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The city plans to rebuild dunes at the north and south ends of town, but will not build dunes elsewhere on the beach front.

Head lifeguard Joe Bongiovanni and city engineer Joe Cunha advised the city council on what to do about the dunes at last night’s council meeting.

Before Hurricane Sandy struck on Oct. 29, 2012, the North End beach [pictured above, post-Sandy] had large dunes with dune grass, protected by snow fencing. Those dunes were largely decimated in the storm. The rest of the town’s beach front does not have dunes, aside from the area around the Casino in the south.

Bongiovanni, who’s worked at the beach front for about 45 years, gave the city council a brief history of the how the beach has been protected in the past with jetties and sand replenishment. He then suggested the city reinforce the existing dunes at the north and south ends of the shoreline, but leave the remainder of the beach front alone.

“That storm was the hundred years storm,” Bongiovanni said. “It was the worst case scenario. I don’t think dunes would have done anything to protect us.”

The width of Asbury Park’s beaches aren’t conducive to dunes as they would reduce sitting areas, he said, and a dune cannot be removed once it’s been built. It will only continue to expand.

He also suggested another round of sand replenishment, first done in 2000, to “push the water back” on the south end, so that waves’ power will dissipate before hitting the shore there.

The North End Beach’s dunes will be replenished with used Christmas trees, Cunha said. The city will mechanically add sand to a certain level, and then the dunes will naturally replenish throughout the winter. The dunes may not be ready for grass planting for a while, he said.

Deputy Mayor John G. Loffredo questioned the lack of necessity for dunes.

“In communities like Seaside Park … they had dunes on the sea side and those houses are still standing,” Loffredo said. “Their dunes are 20 feet high. I don’t see how you’re saying dunes wouldn’t protect our shoreline.”

Such dunes would “take up our entire beach,” Bongiovanni said. “There would be no bathing area.”

“So it’s better to let the water come up and run over the boardwalk?” Loffredo asked.

“Yes,” Bongiovanni said. “The sand is pushed up to the bulkheads and the water comes up and over. Then you don’t have the erosion. You’re going to get some flooding. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Sand replenishment in certain areas, though, “will push the ocean back,” Bongiovanni said. “There were many places, before replenishment, where the water would hit the bulkhead at high tide.”

Cunha has asked the Army Corps of Engineers why they never installed dunes in Asbury Park while they placed them in Manasquan and other places. They said it “simply was not necessary in Asbury Park,” Cunha said, because of the elevation, the amount of sand and the bulkhead.

Still, “there’s no question as to the extreme south end and the extreme north end that dunes wouldn’t hurt,” Cunha said.

Bongiovanni recommended snow fencing be installed around the dunes on the south end, around the Casino, so that the dunes can build themselves up over the winter. The American Littoral Society may also come to plant dune grass. The grass’s six-feet-long roots to help hold the dunes together.

The southernmost portion of the south end dunes was destroyed, and “needs a little more attention than the other does as far as what was planted,” Bongiovanni said. That dune protects the flume from Wesley Lake, he added.

The Asbury Park Fishing Club will likely help with dune grass planting, and the city will ask area high school students to help as a form of community service.

Portions of the city’s bulkhead should also be reinforced, Bongiovanni said. On the southern end of the boardwalk, the bulkhead was most recently replaced in 1961 and there were areas where “the wood was so rotted you could stick your finger through it,” he said.

Bradley Beach’s boardwalk was “completely washed away” despite the presence of dunes at least eight feet high along the shoreline, Bongiovanni said. Bradley Beach is comparable in elevation to Asbury Park, he added.

During public comment, city resident Joe Woerner, who is a member and past president of the Jersey Shore chapter of Surfrider Foundation, took issue with the recommendation not to build dunes. He said he was happy to see the city encouraging dune replenishment on the north and south ends, but also questioned Bongiovanni’s credentials in studying the city’s dunes. He suggested the city hire a coastal ecologist or a coastal engineer to look at the dune systems.

He also questioned whether beach replenishment should be done.

“It actually makes the beaches less safe,” he said, adding that places like Atlantic City have seen an uptick in head and neck injuries among bathers following sand replenishment.

“We were sold a bill of goods that replenishment would work,” he said. “I think Sandy showed that replenishment will not work. We lost every boardwalk, with minor exceptions. Are dunes part of the solution? They’re certainly part of the natural solution … I think we owe it to our businesses and our community to look at it from a scientific perspective.”

City manager Terence Reidy defended Bongiovanni’s credentials, saying he has worked with the Army Corps of Engineers over the years, and “spent a lifetime on our beach and seen how it works.”

Also, the city has met with the American Littoral Society and asked them to return to discuss dunes more, he said.

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