Beach Haven council hears Resilient LBI team’s plan for Taylor Avenue living shoreline

Beach Haven’s Borough Council heard a presentation Feb. 27 from the Resilient Long Beach Island (LBI) project team on islandwide resilience planning and a conceptual design study for Taylor Avenue and William L. Butler Park.

"It's a project that's been underway for over four years," said Anna Hok Alter, identifying herself as a senior landscape architect with Ramble, who led the presentation. She said Phase 2 work, begun in October 2023, focuses on translating the islandwide resilience action plan into site-specific projects, including nature-based shoreline stabilization, flood-proofing measures and a community resource hub.

The team presented four alternatives for Taylor Avenue’s bayside edge: (1) retain the existing revetment and add upland seating/amenities; (2) retrofit the revetment with habitat structures; (3) redesign the shoreline to create an intertidal marsh and living shoreline; and (4) a full engineered living-shoreline with oyster-reef sills and kayak launch features. The consultants identified trade-offs between recreational access (basketball courts, playground, dog areas and kayak launches) and in-water habitat restoration.

"One of the things is to look at how to balance multiple uses within a public waterfront site — high-tide reduction, increased resilience and ecological goals," Anna Hok Alter said. Jim Hutman, a water-resources and civil engineer with Kleinfelder on the team, described deliverables the project is producing for each municipality, including a draft Climate Change Related Hazard and Vulnerability Assessment (CCR VHA) that municipalities can adopt into their master-plan reexamination process under the municipal land use law (amended in 2021).

Hutman said the CCR VHA identifies vulnerable areas (for sea-level rise and storm-related flooding), provides buildout analysis and recommends land-use or code changes to reduce future risk. He added that the team has been coordinating islandwide with Ocean County, state partners and community stakeholders on interior-drainage strategies, groin-retrofit study items and a Parker Island habitat-restoration profile.

The presentation noted that the Taylor Avenue concept remains a planning-stage effort requiring further engineering, erosion and feasibility studies. The team also pointed to potential grant opportunities when resilience measures are combined with public-recreation improvements and announced a public virtual meeting on March 5 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. for additional engagement.

Council members pressed the team on funding and interagency coordination. "Are these projects funded now, or would construction funding need to come from municipalities or grants?" one councilor asked. Barbara Woly Dylan (identified in the presentation as with "NJDE" in the transcript) said the contract delivers planning and that communities engaged in the resilient process would be prioritized for state grants if funds become available; she did not promise federal funding.

On groins, councilors sought clarity about whether the study contemplated reintroducing groins islandwide; presenters replied the current focus was the Holgate terminal groin and that broader groin reinstallation was not being proposed by this study. On flood mapping, councilors and presenters discussed that FEMA maps are still being updated and that New Jersey’s proposed "real rules" would apply safety factors and current science while federal map updates lag.

The council thanked the presenters and was invited to review the draft materials online. The Resilient LBI team emphasized that the Taylor Avenue alternatives are conceptual; additional feasibility, engineering and permitting work would be required before construction could be considered.

The presentation spanned multiple discussion points (project scope, CCR VHA, groin work, interior drainage, flood maps) and ended with a reminder of the March 5 public meeting and links to online project materials.