A group of New Jersey homeowners filed an objection in court in mid-February in an attempt to stop a US Army Corps of Engineers beach-building project. The residents live or own property in Bay Head, a neighborhood currently protected by a privately-maintained stone revetment, which was extended 1.8 miles after Hurricane Sandy.

The residents claim that the property easements requested for the fourteen-mile-long Army project would block their ability to maintain the rock wall and sand structures they have maintained for decades. They also say that they don’t believe that Congress swill fully fund the estimated $514 million cost of construction and replenishment cycles over the next 50 years.

The project is set to begin this spring, but state Superior Court Assignment Judge Marlene Lynch Ford is expected to issue a ruling by the end of March. If Bay Head is not forced to cooperate, nearby communities fear Bay Head will benefit from the project without incurring any of the costs. The theory is that the natural longshore drift of sand will draw beach fill from neighbors, according to Stewart Farrell, director of Stockton University Coastal Research Center, who testified for the state.

An overview of New Jersey Beach Dune Recovery Sites from the Stockton University Coastal Research Center is available here.