Brick Beaches 'Hazardous,' Stay Away, Brick Officials Warn

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township officials are warning people to stay away from the beaches, after Monday's nor'easter caused significant erosion and made them hazardous.

At Tuesday's Township Council meeting, Mayor John Ducey said the nor'easter caused erosion at all three of Brick's oceanfront beaches. At the northern end of the township, there was a dropoff of 4 feet from the dune to the beach, he said, but in the Normandy Beach section, the erosion has exposed 15 feet of the steel revetment wall, he said.

"It's hazardous," he said. The township has put up caution tape to warn people to stay away because the 15-foot drop "goes right into the ocean," Ducey said.

The police department issued a Nixle alert Wednesday morning, reiterating the danger, and telling residents to stay away.

Ducey said the Army Corps of Engineers' upcoming project to create engineered dunes and widened beaches is expected to address the problems that have occurred since the revetment wall was installed by the state Department of Environmental Protection to protect Route 35, which was severely damaged by Superstorm Sandy and left impassable in some areas.

The Army Corps awarded the bid for the $92 million base contract to Weeks Marine of Cranford, and the first phase of construction is expected to include the stretch from Seaside Park to Brick, where easements to allow the work are in place.

Ducey said the work is expected to begin in March. He also said township officials have been promised Brick would be the first town addressed, but the Army Corps has made no announcements of where Weeks Marine will begin the work, which will result in 22-foot dunes and widening of 100 to 300 feet on the beaches.

Waves from storms in October 2015 eroded sand from the steel revetment wall in Brick. Photo by Tim Sharkey of Sharkey Images, used with permission