UPPER TOWNSHIP — A 20-year anniversary passed June 11 without fanfare, and possibly without notice.
On that date in 2005, officials dedicated a new headquarters for lifeguards. Now, Mayor Curtis Corson says it is time for a new building.
“Our lifeguard headquarters, on its first day it was built, it was inadequate. It’s not big enough,” Corson said at a September meeting of the Township Committee. Other complaints included a lack of storage and a lack of bathrooms, with guards relying on portable toilets instead.
There are no lockers, or a break room, or a secure office for senior staff.
“The observation deck, obviously, doesn’t even face the ocean,” Corson said.
Corson’s name is on a plaque on the side of the building, along with that of then-Mayor Richard Palombo and other members of the Township Committee in 2005. Corson was the deputy mayor at the time.
With the support of the committee, he asked the township’s engineering firm to investigate the potential to build something new.
There is not much to the Upper Township Beach Patrol headquarters, a 30-foot-wide structure set on pilings in the dunes at the end of Williams Street in Strathmere, at the end of a block of homes worth millions of dollars.
Upper Township Committee plans to bring a new noise ordinance forward. The standards in the current ordinance are too subjective to be enforced, officials say.
There are two rooms and a small deck, which as Corson points out, is on the west side of the building facing away from the street.
Corson envisions a new building with public restrooms, showers for the guards and accommodations for female guards, as well as storage for gear and lockers for the employees.
He does not expect a recommendation from township engineer Charles Norkis at the next meeting, set for 5 p.m. Oct. 14 at Township Hall, 2100 Tuckahoe Road in the Petersburg section of the township.
He said the investigation will take a lot more time, describing it as the start of a long-term plan.
The Beach Patrol also has a lifeguard stand at the Great Egg Harbor Bay beach in the Beesleys Point section, but most of the patrol’s attention remains on Strathmere.
In his comments at the meeting, Corson pointed out that there are no public restrooms in Strathmere. There are portable toilets on the beach, including one that was overwashed in high tides during a summer storm this year.
Corson mentioned another long-term proposal for Strathmere, what he described as a new type of erosion barrier that might help keep sand on the beach. He and township Administrator Jim Van Zlike met in Strathmere with representatives of Yodock Simmons Construction and Environmental Solutions LLC about the company’s erosion control barriers, which Corson described as an “upside-down W” of Jersey barriers, but made of impact-resistant plastic.
The company says the product can dissipate wave force and stabilize shorelines.
A preliminary investigation from the DEP says beaches and dunes did their jobs, protecting property from damage as Hurricane Erin passed up the coast.
“It’s been tried in the Gulf of Mexico, or I guess the Gulf of America now. The west coast of Florida,” Corson said. “We might be able to try it if we can get approval.”
He said the state Department of Environmental Protection would have to say yes to trying the method. The north end of Strathmere has seen consistent erosion. A project was completed in 2024, with Strathmere already looking forward to the next U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to rebuild the beaches and dunes.
“We keep pumping sand. It’s not working,” Corson said. “It’s definitely worth a shot.”
Contact Bill Barlow:
609-272-7290
bbarlow@pressofac.com
X @jerseynews_bill
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