Politics & Government

American Littoral Society Proposes Changes to Library Bulkhead

The library's deteriorating bulkhead should be replaced with a shoreline, group argues.

The bulkhead along the back of Red Bank Library’s property on the Navesink River is deteriorating. In spots it’s crumbling, and in others holes are starting to form, carved out of the splintered wood.

Someday, likely in the not too distant future, it will need to be replaced. What it should be replaced with remains to be seen. If the American Littoral Society has its way, it’ll be something altogether different.

At Red Bank Borough’s council meeting Monday night, Bill Shadel, habitat restoration program director for the Society, presented a plan that would replace the wooden bulkhead with, well, nothing really.

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It’s called a living shoreline, much like you’d find on the banks of any undeveloped waterway, and, according to Shadel, it’s the way to go.

Not only is it cheaper and not in need of replacement, he said while clicking through a power point presentation, but it also provides a number of advantages that a typical bulkhead doesn’t.

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Shadel said the living shoreline provides habitat, maintains the natural shoreline dynamic, traps and retains runoff, and can improve access. The last point is a compelling one, considering the limited public access to the Navesink, which is lined by, mostly, private and inaccessible property.

Though the benefits to the public are obvious, the change won’t hurt the library, either.

“(It) promotes a softer solution to shoreline erosion while still protecting the property,” Shadel said.

Though the library, and its bulkhead, aren’t the responsibility of the council as Mayor Pasquale Menna pointed out, the borough’s support of the project could go towards convincing the library’s board, which has already shown interest, to move ahead with the plan, Shadel said.

If the library wants to move ahead with the plan – it hasn’t made any sort of determination whether it will or will not yet – the American Littoral Society said it will help develop a more thorough concept and help identify possible funding opportunities to help alleviate some of the financial burden, Shadel said.


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