Sand dune obscures ocean view

John Curran

Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | 8:54 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Eating her lunch in a Boardwalk pizza shop, gambler Marlene Fabyonic gazed toward the ocean, amazed by what she couldn't see.

Blocking her view was a giant sand dune, with a network of snow fencing and wooden walkways criss-crossing it.

The dune, intended as a buffer to protect the island from coastal storm surges, was built as part of a $24 million shore protection project in Atlantic City and neighboring Ventnor that has pumped millions of yards of sand onto depleted beaches.

No one is complaining about the bigger beaches, but the dune's height -- about 4 feet above the Boardwalk -- has disappointed gamblers, tourists and locals to whom an ocean view is as much part of the beach experience as seagulls, salty air and sunburns.

"What a bummer," said Fabyonic, 65, of Pittsburgh. "You can't see the ocean. As soon as we walked out of the casino, we noticed it."

It's hard not to notice. The dune runs parallel to the Boardwalk and extends into Ventnor, a residential community where fears about view loss led to a hotly contested referendum last fall in which voters approved it by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers job, officially named the Absecon Island Shore Protection Project, uses a dredge to suck up sand from the ocean floor just offshore and pipe it onto 5.4 miles of eroding beaches.

All told, about 4.5 million cubic yards of sand -- enough to fill 2 million pickup truck beds -- will be pumped onto beaches, with new wooden walkways and ramps built on top of the dune to allow pedestrian and disabled access to the beach.

Corps of Engineers spokesman Merv Brokke said the dune will help save beachfront properties from damage if and when a hurricane or major coastal storm batters the New Jersey coastline.

"This huge dune is going to greatly protect the residents of Ventnor and Atlantic City. It's a tradeoff -- the ocean breaking over the Boardwalk versus breaking a lot farther out and running up under the dune."

While some of their gamblers grouse about the lost view, casinos are thrilled at the prospect of wider beaches.

"We got a big beautiful beach that we never had before," said Kenneth Condon, president of Bally's Atlantic City casino. "Maybe it's a limited view, but for those going on it, they'll have a great time."

Bally's is planning to build a "Bikini Beach Bar" on the sand, with capacity for 200 people and live music seven days a week through the summer.

Just down the beach at Caesars Atlantic City, plans are under way to dramatically expand the beach bar operation because of the newfound space.

The casino is also installing three coin-operated viewing machines on its fourth-floor outdoor pool deck, Caesars President Paul Henderson said.

"There was nothing to look at before, because the beach was tucked in against the Boardwalk," Henderson said. "Now, it's so big, there's something to see."

But not from ground level.

"It's one of the things to do while you're here, walking the Boardwalk and looking at the ocean," said gambler Bob Gollider, 66, of Lima, Ohio, taking a break from the slot machines to walk the Boardwalk one day last week. "The ocean's one thing that Atlantic City's got that Las Vegas doesn't have."

In Ventnor, where the dune reaches about 2 feet over the Boardwalk but leaves some ocean visible, the reception has been cool.

Some property deeds dating to the early 20th century guaranteed that no obstruction would be built east of the Boardwalk. Banking on that, a beachfront homeowner plans to file a class action lawsuit aimed at stopping the work from proceeding.

"We've warned them for two years that this would be the result of their allegedly illegal conduct," said attorney David Shulick, who represents property owner Melvin Rosenberg. "It will be stopped. We will have the work stopped and if they continue, we will have it removed and seek monetary damages."

But Ventnor Mayor Timothy Kreischer says the loss of a little view is a small price, given the protection afforded by the dune.

"Without that dune, we stand a real risk of losing the Boardwalk," Kreischer said. "We've lost it three times in 100 years -- in the early 1900s, in the hurricane of 1944 and in the March 1962 storm."