BAY HEAD — The Bay Head Improvement Association (BHIA) has set beach badge prices at last year’s rate of $110 for the full season, and $60 for half season. This comes after the BHIA put out a statement expressing their disappointment in the upcoming beach renourishment, which is set to begin in Bay Head over the summer.
Announced last week on the BHIA’s Facebook and the borough’s website, William T. Gage, president of the BHIA, detailed the reasoning behind the price maintaining last year’s rate after BHIA had previously announced that prices were expected to rise this year.
On April 12, the BHIA announced that prices were going to be increased to $120 for a full season badge and $65 for a half season badge. However, due to the ongoing beach renourishment happening on Bay Head’s beaches this summer, the BHIA opted to not change the prices from last year.
The federal government had announced back in December a round of beach replenishment for 2025, including 495,000 cubic yards of sand to go on Bay Head’s beaches with a taper into Point Pleasant Beach. This will be the third time the beaches along northern Ocean County will be replenished.
In October 2024, the Army Corps awarded a contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company of Houston, Texas for $73.5 million to complete periodic nourishment of the project. The base contract calls for dredging and placing 2.1 million cubic yards of sand onto the beaches.
The sand will be dredged from approved areas located offshore of Ocean County in the Atlantic Ocean. The sand will then be pumped onto the beach and graded into an engineered template, which “is designed to reduce damages from coastal storm events,” according to the press release.
The contract company started work in Ocean County back in January. It is expected to take six to seven months, depending on weather and overall production.
In the letter, Gage said, “As I am sure most of you now know, the state of New Jersey has imposed another round of beach replenishment upon Ocean County. I have tried to keep myself up to date on the progress of this project so that we could adjust our operations as circumstances dictate. In January, representatives of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the United States Army Corps of Engineers as well as Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company LLC, which is the firm hired by the DEP and Corps of Engineers to perform the replenishment, informed us that the estimated date for the beginning of the Bay Head phase of the project was March 22 with an estimated completion date of May 4.”
As of now, as Gage highlights, the new start date for the renourishment to start in Bay Head will be June 11 with a completion date of July 22. This was confirmed by Mayor Bill Curtis by The Ocean Star. Mayor Curtis said this date is “revised weekly” and the borough is always up to date with any developments or updates associated with this project.
Beach badges are required on all Bay Head beaches starting June 14 through Labor Day.
“I am outraged at the lack of consideration for our beach going community that has been displayed by those who are in charge of this project. I need not tell any of you that the summer season is of the utmost importance to residents of and visitors to the New Jersey Shore,” said Gage.
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