Remarks of Commissioner Bob Martin,
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
at the

Northern Ocean County Bid Announcement

Toms River, New Jersey 

Thursday, September 29, 2016

(as prepared for delivery)

Good morning, I am happy to be here on behalf of Governor Christie to announce a major milestone in the Northern Ocean County Storm Reduction Project.

Earlier this week, this project went out to bid!

Before I continue, I would like to spend a few moments thanking all of the people that are making this project possible. A project of this scale has many moving parts and many partners. We would not have gotten to this point without all of us working together.

I would first like to thank the residents of Northern Ocean County, especially those who have given easements voluntarily. An incredible total of 349 easements were received. Your selflessness has been instrumental in the progression of this project, and you have shown great leadership in helping us.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers has been with us every step of the way. I especially want to thank, General Butch Graham. I also want to recognize Colonel Mike Bliss and Ken Goldberg for their leadership in the Philadelphia District, as well as the Project Manager, Keith Watson.

The Army Corps has been a great partner for the State of New Jersey. Their excellent work and professionalism on this project, and on the many others that have been completed or are underway across Jersey, has made a tremendous difference.

I’d also like to thank Congressmen Tom MacArthur and Chris Smith, and our other federal representatives, for looking out for our interests in Washington. They have been great advocates for protecting our coastline.

I’d also like to thank all the mayors and the towns in the Northern Ocean County project area. They have continuously supported this project and worked cooperatively with the state and federal government. And because they have played such an important role, I want to thank them by name: Mayor Tom Kelaher of Toms River; Mayor George Nebel and Councilman Chris Nelson of Mantoloking; Mayor John Ducey of Brick; Mayor Tony Vaz of Seaside Heights; Mayor Bob Matthies of Seaside Park; Mayor Carmen Amato of Berkeley; Mayor Walter LaCicero of Lavallette; and Mayor Stephen Reid of Point Pleasant Beach.

The Ortley Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association has been very helpful and I want to thank them for their cooperation. I appreciate Paul Jeffrey joining us today.

DEP’s Coastal Engineering team took the lead on this project and I want to thank Kelley Staffieri, Georgeann Gray, Bill Dixon, and Dave Rosenblatt for all of their hard work to get us to this point.

And finally, I want to thank our legal team at the Attorney General’s office for their diligent pursuit of acquiring easements.

I thank you all for your leadership – this shows what can happen when many different groups work together cooperatively and become unified in their efforts.

Getting to the bid process is an important step for these projects. As you know, there were some delays with this project. Fortunately, we prevailed in the courts and are now working together to get this project done in order to protect the residents, property and infrastructure of these towns and communities.

This project is the last major project to take place, post-Superstorm Sandy, to rebuild New Jersey’s beaches.

It is also the largest single-contract project for rebuilding a beach ever to be started in New Jersey.

Immediately after Sandy, the Army Corps did an exceptional job of very quickly repairing 8 previously engineered projects that were damaged by Sandy. The Army Corps restored these to pre-Sandy, original design. The work they did was paid for 100% by the federal government – a total of $345 million.

There were 7 major coastal protection projects that were authorized before Sandy but never constructed. Federal funds made these projects possible. As of now, three of those seven major projects have been completed;

• The beach component in Port Monmouth—done;
• Southern Ocean City, Upper Township and Sea Isle City—done; and

• Oakwood Beach in Elsinboro, Salem County—done.

Another two of the seven projects are nearing completion:

• In Monmouth County, the Elberon to Deal beachfill should be completed later this fall; and

• On Long Beach Island, the vast majority of work has been completed and should wrap up before the end of the year.

And the last two remaining projects are now out to bid. The Absecon Island project, which will help to protect Longport, Margate, Ventnor, and southern Atlantic City went out to bid earlier this month. And now, the Northern Ocean County project has also gone out to bid.

This is a major accomplishment and it shows the commitment of the Christie Administration to protecting our shore communities from future storms.

In addition to these 7 beach and dune projects, there are two related flood control projects, one in Union Beach and another in Port Monmouth. These projects will provide even more protection to our coast.

There is no doubt that we have made many great strides already, and this Administration continues to focus on rebuilding the Jersey Shore until the job is done.

This project, like the others I have just mentioned, will help fulfil the Governor’s overall vision of greater resiliency across the State of New Jersey.

That vision for resiliency includes:

• Purchasing more than 1,000 storm-damaged homes;

• Rebuilding and elevating homes;

• Better protecting the state’s energy infrastructure;

• Rebuilding and protecting New Jersey’s water and wastewater infrastructure;

• Addressing the flooding caused by coastal lakes;

• Providing grants to towns for critical storm resiliency projects; and

• Providing a full coastal protection system.

Taken together, all of these efforts will ensure that our entire state is better able to weather any future storms than ever before.

So now let me turn to this project specifically – a project that will provided much needed and long awaited coastal protection for lives, property, businesses and infrastructure.

As I mentioned earlier, the Northern Ocean County Storm Reduction Project will be the largest single-contract shore protection project in New Jersey. It runs all the way from the Manasquan Inlet to the Barnegat Inlet and is estimated to cost about $150 million. The Army Corps expects construction of the beach to begin by this coming spring.

Nearly 11 million cubic yards of sand will be pumped within the Northern Ocean County project area. And once completed, it will include approximately 14 miles of continuous dune and beach berm from Point Pleasant Beach to Island Beach State Park.

The base bid area will include: most of Mantoloking, Brick, Lavallette, Toms River, Ortley Beach, Normandy Beach, Seaside Heights, and Seaside Park.

The contract also includes options to construct beaches and dunes in Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Berkeley, and the remaining portions of Mantoloking.

Let me be clear: although we call these options, we fully plan and expect to construct the entire length of this project. Securing the outstanding easements in the so-called option areas will not delay the progress of this project. The State continues to move through the legal process to acquire the easements from the holdout property owners as quickly as possible.

Our goal is to secure these properties in early 2017, at about the same time construction will begin on the entire project.

When this project is complete, we will have achieved another major milestone in our efforts to make our entire shoreline better protected and more resilient.

Governor Christie and I remain undeterred in our goal of building a complete coastal protection system. We will continue to work with the Army Corps and the towns until we have achieved that goal.

So, again, let me thank all of those involved in this project for their leadership and for their determination to see this project through to its conclusion. We couldn’t have done it without you and we are happy to be here today with you to make this important announcement.

Thank you.