Word ‘groin’ draws groans in Downbeach; Ventnor requests to use Fredericksburg to access beach is adding to the conflict

By SUZANNE MARINO
Staff Writer
MARGATE – Say the word “groin” in Ventnor or Margate, and only one thing comes to mind. And it has nothing to do with the human body.
The groin – a very large pile of rocks that is proposed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the city of Ventnor to keep the sand on Ventnor’s beaches from heading south – is the center of controversy on the island.
The proposed groin is slated to be built on the site of an old groin at Martindale Avenue that was constructed in the 1920s and has long since deteriorated.
The original plan called for the groin at Fredericksburg Avenue, the dividing line between Ventnor and Margate. It was then moved one block into Ventnor to Martindale.
Officials from both towns said they had not seen the final design and that they did not know when it would be revealed. Questions on the height and breadth of the groin are a source of debate at public meetings and chatter around the community. The original plans were met with a series of questions and challenges by Margate officials in September.
After commissioning a study by erosion expert Norbert Psuty of Rutgers University, Margate City Commissioners directed city engineer Ed Walberg and solicitor Mary Siracusa to write a letter to the DEP requesting that the scale of the project be reduced.
A main concern of Margate residents is that the groin could cause “scalloping” on beaches to the south – diminishing Margate beaches by hindering the normal flow of sand from north to south.
Ventnor city engineer Dick Carter said his office did design work on the groin but that when it went to bid the numbers came in way over budget. The DEP has since modified the plans and the permit has been approved, but the modifications have not been seen by local officials.
Ventnor Mayor Tim Kreischer said, “I am not sure of the final design, but the bids did come in extremely high. There has been a second revision to the plans.”
In a meeting held Dec. 18 at Margate City Hall with Ventnor Commissioner Sandy Vespertino, Dick Carter, Margate Commissioner Sigmund Rimm and city administrator Tom Hiltner, Vespertino asked if Ventnor could use Fredericksburg Avenue to deliver the supplies to construct the groin.
“Using Fredericksburg Avenue, a street owned by both Ventnor and Margate, will greatly reduce the cost of the project,” Kreischer explained this week. “If we are not able to use Fredericksburg, then we will need to remove a portion of the boardwalk in order to get the larger rocks on the beach.”
Margate Mayor Vaughn Reale said the city has not yet decided whether to allow the access.
“We are not going to sign off on anything that might be detrimental to the residents of Margate,” said Reale. “But we are certainly willing to look at the options available.”
Kreischer said bluntly that the permit for the groin has been approved and it is going to be built.
“We were hoping to have it in place by May 15, but now I think that will be delayed and the project not started until fall. Of course we are very sensitive to our visitors to the beach and would not have a project over the summer,” Kreischer said.
“I cannot imagine Ventnor without the boardwalk; I don’t think anyone can. The groin is necessary in order to save that boardwalk,” he pointed out.
“If it were destroyed in a storm and we have the groin in place, we would be able to go to the federal government for help and say that we had done everything that we could to save the boardwalk and had built the groin as the government suggested,” Kreischer explained.
“But if the boardwalk was to get wiped out and we do not have the groin, then the government could say we did not do everything in our power to protect it and possibly they would not provide the money to replace it.”
Kreischer noted that Ventnor pays all the costs of the boardwalk – “the extra police, the maintenance and the utilities to light it, and the people of Margate enjoy it for free every day.”
“All we are asking is that they let us use Fredericksburg Avenue so we are able to do the project at a lower cost,” he pleaded.
He said the project will probably be put out for bid with two different sets of specifications, one using Fredericksburg Avenue and the other without.
Meanwhile, down the road in Margate, some residents of Fredericksburg Avenue, like Leigh Ann Levenson, are concerned that the heavy equipment that would come down their street may cause structural damage to their home. Levenson brought her concerns the Margate City Commission meeting of Jan. 4, and at that time Commissioners Rimm and Swift assured her that no decision had been made.
The Margate monthly engineering meeting will be held Thursday, Jan. 11, and the groin and Fredericksburg Avenue question are likely topics for discussion.
TOP