Many of you will remember the volunteers from North Carolina Baptists who helped so many of us after superstorm Sandy. They helped clean homes, gutted water logged residences and cleaned nasty wet crawlspaces.
Now, as a result of hurricane Florence, they are the ones in trouble – and it’s time for us to pay back.
OBVTA has joined forces with Joan Delucia of Weekday Warriors to collect items for delivery to our friends in North Carolina. The supplies and financial donations will go directly to the NC Baptists in Lumberton, North Carolina that helped us here.
Items to be donated and the drop off locations in Orltey beach can be found
HERE .
Payments by check should be made payable to: NCBM and mailed to:
North Carolina Baptist Mission
Attn Billy Layton
141 Avent Road, Lumberton, NC 28358
In the check memo it is very important to write “Bill L Lumberton Disaster”.
Please also wait a few days to send your check because we are concerned that mail delivery is not yet back to normal and we do not want checks to be lost in the mail.
We thank you – and our friends in North Carolina Thank you!
Despite the on again off again weather, the 4th annual BeachJam was a great success! We successfully dodged the raindrops, AND the thunder and lightning and had a really good time.
A big thank you to Rick Jurgens for leading the volunteer effort to make it a success – and to the nearly 40 volunteers who all gave their time and effort.
Last but not least, thank you to all the local business sponsors who donated gifts and donations to the event. Local businesses donated over $4,000 to help defray the costs. See the list of supporting businesses HERE .
Beach replenishment is ongoing and the beach remains closed south of Fielder Ave. The ongoing operation produced a wonderful swimming pool over the weekend which was enjoyed by many.
Because sections of our beach are now closed, Ortley Beach badges will be honored in Seaside Heights.
You can find the latest information on Beach replenishment and beach closures at the link below. As of July 31st the beach and entrances south of Fielder are closed.
See the article below for the latest news article on beach replenishment in Ortley Beach. The link in the story that provides daily updates on which portions of our beach will be closed can be found on our OBVTA website Homepage and on “Useful Links” tab.
Toms River announced that our town’s FEMA CRS rating has improved from an 8 to a 7, resulting in a 5% increased flood insurance policy discount. The previous discount was 10%; it will now be 15%.
Details are provided in the article HERE
Dune replenishment in Ortley Beach may be delayed again. The project was delayed when hurricanes that traveled up the coast earlier this year required the contractor to move all of his equipment to safe harbors to avoid damage. Now, the severe winter cold and equipment breakdowns have put the US Army Corps even further behind schedule. The US ACE is currently working in Mantaloking and are slowly making their way south. Ortley Beach dune replenishment will most likely now occur in the late summer, or the fall of 2018, after Seaside Heights. We will keep you posted as work progresses.
Ortley BeachJam 2017 was a huge success this past weekend with nearly 600 people attending. Thank you to Rick Jurgens and all the volunteers who make this event happen each year. Everyone had lots of fun, the food was excellent and many declared it the “Best BeachJam Ever”. Many, many exciting prizes were also awarded. If you missed it, we hope you can attend next year.
We would also like to thank all of our sponsors who are listed below. Together they donated nearly $4000.00. Without their help, this event would not be possible.
Walters Homes; Spirits; DAKAN Homes; KW Realtors; Golden Gate Chinese; Bill’s Italian Ice;
Mills Heating and AC ;VWV Construction; Starlight Motel; Birchler Realtors; Jerry’s Farm Market;
Barnacle Bill’s; Ortley Seafood Market; Rockafella’s by Sea; Mia’s Pizza & Café; Kali’Os Juice Box
Pictures from the beach this evening are below. The beach south of 7th Ave. to Seaside Heights is complete. Work is now progressing near 3rd Ave and the work will probably be completed late this week. The additional work for the new larger and higher dunes and wider beach will commence sometime in the fall.
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Officers of OBVTA participated in the NJ DEP Press conference last week on our boardwalk to officially announce start of this critically important project. Pictures of the event, of the ongoing project over the weekend and links to recent news articles are below.
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A link to the NJ DEP Press Release with details of the project can be found HERE
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Three recent news articles can be found at the links below:
The beach replenishment dredge arrived over the weekend and they have started pumping sand onto the to beach.
The single dredge that is here is expected to be joined by another later this week and they will pump sand onto Ortley Beach for about two weeks, or until the project is complete. Actual timing will depend on equipment arrival, the weather and the condition of the “borrowing area”, from where the sand is taken. Because the borrowing area is offshore from Seaside, it is too far to pump sand directly onto the beach. Instead, you will see the dredge travel out to the borrowing area, fill with sand, then come close to Ortley Beach and pump the sand onto the beach. This will be repeated over and over. They will be replenishing from 7th Ave south to Seaside, then move the pipes on the beach and replenish from 7th Ave north to Lavallette.
As a reminder, this is only a temporary fill. It will raise the beach a few feet and extend it about 150′ toward the ocean. Later this year, scheduled for November or December, the US Army Corps will return and build the new dunes and an even larger beach.
A recent news article with video can be found HERE
…And another interesting article about the long term consequences of beach replenishment: Interesting News Article
On Saturday, May 6th Friends of Ortley Beach held their first event. A new plaque was unveiled that shows the original structure on the site of the current Lord House life guard house on the boardwalk at 4th Avenue. The original structure on the site was the Ortley Inn, about 1900. Ancestors of the original owners attended the event as well as Toms River Mayor Kelaher and Council woman Maria Maruca. The program for this great event is HERE
Despite the best efforts of OBVTA and many of its members, the Ocean County Utility Authority voted “No” on converting any portion of their property in Ortley Beach to a park for passive recreation.
About 40 members of OBVTA attended their public meeting on Thursday, August 25th.
Chairman Parker allowed each commissioner to make a statement about whether they supported , or opposed the use of their property for passive recreation. A few were neutral, but most had one excuse or another to not allow such use. Many of their excuses were based on incorrect information, despite our best efforts to educate them. Following their statements, Chairman Parker stated his own objections, which again seemed to assume that OCUA would “lose” their property. He was closed minded about the entire idea from the beginning, stays that way, and has strong influence over all of the commissioners.
Paul Jeffrey, President, clarified many of the facts and made yet another plea to allow the conversion to passive recreation use. Several OBVTA members then very well articulated their views. Unfortunately Toms River did not send a representative to the meeting despite our requests to do so, and this weakened our position. The commissioners listened, but clearly had their minds made up before coming to the meeting.
Following a short closed session, the OCUA board returned to the meeting room, a motion was made to keep use of the OCUA land as it is now and took a vote. The commissioner votes were unanimous to support no change.
The OBVTA Board has not decided on next steps, if any, but will discuss at our next Board meeting.
