Sand dunes

More than 19 months after Superstorm Sandy lashed New Jersey, beachfront homeowners are still fighting efforts to build large sand dunes on their properties to protect against future hurricanes.

The state cannot be short-sighted in its storm recovery from Superstorm Sandy warns a former Department of Environmental Protection commissioner during a joint Senate-Assembly panel on the pace of rebuilding.

A Jersey shore town is appealing to the federal government to build dunes at the end of three streets that were excluded from a beach replenishment project because homeowners wouldn't sign access papers to allow the work.

Deadlines have passed to get signed easements for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beach protection project, but the state continues to take a diplomatic approach in getting property owners to cooperate.

Many homeowners along the Jersey Shore are the recipients of a letter from New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bob Martin explaining the importance of creating a dune system and the need for easements to be signed by all oceanfront homes.

The New Jersey Supreme Court will decide an issue crucial to the future of the Jersey shore in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy: whether oceanfront homeowners deserve cash compensation when protective dune projects block their views of the water.