By Charles Layton and Mary Walton
Two and a half months after Hurricane Sandy, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association still hasn’t been told whether it is eligible to apply for FEMA funds for its boardwalk.
Until FEMA answers that basic question, the Camp Meeting cannot even submit an application for such funding.
And because time is of the essence, Camp Meeting administrator Ralph delCampo said Wednesday that the association will need to take out a loan for the repairs it must make in time for the summer beach season. If FEMA money does eventually come through, it could be used to repay that loan.
“As an organization we’re stretched financially,” he said in an interview.
In 2011, after Hurricane Irene damaged Ocean Grove’s fishing pier, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) ruled that the Camp Meeting, which owns both the pier and the boardwalk, was ineligible to apply for storm damage reimbursement.
Neptune Township CFO Michael Bascom, who has worked closely with the Camp Meeting on storm relief issues, said this week that he thinks FEMA will probably reverse its 2011 ruling. (Unlike the damage from Sandy, the 2011 damage was to an area of the pier not open to the general public.)
But even if FEMA does declare the Camp Meeting an eligible applicant now, the association will still face tougher-than-usual obstacles to having its application for funding approved. That’s because the rules are different for private, non-profit organizations than they are for municipalities. Ocean Grove is unique in having its boardwalk and beach owned by a private entity.
DelCampo said that the Camp Meeting’s plans to restore a large portion of the beach and boardwalk in time for Memorial Day could cost in the neighborhood of $1 million. That is in addition to other expenses, including a $100,000 insurance deductible the Camp Meeting must lay out for repairs to the damaged roof of the Great Auditorium. A temporary roof was quickly laid in place immediately after the storm, but now a permanent one of specially fabricated stainless steel is required. The Camp Meeting’s total damage costs – including work on the boardwalk, pier, beach and dunes – will come to between $3 million and $4 million, delCampo said. “That’s a very preliminary number.” The Camp Meeting’s entire annual budget is normally around $5 million.
DelCampo said the Camp Meeting is launching a fund-raising drive. He also said that the Camp Meeting will apply not only to FEMA but “to other agencies, any other governmental agencies.”
Bascom suggested in a separate interview that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development may have funding available for Sandy-related repairs. DelCampo said the Camp Meeting intends to apply to HUD. The association is working with a professional in the field of grant applications to federal agencies.
Bascom said the Camp Meeting should have an easier time qualifying for FEMA funding for the sand dunes than for the boardwalk. That’s because the sand dunes can be seen as a form of “hazard mitigation” – i.e., the dunes protect beachfront properties from storm surges.
The legal problem with funding for Ocean Grove’s boardwalk is that FEMA classifies the boardwalk as a recreational facility. And while, under FEMA’s rules, local governments can be reimbursed for damage to recreational facilities, private non-profits such as the Camp Meeting usually cannot.
Bascom, Township Business Administrator Vito Gadaleta and Camp Meeting representatives Bill Bailey and Jack Green met in Trenton last week with a representative of the governor’s office to discuss, among other things, this very obstacle, which other New Jersey beach towns do not face.
Camp Meeting and Township officials both argue that the Ocean Grove boardwalk serves much more than simply a recreational purpose. DelCampo said on Wednesday that the boardwalk acts as an economic engine for the entire town and provides interconnectivity between Ocean Grove and adjacent towns. It is unfair, he and others say, for FEMA to treat Ocean Grove’s boardwalk differently when it is functionally just the same as all the other ones.
DelCampo and Camp Meeting Director of Operations Bill Bailey, whom Blogfinger also interviewed on Wednesday, both expressed disappointment that some Ocean Grovers have criticized the Camp Meeting for being slow to act following the storm.
Bailey said Camp Meeting officials have worked diligently with technical consultants, engineers and other professionals to analyze the problems caused by the storm and to design solutions that would minimize damage from future storms.
“We took the storm more seriously than most towns,” delCampo said, noting that the Camp Meeting built temporary dunes along the beach in the days and hours before the storm hit. “We were the most proactive of all the towns on the North Jersey shore.
“We’re committed to do everything we can,” he said, “but we have limitations.”
NOTE: For an account of the beachfront repairs the Camp Meeting has committed to make by Memorial Day, see our previous story here.
Sew N. Reap – I agree with you 100%
What i’m suggesting is a public-private partnership. There’s lots of information on them on the internet. After 25+ years on Wall Street, one learns how to structure deals to maximize return and reduce risk.
Ocean Grove engineers should use all of this data to demonstrate to FEMA that damaged portions of the boardwalk are going to be rebuild as hazard mitigation measures. Sure, a great system also serves as a boardwalk, but never again will Ocean Grove just drive it’s foundation into sand. New boardwalks will be engineered to protect the public and the taxpayer.
i applaud Sue and Pam for thier comments above. Sue…..very creative…you would be a good deal structurer. Pam….common sense does go a long way.
OhGee, I did mean the South End and there is a bulkhead there. The bulkhead runs from around Broadway to just south of the Beach Office, it is under the eastern edge of the boardwalk. That is why this section of boardwalk sustained less damage and thus will be ready for summer. The reason that the South End of town was hardest hit is because it is the lowest point of town and in so being that’s were the water went when it overtook the barriers that were in place. If there was no bulkhead the South End boardwalk would look like the middle section if not have been washed down Broadway, Cookman, Clark or Franklin like the pier, and I’d be willing to bet that some of those houses would have been in a lot worse shape.
OGTS, you must of meant the North End? South end of town was hardest hit by Sandy,,,,,And there is no bulkhead there.
OK, while Bradley Beach did fine and that has to do with their boardwalk, is Ocean Grove willing to erect a poured concrete boardwalk topped with pavers and then dig down 10 feet on the ocean side and the erect 10-12 foot dunes in front of that moat? Thats what they did. They built a moat.
What they need to do is install a bulkhead like the south end has. That’s the reason that we still have a boardwalk there. If there had been a bulkhead from Embury to Ocean Pathway we would have been a lot better off. There are two steps that have to be taken.
Step #1 Reestablish the dune system.
Step #2 install a bulkhead in to area described above.
Maybe if a boardwalk was tied into the installation of a bulkhead they would have an easier time with FEMA.
A well-designed boardwalk is both a walkway and a hazard mitigation system. How do we know? Look at the town next door, Bradley beach. Although they topped their concrete wall with paver stones, I don’t see why boardwalk pilings can’t be driven into a poured concrete foundation, rather than the sand.
Sand is not effective as a boardwalk foundation in a storm. But concrete would be.
Why would Neptune want to purchase any controlling interest in the boardwalk? It costs much to maintain and brings in little to no money. The badge fees cover the expense of lifeguards and step guards but little is left over.
The CMA wants to have its cake (controlling everything) and eat it too (getting money like a municipality). This is the harvest they reap for the crop they have sown.
Maybe people will be less critical in their view of what is being done to get repairs underway now that there seems to be better communication. What is the average person supposed to think when they see progress being made at surrounding beaches and boardwalks and hardly anything happening in Ocean Grove? With no information people will draw seemingly self-evident conclusions. All we want is to know what is happening and it seems to me that we are getting much better reports. Thank you.
Why doesn’t the CMA sell a 51% interest in the boardwalk to Neptune Township for 1% and enter into a management agreement whereby the CMA handles the day-to-day decision making. A shareholders agreement could spell out in what instances Neptune needs to get involved and vote on large things, such as expenditures over $100,000. That way the Boardwalk will be majority-owned by a municipality and therefore eligible for FEMA money.
A lot of the bitterness and distrust of the OGCMA was created by the previous administration. I think most Grovers are quite hopeful delCampo and Bailey will do better than the ones before. However, the hurt doesn’t go away immediately. People are withholding their trust (and perhaps their pocketbooks) to see if the new administration’s words match their actions.