By SUZANNE MARINO
Staff Writer
VENTNOR -- It has been more than 30 years since a groin has been built on any beach in Ventnor, Margate or Longport. A proposal that purports to save the sand on Ventnor’s beaches from erosion and storm damage would involve construction of a groin that would extend roughly 300 feet into the ocean. Currently the Army Corps of Engineers project is in a 30-day period of public comment.
Stewart Farrell, director of the Coastal Research Center at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, said the groin in its most basic form is a sand-trapping device. He said the Ventnor groin structure is expected to retard the rate of erosion. Sand that was pumped onto Ventnor beaches in the past with hopes of providing a long-term solution was washed away in a matter of months by storms. The sand lost in Ventnor simply migrated to the beaches in Margate. Farrell said that without a groin, sand from Ventnor beaches will continue to head to Margate.
The term “groin” and “jetty” are often used interchangeably, but according to Farrell they are not the same. A jetty is a structure at an inlet entrance, such as the 11th Street jetty in Longport. The other rock structures that extend out into the water should properly be referred to as groins, Farrell said.
The planned groin is relatively short and would be constructed to have a sand-bypassing notch at the end that would allow for sand to move north or south to a certain extent.
Farrell added that nor’easters will not have an impact on the groin.
Margate and Longport both refused to take part in the beach replenishment program and are currently studying whether the construction of the groin at the Margate-Ventnor border at Fredericksburg Avenue will have a negative impact on Margate and Longport beaches.
The jury is still out. Margate officials are calling in their own expert to help the city form an opinion. The expert will address the Margate Commissioners 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 2 in Margate City Hall.
Information from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers is currently available for review from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. through Friday, Feb. 24 in the Ventnor City Clerk’s office at Ventnor City Hall, according to Ventnor City Administrator Drew McCrosson.
