MAN AGAINST SAND Workers move sand near the visitor's center at Assateague Island National Seashore. (AP Photo/The Virginian Pilot) Post Stories • What is a nor'easter? • Is beach restoration worthwhile? • Coverage of the February storm.

By John P. Martin
Washingtonpost.com Writer
Friday, April 17, 1998

Officials in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware are preparing to launch extensive replenishment projects that will likely close some beaches, a block or two at a time, during the season.

Ocean City, Maryland plans to replace about 1.3 million cubic yards of sand - enough to fill more than 72,000 dump trucks - on its beaches. Delaware will spread about 850,000 cubic yards in Dewey, Bethany, South Bethany and Fenwick Island beaches. Virginia Beach will construct 4.5 miles of new beach. At Assateague Island, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin a long-awaited $18 million rebuilding of the seven-mile coast.

Some blame falls to two nasty northeasters that pounded the coast in January and February, leveling dunes and shrinking some beaches already desperate for renourishment. Other projects will complete repair needs that have lingered since a 1996 blizzard. All reflect the coastal communities' increasingly routine tug-of-war with nature over control of the shoreline and with the federal government over who should pay to keep the beach intact.

Rebuilding the coast means turning to dredging machines that churn or siphon the sand offshore like seaworthy vacuums and pump it through 30-inch pipes onto the beach. The 24-hour operation typically requires closing up to three blocks of beach for at least a day.

"Believe me, they don't want to be on the block any longer than we want them to be on the block," said Nancy Howard, Eastern Shore spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and an Ocean City councilwoman.

The $8.3 million dredging project will be the first major beach renovation in Ocean City since 1992. The contractor, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., has agreed to suspend work between July 4th and Labor Day.

Delaware officials are negotiating for Great Lakes to replenish beaches in July, August and later in the fall. They were still waiting to replace 135,000 cubic yards of beach lost in a January 1996 blizzard when the northeasters arrived this winter and took another 93,500 cubic yards.

The second storm, in early February, battered the Delaware shoreline through four high tides and permanently eroded 30 percent of Dewey Beach's coast, Mayor Bob Frederick said.

"It was the second worst [storm] that anybody alive had seen," he said, crediting a 1994 replenishment project with sparing the town more extensive damage.

Some on Assateague, which draws as many as 2 million visitors each summer, feared the storms would rip the island in two or three. Marc Koenings, superintendent for the National Park Service there, said the beach dropped five feet in a 1.5-mile stretch during the northeaster, leaving it just inches above sea level.

"It's a pretty amazing phenomenon," Koenings said. "It's like God had taken that 5-foot dip out with a snow shovel."

In July, engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin building a temporary berm on the island's north end, he said. Planning for the project began four years ago.

Meanwhile, park officials relocated some buildings parking lots farther from the coast. "That's just part of being a barrier island," Koenings said. "You basically expect Mother Nature to rule the situation."

Virginia Beach will close portions of the Sandbridge shoreline to build 4.5 miles of new beach, according to Bob Matthias, assistant to the mayor.

Cape Charles, Virginia lost nearly half its public beach to the storms and isn't sure when or if can rebuild. Now the water on the north end laps against the boardwalk, unnerving town manager Donald Clarke.

"My concern is we're going to lose our infrastructure, going to lose the boardwalk," he said.

The chance of another northeaster diminishes with each day, but even minor storms in the last month or two have packed destructive winds.

"Two weekends ago, we got a northeast wind," said John Hughes, soil and water conservation director for Delaware's Department of Natural Resources. "While it wasn't a media event, it was eating away at the beaches the whole time."

Beaches naturally restore themselves, but not always at a pace or form to accommodate the towns that rely on them for protection and profit. Keeping them intact has become a full-time battle.

About four years ago, the federal government decided to phase out long-term funding to beach replenishment projects. “This administration decided that given the large deficit, priorities had to be changed,” said Raleigh Leef, deputy policy chief for the Corps of Engineers’ public works division. Officials from coastal states complained the government left them and their shores in limbo. Some formed coalitions to lobby Congress for money each year.

Delaware spent $2 million developing plans to rebuild its beaches. Construction on Dewey and Rehoboth was to begin in 2000, with the federal government shouldering 65 percent of the $25 million cost.

"We've made the nut year after year and it wasn't easy," Hughes said. "To me they're walking away from a deal."

At issue is whether the beaches should be considered vital industries worthy of federal support or recreational areas whose benefit is primarily to the communities that surround them.

Matthias said Virginia Beach draws 2.5 million overnight visitors a year, generates $500 million from tourism and sends $30 million to the state.

"That's an industry, not a recreation," he said.

Leef estimated the government’s annual savings at $50 million. He also said the administration is reconsidering its stance, and could as Congress to reinstate the funding when it re-authorizes the Water Resources Development Act this year. Not everyone's a believer in renourishment. Cape Charles concluded a better solution was to build a $590,000 breakwater barrier offshore.

"It would be a waste of money just dumping sand there," said Clarke. "That was done a couple years ago, and it's all gone."

Still, someone has to pay. Asked where the money would come from, Clarke said: "I don't know."

John P. Martin can be reached at martinj@washingtonpost.com