Margate Dunes To Be Built This Summer
MARGATE, NJ (CBS) -- Margate unsuccessfully fought against erecting protective dunes along its beach. And now comes word those dunes will be built at the worst possible time.
Margate Mayor Mike Becker is taking the timing of the Army Corps of Engineers work in stride. And while he won't come out and say this is payback for going against the Christie Administration's statewide dune plan along the shoreline, "I guess we got exactly what I thought we would get."
"They're going to be here the entire summer," Becker told KYW Newsradio. "They're going to start the beginning of June and wind up the first week in September."
But he insists the town's major summer events, like Beachstock in June and the Fourth of July fireworks, are still on. And besides, it's not like the entire beach will be closed all summer long.
"The Corps of Engineers will be in pumping sand but they will be closing one thousand feet of the beach at a time," Becker added. "The rest of the beach will be open."
The mayor estimates each segment of the work, encompassing about four blocks of beach, will take up to two weeks to complete.
Margate's beach tags are honored in neighboring Ventnor and there are discussions with Longport to the south on a similar deal for this summer.
