FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP — The last holdouts on Sea Breeze’s south end have agreed to sell their homes to the state, signaling the beginning of the end of this isolated Delaware Bay community in Cumberland County. Fourteen sales have closed, and six others were scheduled to do so several weeks ago, state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Ragonese said. Another six are still under negotiation, but Sea Breeze homeowners say those deals are all but done. Thirteen homes remain on the north end, and homeowners say they could be next.
"There is a plan to do something environmental with that area, but that plan hasn’t been finalized yet," Ragonese said. Most homeowners have emptied their houses already, giving up their views of the bay that laps along the seawall separating their homes from the water. Many have done so reluctantly. Bob Spence, a retired plant operator at DuPont’s Deepwater facility, said he didn’t want to sell. For months, a large sign stood in front of his house accusing state and local government officials of stealing his home. "It was my dream for the longest time to be able to retire here," said Spence, who lives in Pennsville. "Now it’s been sucked out of me."
The community has been losing its battle with the bay for years, as the encroaching waves and erosion cut into the shore on which their homes sit. Makeshift bulkheads failed and were replaced many times before homeowners finally stepped back and let the state build the seawall. That, too, failed, forcing homeowners who once spurned the idea of selling to accept offers. The last homeowner could move out by summer. Several homeowners say they were shortchanged by the state and local governments, who put them in a position where they were forced to sell. In 2007, the state completed construction of a seawall to protect the community from the rising tide of Delaware Bay.
For years, the homeowners had built their own makeshift bulkheads. After then-Fairfield Township Mayor Craig Thomas and current state Senate President Steve Sweeney took up their cause, the homeowners agreed to cede some of their bayside land for the wall and reconstruction of Beach Avenue, which had washed away. The seawall began to fail within months, as storms battered it into a disjointed collection of blocks, with only parts of the structure remaining stable. Some homeowners feel paving the road would have helped, but the township refused to do so after cost overruns and Thomas’ replacement by one-term mayor Marion Kennedy Jr. changed matters. When they wanted to fix the road themselves, the homeowners were forbidden from doing so.
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http://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/local_environment/93873654_Holdouts_quit_as_sea_closes_in.html
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