Councilman Brian M. Magory said.
With all major storm debris collected and sand collection waning, the borough’s beachfront is in “pretty good shape,” Magory said. No project costs were available.
4. Belmar. The beaches will be open by Memorial Day.
The borough expects boardwalk repairs to be completed by then as well. The rebuilding of the boardwalk pavilions, restrooms and other structures will not occur until 2014.
MAP: View larger interactive map
The borough awarded a $6.6 million contract to Epic of Piscataway to reconstruct the boardwalk; overall Belmar borrowed $20 million toward recovery efforts.
5. Brick. Officials are confident that the township beaches will be open by Memorial Day.
The ocean beach sustained about $4 million in damage from the storm. Overall, the township sustained $43 million in damage. The dune system was destroyed in some areas, and the boardwalk at Brick Beach 3 was damaged, Mayor Stephen Acropolis said.
“The beaches are going to be open,” he said. “The issue is how much of the beach is going to be there. At some points during high tide the water comes right up to the base of the dune.”
6. Brielle. The waterfront area near the Manasquan River is expected to be open for the summer, borough officials said.
The estimated cost of cleaning up debris from Sandy is about $400,000. To date, the borough has spent about $375,000.
7. Highlands. Snug Harbor beach will be open for the summer.
The borough sustained millions of dollars in damage to its municipal property, private homes, businesses and public properties. The borough’s infrastructure damages are estimated to be $12 million.
The estimated amount spent to date on Sandy preparation and cleanup is $2.35 million, Borough Administrator Tim Hill said. The overall assessed ratable losses are estimated to be about $20 million.
8. Island Beach State Park. The park is open from its gate south to Ocean Beach 1 — the northern 3.5 miles of the eight-mile-long park.
The entire park should be open and operating normally by Memorial Day weekend, said Ray Bukowski, park administrator. State officials do not yet have a cost estimate for repairs.
Damage includes eroded dunes, boardwalks and beaches washed away, and the wreckage of the park marina. It is unclear whether the marina will be ready for the summer.
STORY: Year-round businesses struggle to survive after Sandy
9. Lavallette. Borough officials expect to have the boardwalk rebuilt by May 24 at a cost of $2 million.
Lavallette lost about 70% of its boardwalk to Sandy. The borough plans to award contracts to rebuild lifeguard facilities and wooden dune walkovers and for repairs to various street ends at the beachfront. Beach sand needs to be replenished.
The cost of these projects has not been fully assessed, but the borough remains optimistic that the work can be completed by Memorial Day weekend.
10. Long Beach Island. Officials here say recovery efforts are progressing well and that about 90% of the island’s 580 business will be ready for the summer season.
Long Beach Township, the 18-mile-long island’s largest municipality, has spent $15.8 million on storm-related cleanup.
11. Long Branch. The beachfront will be open by Memorial Day; however, a one-mile section of boardwalk lost from Melrose Terrance south to Brighton Avenue will not be repaired by this summer.
Pier Village businesses are open; the city is finishing $200,000 in repairs to the steps, access points and bulkhead. The city estimates $7.5 million in damages.
At the north end, damage to the boardwalk promenade is estimated at $2 million. Repairs will be complete there before Memorial Day.
12. Manasquan. Most beachfront facilities be will ready for Memorial Day weekend, including the one-mile boardwalk promenade, lighting and the public bathrooms at the inlet and Ocean Avenue beaches, borough officials said.
The borough will use temporary facilities for Brielle Avenue restrooms, and Seawatch facility repairs may not be completed. Ninety percent of the sand has been returned to the beaches.
The borough lost about $77 million in taxable properties from superstorm Sandy.
13. Mantoloking. Parts of the borough’s 2.2 miles of beaches will open this summer, Borough Engineer Robert Mainberger said.
But all beach access points were lost after superstorm Sandy, portions of the island were washed away near its bridge, and homes had significant damage from the storm and a fire from a gas main break. A cost estimate should be available by March, he said.
At the moment, though the bridge from the mainland has opened, the borough is still on emergency lockdown, and recovery projects include making side streets safe and completing demolition work. The municipality has a targeted mid-February as a repopulation date.
14. Middletown. Middletown is in the preliminary planning phases of beach and dune restoration projects for the North Middletown, Ideal Beach and Leonardo areas of town, officials said.
15. Ocean Grove. The beach and portions of the boardwalk will be ready by Memorial Day weekend, according to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association.
The boardwalk will be fully operational from Bradley Beach to Embury Avenue and from the pavilion to Seaview Avenue. Only temporary beach access will be available from Embury Avenue to the pavilion and from Seaview Avenue to Asbury Park, a temporary walkway is being explored.
Total damage estimates were not available.
16. Ocean Township. Most of the damage has been cleared, and recovery costs are about $800,000.
17. Oceanport. Roughly 10% of 2,100 homes in the borough were damaged during Sandy; some 100 homes remain unoccupied, officials said.
Local officials estimate that of the $367 million in damage, the borough will need $360 million to rebuild private homes and $1 million to rebuild six businesses damaged in the storm. Officials indicated that the bill for emergency response from police and the Department of Public Works ran to $600,000.
STORY: Out-of-towners chip in for Belmar’s ‘Buy a Board’ campaign
18. Point Pleasant Beach. Boardwalk repairs are set for completion by May 22; officials say recovery here is progressing well.
Debris pickup is complete and efforts to sift sand are nearly finished. The borough is quoting repairs for the inlet area. Officials approved emergency appropriations of about $3.2 million for restoration and recovery and about $1.7 million for the boardwalk bid.
Officials estimate total recovery costs at about $7 million.
19. Sandy Hook. Gateway National Recreation Area sustained about $180 million in damage, including severe damage to roads, concessions, utilities, the wastewater treatment plant and the potable water system at Sandy Hook.
As of last week, 80% of Sandy Hook had electricity, and the park had potable water, according to Pete McCarthy, coordinator of Gateway’s Sandy Hook Unit. The goal is to have the park open for the summer with temporary restroom facilities.
“We’re not going to be able to promise something and cast it in bronze,” Superintendent Linda Canzanelli said.
20. Sea Bright. The beachfront borough was one of the most severely devastated from Sandy with its utility lines ruptured and many of its homes and businesses damaged or destroyed.
All its beachfront facilities, including restrooms, a small boardwalk, and a bathing pavilion, were destroyed, according to Mayor Dina Long. In addition, many of the private beach clubs were destroyed.
The borough has been able to clear the storm debris. Utilities have been restored throughout the borough, except to one housing complex, and a quarter of the borough’s population has been able to return to a repaired home, Long said.
A handful of businesses have reopened. Long said she expects the beach to open on Memorial Day weekend and added that the borough will bring in temporary facilities.
“There will be a beach in Sea Bright this summer,” Long said. She had no estimate of the cost of all the damage to borough property.
21. Sea Girt. The first phase of Operation Comeback, which includes the boardwalk restoration and another project to repair the beach pavilion, is expected to be completed by Memorial Day, Borough Administrator Alan Bunting said.
He gave a “high end” estimate of $675,000 for both of those projects.
22. Seaside Heights. Officials here say recovery efforts are moving along now that the borough made famous in MTV’s Jersey Shore awarded a contract to rebuild the boardwalk at a cost of $3.6 million.
The deadline for that project’s completion, May 10, mirrors the date that borough officials hope everything will be ready for visitors. The borough plans to seek bids soon for the repairs of two lifeguard bases and to rebuild two destroyed bathhouses.
The borough approved a $14.1 million emergency appropriation to cover what it estimates total recovery efforts will cost. Much of Funtown Pier amusement park and its iconic roller coaster were destroyed in the storm. The borough has spent about $4.5 million so far for debris removal and electric utility repairs.
With Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement, officials estimate a $500,000 effect on the budget.
23. Seaside Park. The beach and boardwalk will be open by Memorial Day, officials said.
Fourteen projects are on the borough’s to-do list because of water damage in wake of Sandy. So far contracts have been awarded for six projects, including boardwalk repairs, fixing a flooded public works meeting, and electrical work at the marina.
Officials plan to have all projects bid by the end of February. They estimate the total cost of recovery efforts at $8 million, but it is not clear how much the borough has spent at this time.
24. Spring Lake. Reconstruction of the two-mile boardwalk will be done before Memorial Day weekend.
The borough estimates that the total costs of the boardwalk will fall between $3 million and 4 million. Beach badge fees were raised this year to help pay for repairs.
25. Spring Lake Heights. The borough had substantial damage in its parks from downed trees; work to resolve the problem should be completed by early spring, Borough Administrator Jay Delaney said.
The borough has awarded about $40,000 in contracts for tree removal so far with a final cost expected to be about $75,000.
STORY: Residents trickling back to Toms River shore area
26. Toms River. The township expects to have a portion of its noncontiguous beachfront on the northern barrier island open by June 1.
The extent of that portion is contingent on how much of Ocean Avenue and Ocean Terrace, the road along the beach obliterated in the storm, is completed by then. The reconstruction of roadway began last week; however, much of the construction schedule revolves around the replacement of utilities under the roads, which is outside of municipal control.
The boardwalk will not be ready but should be under construction by the summer, according to municipal officials. Toms River lost two lifeguard houses, projected to cost $1.2 million each. The cost to replace the boardwalk is estimated at $2 million.
The cost of the wooden dune walkovers to access the beachfront will be about $250,000. The cost to replace the dunes and beach area on publicly owned land will cost about $1.75 million. The cost of reconstructing Ocean Avenue and Ocean Terrace, an integral part of reopening the beach, will cost more than $3 million, officials said.
27. Union Beach. Borough officials say the cost of damage is still being calculated.
Sandy left hundreds of families without homes, and businesses and its elementary school were damaged. Fifty homes were swept away, and more than 200 others were damaged beyond repair.
About 2,600 homes are in the borough. To date, 70 have been demolished, and 70 more are on the town’s list to be taken down. The borough’s $8 million budget has lost about $1.3 million of its tax ratables. Additionally, 14 police vehicles, three ambulances and a firetruck were damaged.
Borough engineers are in the process of redesigning the boardwalk and beach area. However, borough officials do not expect the beach and boardwalk to be open until the end of the summer.
Many beaches on Jersey Shore will be open by May
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét