Polistina: Atlantic City Needs Permanent Shore Protection Beyond Repeated Beach Replenishment

ATLANTIC CITY — After watching another powerful coastal storm carve away large portions of Atlantic City's newly replenished beaches, state Sen. Vince Polistina says it may be time to rethink how the resort protects its shoreline for the long term.

Polistina isn't calling for an end to beach replenishment. In fact, he says the city's dunes did what they were designed to do during the late-September nor'easter.

But the Atlantic County Republican says repeatedly replacing sand after major storms cannot remain the only answer.

“We just cannot keep doing the same thing,” Polistina said Tuesday during an appearance on Off The Press with Scott Cronick on News Talk 1400 and 92.3 WOND.

Polistina said he wants state and federal officials to examine more permanent forms of shore protection, including the possibility of some type of fixed structure near the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

“Just spending money year after year, fighting Mother Nature is not going to work long-term, Scott,” Polistina said. “And so we have to come up with something that is more permanent.”

“We just cannot keep doing beach replenishment over and over and over again.”

Dunes did their job — but paid a price

The senator's comments come after the late-September nor'easter caused extensive erosion along the Jersey Shore, with Atlantic City among the communities reporting significant losses.

Polistina described the damage as “very bad.”

“The cliffs were significant,” he said. “Somebody could get hurt.”

But he also acknowledged an important point about the engineered beach and dune system protecting Atlantic City.

“The dunes did their job,” Polistina said, adding that the city nevertheless lost a substantial amount of them during the storm.

That distinction is important.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Absecon Island Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project is designed to protect Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate and Longport through an engineered beach-and-dune system.

The federal project calls for periodic nourishment to replace sand lost through erosion and storms.

Army Corps officials have long described that sand as part of the protective infrastructure itself: Beaches and dunes absorb the force of waves and storm surge that might otherwise reach homes, businesses, roads and other infrastructure.

So sand disappearing during a storm does not necessarily mean a replenishment project failed. In many cases, absorbing that punishment is precisely what the engineered beach is intended to do.

Polistina's argument is that replenishment shouldn't be the end of the conversation.

Could a fixed structure help?

Polistina told Cronick he has raised the possibility with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection of adding some form of permanent protection near the Boardwalk.

“I did mention to DEP, you know, potential maybe of putting some type of fixed structure up against the Boardwalk with some, you know, some type of shore protection to prevent the sand from washing back out,” Polistina said.

No such project has been formally announced, and Polistina did not identify a specific design, cost or construction timetable.

Any proposal for a seawall, revetment, groin, jetty or other hardened structure would require engineering and environmental review before officials could determine whether it would be appropriate for Atlantic City's oceanfront.

Those decisions can be complicated because permanent structures can alter the movement of sand along the coastline and potentially affect erosion elsewhere.

But hardened coastal protection is not entirely new to Atlantic City.

The existing federal Absecon Island project includes bulkhead and stone-revetment protection along the Absecon Inlet frontage, and the Army Corps previously completed the Absecon Inlet seawall project at the northern end of the Boardwalk.

Van Drew also looking beyond sand

Polistina's comments closely follow those of U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who toured storm-damaged portions of the South Jersey coast with federal, state and local officials following the nor'easter.

Van Drew similarly said officials need to consider permanent structures in vulnerable locations rather than relying exclusively on repeated sand replenishment.

During an Oct. 1 news conference, Van Drew said officials should examine seawalls, groins, jetties and other options for coastal hot spots.

“The sand, even though it is a good short-term answer, is not the only answer,” Van Drew said.

“We need permanent structure.”

Van Drew said the goal should be to identify vulnerable areas individually rather than assume one solution will work everywhere along the coast.

That emerging discussion could be particularly important in Atlantic City, where beaches and the Boardwalk are not merely recreational amenities but central pieces of a tourism economy that attracts millions of visitors.

$30 million could be coming to Atlantic City

The push for a longer-term solution does not mean officials expect beach replenishment to stop.

Van Drew has said he has a $30 million federal earmark for Atlantic City moving through the federal budget process to address the city's coastal needs.

Polistina likewise said he expects officials to find the money necessary to restore the beaches before next summer.

“For next year, we'll have beaches for the tourists one way or another,” Polistina said. “He'll figure out a way to get funding to bring the beaches back.”

The larger question is what happens after that.

Atlantic City and the other Absecon Island communities have relied for years on periodic beach nourishment as their primary federal coastal storm-damage protection strategy.

The latest storm has renewed discussion about whether vulnerable sections of the shoreline should receive an additional layer of permanent protection.

Polistina said that conversation needs to involve the Army Corps, DEP and Van Drew's office.

“Hopefully the Army Corps, DEP, we're all going to look at a more permanent solution,” Polistina said. “I hope, a fixed structure.”

For Polistina, the goal isn't to choose between beaches and permanent protection.

It's to determine whether Atlantic City now needs both.

State Sen. Vince Polistina discussed Atlantic City's storm damage and future shore protection on Off The Press with Scott Cronick on News Talk 1400 and 92.3 WOND. The show airs Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.