New Jersey denies bulkhead for shore town with wrecked sand dunes

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press

NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey is refusing to allow a shore town whose sand dunes have washed away in places to build a bulkhead to protect itself, ruling that no one is in imminent danger. The state Department of Environmental Protection has told North Wildwood it cannot build a steel bulkhead on a section of beach where the dunes have been completely obliterated by storms. Mayor Patrick Rosenello says the city will ask an appeals court to allow the barrier. The state says a bulkhead will likely only worsen erosion from the force of waves bashing against it and scouring away any sand in front of it, and favors other methods.