The “middle beach” portion of the OG boardwalk, as it looked the day after Hurricane Sandy. Photo by Mary Walton
By Mary Walton
About 60 percent of the Ocean Grove boardwalk will have to be repaired or replaced, but the damage may be less than originally feared, Ralph delCampo, interim administrator of the Camp Meeting Association, said Tuesday.
The area from just south of the pavilion stretching north to Seaview Avenue is largely intact, as is the section south of the beach office to the border with Bradley Beach. North of Seaview Avenue the boardwalk was totaled. With heavy equipment loaned by Jack Green, head of the Camp Meeting operations committee, and labor provided by Calvary Chapel volunteers, shards of splintered North End boardwalk have been removed.
The big question mark is the badly buckled “middle beach” portion, stretching from the pavilion south to the beach office. Not until the planks have been pried off can engineers determine whether the supporting pillars and joists can be re-leveled. If so, the cost of repairs will be significantly less than replacing the superstructure. In either case, new planking will be required.
DelCampo would make no promises about whether the boardwalk could be repaired by summer. “I would love it,” he said. Much depends on whether the middle portion can be salvaged. If so, “and it’s a big if, with a triple line under it, we will certainly strive to repair it by the summer. It’s an integral part of the community.”
“Last, but not least, we will certainly evaluate the pier,” he added.
The Camp Meeting had no insurance on either the boardwalk or the pier, which together will cost up to a million dollars or more to replace, especially when restoration of the dunes is factored in.
In addition to applying for FEMA funds, delCampo said, “We’re going to approach every organization that we can, including the community itself.”
On other subjects, delCampo had this to say:
- The North End redevelopment project will continue as planned. Owing to preoccupation with hurricane damage, there may be a delay “but not in a significant way.” The Camp Meeting and Township officials were just getting started on negotiating the details of that project when Hurricane Sandy arrived.
- The effort to hire a permanent camp meeting administrator has temporarily stalled. On Labor Day, delCampo reported that the field had been narrowed from thirty candidates to three, and that a decision was expected soon. “We evaluated further,” he said on Tuesday, “and we decided we would continue to look.” DelCampo, a Camp Meeting trustee, has been filling the position on a temporary basis since the previous administrator, Scott Hoffman, departed.
I think a boarded boardwalk — exactly as OG had it, is the cheapest and best investment. A stroll on a boardwalk, not pavers, is highly valued by tourists. Pavers feel hard and are not pleasant to walk on, and boards — wood floors — are pleasing to see. Those pavers in Bradley Beach look awful.
I am a firm believer that marketing OG for investors, tourists and religious visitors should be the CMA’s top priority. Visitors, investors, potential renters, potential homeowners want vistas and congregation spaces at the north end, they like great views, clean beaches and a town that stands out as a cut above Snookieville, or or any of the other nondescript vinyl-sided, pizza-smothered snoozers you can go to. It should also have great pedestrian access points to the high-end areas of Asbury Park. It should be one, seamless and classy area to compete in the future.
How much cheaper is just ugly ‘ole asphalt? They can make lots of thick white stripes to walk on so your feet don’t burn. Plus it’s nice for biking on, woohahahhaha.
While dunes are not going to be the only thing you can rely on, it is nice to have them. I think keeping them a tad shorter than Bradley Beach but a bit wider (which OG pretty much already had) is the best bet. A lot of the roots are still intact in there. We’ll see what pops up. I like the bulkhead idea, or a small seawall, but not as large as Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach. In the end we have to accept that we’ll likely get another storm down the line.
I stopped by the CMA several weeks ago and passed along a sugggestion made by my wife. In an atempt to obtain partial funding to help rebuild the boarwalk why not run a campaign to “DONATE A PLANK”? Divide the cost to rebuild by the number of boardwalk planks required and you have the cost per plank. Create a book of donors to recognize this “hopefully” once in a lifetime event.
Hopefully, donations to the above could be done via a 501(c)3 non-profit entity where a tax benefit can accrue to all who donate. Since many are talking about capping charitable contributions and deductions in 2013, time is of the essence here.
A.P. writes grants for everything and they seem to get everything.
I’m sure the Camp Meeting being a religious organization doesn’t qualify for grants,or they would be writing grants.
Neptune writes for some grants like the one they received for Wesley Lake.
The wall that no longer exists should be a priority for Neptune but they assume that the builders of the North End will flip the bill for that section of wall, sure that the builders are going to spend millions for a wall that should not be the builders’ responsibility.
Emily — Of course. However, when we were in Belmar barriers prevented auto access to much of the beach, and although you could leave your car and walk to the beach, the police seemed under orders to keep pedestrian access to a minimum along the oceanfront.
Just a question- Will Ocean Grove/Belmar allow non residents to come over to view your shore?
Gosh … The Jones Pavillion is on the beach. The ‘dunes’ were covering only a small area, not the entire building and not tended to AFTER Irene, just a diminished pile of sand. It probably didn’t help that there was a flooded lake nearby, did it? It was basically clear guided surge path to the old pool and beyond. The southern end of the AP boardwalk was heavily damaged, by the way. How they are able to afford to repair and open it up for the holidays is probably THE question OG needs to ask.
Um Huh: Since when does A.P. have dunes. One of the owners of a business there said the boardwalk will be open for the holidays. The N. End dunes were the highest and D.E. Jones building had their own dunes and look what happen there.
Why would FEMA not pay for the reconstruction of the boardwalk, pier and dunes? They did a lot of reconstruction of towns in Louisianna, including docks and so forth. We need to pressure Christe to get us the federal money to do this.
Um Gosh? Parts of Asbury Park’s south end boardwalk ended up in Press Plaza and they were using snow shovels for nearly a week at the Pony, just cleaning up sand and debris from inside the building. It was over a week before the A. P. police let anyone near the south end. The O. G. boardwalk that survived was protected by deep dunes.
If the underground parking garage doesn’t work out, it can be converted by the next storm into an attractive aquarium with cars as coral reefs. Although the developers will have walked away with all their money by then, we can still recoup costs of bad planning if they bring their kids to the exhibits.
Maybe the Camp Meeting should learn from other towns. Bradley Beach has pavers as their boardwalk in places and they’re still intact. They also have a bulkhead that allows the ocean to hit the bulkhead and send the water over the boardwalk, I beleive. A.P. also has a bulkhead and their boardwalk survived and they had no dunes. I am told they will be back in operation for the holidays.
As far as the N. End goes, if they would of had underground parking for the condos and hotel they would have flooded out, the ocean came all the way up to beach Avenue. They really need to think about single family homes.
Ocean Grovers need to band together to stop this project or O.G. will really be history.
As Gov. Cuomo says, we’re in a greenhouse effect and all the weather patterns are changing. Between tornados, hurricanes, nor’easters, we need to acclimate for the new changes and putting structures closer to the ocean is not going to work. Look at the D.E. Jones building on the boardwalk. It shouldn’t be allowed to rebuild. They just finished reconstruction from the previous storm.
When we interviewed Mr. delCampo shortly after the storm, he said that it is impractical and financially impossible to keep rebuilding the boardwalk the same way as it has been done in the past.
He said that he was open to suggestions from experts as to how to do the job in a way that would create a “boardwalk” that wouldn’t get destroyed every few years.
Why not put a concrete foundation down for a boardwalk and then put the boards on top of it for decorative purpose?- i have seen this done in other countries- it serves both purposes for secure foundation as well as pleasing to those who want the “traditional boardwalk.”
The investment in rebuilding the boardwalk should include comprehensive dune replenishment. The seagrass, goldenrod and roses should be augmented by other native seaside species as well. Many of the sections of boardwalk that survived were protected by the much wider substantial dunes. Building and maintaining dunes has to be more cost effective than replacing the boardwalk every 10 years.
In a conversation today with Blogfinger, Ralph delCampo, interim administrator of the Camp Meeting Association, clarified the situation regarding the lack of flood insurance on the Ocean Grove boardwalk. As far as the Camp Meeting has been able to determine, no boardwalk on the Jersey Shore has it. “It would be comparable to buying full coverage on a car that has 200,000 miles on it and is over 12 years old. It doesn’t pay,” he said. “I don’t want people to think we’re irresponsible. The cost [for flood insurance] would be huge — close to the cost of replacement. From a risk management standpoint, it doesn’t make sense.” As with a car, the Camp Meeting carries liability insurance on the pier and boardwalk.
Well, let’s see….insurance costs are SO substantial that they become prohibitive. Which is what any small business who has been hit can tell you. When you are looking at an organization that works on a fixed budget that has to insure historic structures as well as an entire boardwalk, well, I can certainly understand why the CMA had to pick and choose what to insure. Also, no one foresaw the complete destruction of the middle section. I am sure the CMA budgets for repairs, even extensive repairs as we have seen. If our boardwalk had not been repaired as well as it was, we probably would have lost even more. So, stop the whining. Trek decking would not have saved the day. Look at Long Branch and Belmar. Ask them how well the bricks and the trek held up. Talk to Spring Lake. What are we going to do? Whatever we have to. If the CMA wants to hold a fundraiser, I will be there to help/donate, whatever. I am sure they will apply for any and all available funding and we should be there to help in whatever way we can to rebuild. God helps those that help themselves. Don’t place blame or wag a finger, be a part of the solution, not the problem.
Do Ocean Grovers enjoy their boardwalk beach-front more than Bradley Beachers enjoy their esplanade beach-front?
Are warped boards, tripping hazzards, splinters and dangerous popped-up rusty nailheads more aesthetic than jarringly hard, blandly-patterned cement blocks?
These are matters of preference worthly of interminable debate.
All that aside, planning for the future of our beach community considering practical, economic, and maintenance concerns should figure into the planning of responsible decision makers (CMA and FEMA).
Is the CMA really this poorly managed? I’m really surprised and disappointed. I always thought they were an on-the-ball organization. Now we all have to suffer because of their lack of foresight.
Perhaps the Camp Meeting should have approached an insurance company before the storm or put away funds to self-insure.
I sincerely hope that the boardwalk will be back in time for next summer. There are things that could be done to protect the boardwalk. I am vehemently opposed to a cement or brick boardwalk but certainly the newer Trek like deck materials could probably weather a storm better.
As to not having insurance, that decision should be reason to fire the administrator… Oh wait…he left…. I guess the CMA has no risk management committee.
As for the North End project, I concur with Huh and hope that the township would stop it or at least make them go back to the drawing board to reconsider the parking garage and the condos.
And I would be willing to give them $100 for the boardwalk if the CMA drops the whole North End project. Otherwise no way.
Hopefully, with the almost total destruction of the boardwalk, people will take a step back and try to think into the future about the wisdom of rebuilding it. With more energy pumping into the atmosphere, this type of storm may occur every year, or even more frequently. Are you going to rebuild the boardwalk every year?
From what I could see, Bradley Beach’s paved beach-side walk is mostly intact. Even the 5th Ave. pavilion weathered the storm almost unscathed. A boardwalk has a certain charm, but when you have a choice of rebuilding a boardwalk every year, or building a cement-tile walkway on a concrete foundation once, which is the wiser option?
How could there be no insurance? I’m sure every single home that faces the Boardwalk has insurance. What are other towns doing? Maybe CMA should issue a special assessment of say $100 per home to defer the cost.
We know that every 10 years or so the boardwalk will get badly damaged and its just absurd that there is not insurance or an accruing fund to offset the cost of repair. The boardwalk is the essence of the town and to be caught with no recovery plan seems like pretty irresponsible, weak management.
They should seriously reconsider the North End project given the likelihood of future large storms due to global warming. Imagine what a partially underground parking garage would look like today. As it is, the structure on the beach side of the North End will have to be taken down. The issue of density alone should prevent this project from moving forward but coupled with these storms should doom it from happening. Why not a nice park? Not enough tax revenues?
Sorry, but just how can the North End project proceed as planned? The tidal surge covered the entire site! Wrecked the retail pavilion! Filled the old swimming pool with debris, sand and water! If you need any photo evidence, I have quite a few to show you. A hotel without the ‘protective’ distance of Ocean Avenue? Can you imagine if there had been levels of underground parking on the site? Dense condo development? The “Once in a Century” storms (plural) of the last few years should give any developer as well as the CMA pause. Forget Frankenstorm, just a good old fashioned yearly Nor’Easter will play havoc with that type of development.