By JACKIE HANUSEY
Staff Writer

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – Living along Lakes Bay in West Atlantic City is like a little peace of heaven for Gary Israel.

It’s the place where he has lived off and on since he was 3 years old and where he has steadily resided since 1977. He couldn’t see himself living anywhere else.

“The beauty is that no one knows we are here,” he said of the part of the township tucked between Atlantic City and Pleasantville.

But even heaven comes with its challenges. For West Atlantic City, the nemesis has been flooding, carried by seasonal high tides and coastal storms.

Reading and monitoring the tides has been a way of life for Israel, who is president of the West Atlantic City Homes and Business Association.

“I used to mark the dates and the tide levels,” he said. “I remember we had one Halloween storm where 11 tides went in and out,” he added, noting that with the water came the mud.

Help has been provided to the neighborhood in the form of a dune and storm sewer project designed to protect this section of the township. The project is nearly completed, but some residents are not happy with the results. Israel and others say the dunes have only been a temporary fix that will not help the community should a large storm hit.

The project includes $2 million from the state Department of Environmental Protection, with the township matching 25 percent of the cost. At about $2.4 million, there is money left for additional work, Township Engineer James Mott said.

In addition to dunes, the project included modifications to the outfall pipes which channel storm water from the storm sewer to the bay.

“The main part of the project was 17 outfalls which rarely worked in the past and backed up,” said Mott, noting that all are now working as originally intended, except for one at Naples Avenue.

According to Israel, the pipes are now equipped with valves that prevent tidal waters from creeping up into the storm sewer system.

Lafayette Utilities from Egg Harbor Township was awarded the contract about a year ago for the project, which also took two years of preparation, Mott said. Lafayette is still working on general cleanup which could include more sand and some dune grass.

Meanwhile, the new system is already being tested.

On May 12 the 8-foot-high dunes were breached in one section during a storm that saw tides rise about 7 feet and brought winds approaching 80 miles per hour, according to Mott.

“We will be meeting with them this week to discuss the extent of the erosion,” Mott said. “The storm hit pretty bad. Once we evaluate the situation we will look at correction measures and how much money we have.”

But Israel, who came out to the Wednesday, May 14 Township Committee meeting along with resident Bob Fudala, has seen the dunes disappear. Both fear that danger and more damage will not be far behind.

“We can’t live like this,” Fudala said at the meeting, adding that more than 50 percent of the dune depletion was not due to the recent storm.

Fudala is hoping the township will be doing more work at the site.

Deputy Mayor Stanley “Jake” Glassey, also a West Atlantic City resident, reminded his neighbors at the meeting that the dunes were not the township’s first idea when it came to solving the flooding problem on the bay.

Glassey and Mott had met with state and federal officials when brainstorming projects to help the section of the township.

“As a former shell fisherman, I know the conditions of the bay, but this one guy held up everything,” he said, referring to an official from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who would not sign off on riprap baskets or a bulkhead.

Riprap baskets consist of large rocks wrapped in heavy metal screening the size of a car. They can remain secure for decades.
“We begged for a harder surface,” said Glassey, who would like those officials to return to see what has become of the area that is a weak point along the shore.

“They were adamant about no bulkhead,” said Mott.

He thought they might then look into sand replenishment or geotubes, with evaluations of the project being done in the next few weeks with the general contractor.

“Years and years ago the bayfront was protected by dumped concrete, which included broken sidewalk and road,” Israel said. “Aesthetically, it was not pleasing, but it protected us from erosion.”

Israel is confident the township is listening, but he’s concerned about the timing.

“The worst part is time is of the essence. This isn’t even the heavy storm season. As soon as September and hurricane season hit, we will be very vulnerable.”