🌊 Should houses be 4 feet higher? | Down the Shore

In Sea Isle City this week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was hard at work on a last-minute-funded beach replenishment project. The project will go into the summer, which is going to annoy everyone. From there, the Army Corps will head to Avalon and Stone Harbor. Ocean City is also being replenished on its north end. Together, the projects will cost $56.9 million, with about 5 million total cubic yards of sand being dredged from the ocean and brought to the beaches, the Army Corps says.

The urgency of the beach replenishment was at odds with Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s recent one-year delay for new rules that would require new homes, and those being substantially improved, to be built 4 feet above current FEMA elevation standards in expanded state flood and coastal zones. That’s on top of earlier FEMA requirements that caused houses rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy to be raised, in some cases by 14 feet, to better guard against damage from increasing flooding.

The regulations, known as the Resilient Environments and Landscape (REAL) rules, were adopted on the last day of Gov. Phil Murphy’s term and set to go into effect July 20, over objections from builders, business groups, and elected officials. The decision to wait a year was denounced by environmentalists.

“There is no more time to lose,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, citing sunny day flooding down the Shore. “New Jerseyans are at risk, property is at risk.”

The state said it will now be taking the year to reconsider and listen to public comment. What do you think? Let us know.

In other news, Margate has a favorite son in the NBA finals: Knicks superstarJalen Brunson, who according to property records and local scuttlebutt, likes to pop into Aversa’s for a turkey hoagie, tool to the Wawa in a golf cart, play mini golf, and visit his spacious new-construction $7 million home a block from the beach. Earlier this spring, while the Knicks were making quick work of the Sixers, Steve & Cookie’s hosted a dinner for Brunson and his teammates, and there have been past sightings at local basketball courts.

My colleague Alex Coffey, meanwhile, writes that another Nova Knick, Mikal Bridges, made his mom’s predictions come true with a Shore house in Avalon.

📮 Do you want to see new building rules for Shore flood zones? Did the proposed rules go too far or is that what’s needed to deal with sea level rise?

Let me know what you think by replying to this email, and I’ll include the most interesting responses in a future newsletter. (See below for your thoughts on who gets to be a local.)

Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Send them to me here.

⛈️ Beaches were packed last weekend with the hot weather, and the steamy weather will continue this weekend.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Find me at @amysrosenberg, or on Instagram 📷 at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

🇭🇹 Les Grenadiers, the World Cup team from Haiti, landed at the Atlantic City Airport and settled in at its base camp at Stockton University. Chef Jackie Jean of A.C.’s Gouté Créole, which made Craig LaBan’s top 25 Shore restaurants last summer, told Fox29 he was “overwhelmed” at the chance to cook some Haitian specialties for the team. Jonathan Tannenwald profiled Haiti team member and Penn grad Duke Lacrois, a native of Ocean County. And columnist Sabrina Vourvoulias writes about the joy felt by Philly’s local Haitian community. Haiti plays Brazil in Philly on June 19.

💰 The privately owned Margate Bridge is increasing its tolls June 16.

💔 The mother of Davoris Carter III wants answers after her 14-year-old son went missing in the ocean in Wildwood while on a field trip.

🔊 Neighbors are complaining about decibel levels from the Oar House in Sea Isle.

🔊 Wildwood added commercial properties to its noise ordinance.

🇧🇷 Check out some Brazilian street food and ambiance in West Cape May’s DeckSide Boteco.

🥙 Craig LaBan is still savoring the grill platter and pan-Middle Eastern flavors of Ruhani Kitchen on the Black Horse Pike.

🚒 Ocean City is hosting the Emergency Responder 5K on June 13.

🐢 Avalon’s upgraded Bay Park Marina, compete with a “turtle retention barrier,” is officially open.

🎡 Hear the final report about the future of the Ocean City boardwalk at 6 p.m. at the Tabernacle on June 12.

⛯ Is Wildwood’s Pacific Avenue getting some love? The folks at the new Lighthouse Kitchen and Cafe are all in.

🍩 Federal Donuts opened a store at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.

There were plenty of opinions about who gets to call themselves a local, and how long the process takes. (Is there a tribunal in the back of Robert’s in Margate where such decisions are made?)

Here’s a sampling:

Susan Wessel: I am a transplant to the Jersey shore myself. Born and raised in Philly. I have never and will never consider myself a local even though through the past 43 years I’ve lived in Barnegat, Manahawkin, Brant Beach and Galloway.

Tom DeAngelo: I live & work in North Cape May for 36 years. My native Cape May friends say I can call myself “A local” but never “a native.” My 3 children were born in Philly. All my grand kids are born here. Native? Local? It’s all very confusing!!!

Brian Steiner: As far as I’m concerned, anyone who pays property taxes is a local. PS... We should get free beach tags.

Mary DeCotiis: I am truly from the shore. I was born at Fitkin Hospital in Neptune, now Jersey Shore University Medical Center, in 1956. I have lived in Belmar, 2 blocks from the beach my entire life. Soon I will have lived at the shore for 70 years. Can’t get any more local than that! I plan to remain here until the day I pass away and move on to the Ocean in the sky!!!

Soccer’s U.S. Men’s National Team member Brenden Aaronson was married in this Jersey Shore town at the base of a causeway bridge. Was it:

A. Rio Grande (outside of Wildwood).

B. Manahawkin (outside of LBI)

C. Cape May Court House (outside of Stone Harbor).

D. Linwood (outside of Margate).

If you think you know the answer, click on this story to find out. Or take a guess and email us with the answer here.

Our trusty Shore Line group chat followers had a lot of thoughts this week about beach flags. (Join the conversation!)

We asked: Should political flags be allowed on the beach? Are any flags acceptable?

Here’s a sampling:

Political flags are not my thing, but people are free to express themselves. Honestly, it’s the beach and everyone should be chilling. Live and let live regardless.

My humble opinion about political flags on the beach is…ABSOLUTELY NOT!! I go to the beach to relax, not to discuss politics, religion or any other issues our country may have. PLEASE… NO FLAGS!!

I’m a Phillies fan but flags on a beach infringe on the space of others.

My husband I grew up on opposite sides of the state. It’s all about togetherness, never divisiveness. That’s why we made our own Steagles flag from a t-shirt and printed heat transfer.

Hmm. Not sure about that one. Have a Shore etiquette question you’d like to see us tackle? Please reply to this email.

John Judge of Ocean City writes:

The first we hear of the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 was when a massive ocean wave crashed into the second floor of our Long Beach Island rental.

The war time government had banned coastal weather forecasts lest German U-BOATS prowling the Jersey Coast take advantage of meteorological data. My parents and four-year-old me survived but the storm reduced the house to driftwood.

Also not surviving was my father’s salt-water swamped 1930s Pontiac. While dad was sad to lose a hard-to-come-by car during wartime scarcity, mom was madder to lose a ham bought with hard to come by ration stamps.

Send us your Shore memory! In 200 words, tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

Staff writer Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this newsletter.

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