MIDDLESEX BEACH, De. - The Middlesex Beach Association in South Bethany has filed a permit with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in hopes of securing replenishment assistance in the case of extreme erosion.
The work will require dredging and potential pipelines to borrow sand from proposed off-shore locations, before bringing that sand onto the beach.
The private community just south of the Sea Colony Hotel in Bethany Beach is looking to secure a permit plan with DNREC through what the association is calling a 10-year fallback plan if Middlesex Beach were to experience mass erosion.
With Middlesex Beach being private, the association says it is aiming to raise $3 million to cover contractor costs and a state surcharge to get the work done if necessary.
In the associations documents that were provided to DNREC, it states that if piping plover nests were to be found in the designated project area, dredging and replenishment efforts would be halted until nesting for the given season has ended.
The proposed replenishment effort would involve borrowing sand from offshore sites and spreading it along the beach.
According to documents, the permit looks to protect a stretch of beach from the southern limits of the Sea Colony Hotel beaches, going to the northern limits of South Bethany.
“I’m not opposed to any enhancement of the beaches whatsoever. I mean that’s the economy of the area, right?” says David Robertson, who frequently walks along Middlesex Beach and hopes to see it protected.
“Every year, I guess, winter storms and all, I mean, there’s normal natural erosion of the sand, and the beaches become a little more narrow,” Robertson tells CoastTV. “So, you know it would be great, it is great to see the maintenance that they do here and how well they maintain and keep them clean.”
However, not all beachgoers in the area think this process is worth the investment. John Oliver says Mother Nature often completes its own replenishment process.
“Seems like that’s a losing battle,” says Oliver. “Yeah, sure, I mean, I’ll leave it up to the engineers and the experts to figure out what the right answer is,” Oliver says. “But it seems like we could have a replenishment exercise every couple years, and I don’t know if we can keep that up. I think it’s awfully costly.”
Association board members said neighboring Sea Colony hotels are roughly one year ahead of Middlesex Beach in their own replenishment plans, and that the permit is awaiting a response from the Army Corps of Engineers to move forward.
