Dune grass plantings mark official end of beach replenishment
All of the heavy equipment has been gone for months, but a beach replenishment project in Rehoboth Beach technically finished earlier this month.
During the city manager’s report of a Dec. 15 commissioner meeting, Interim City Manager Evan Miller said the planting of dune grass as part of the project had recently been completed.
Following the meeting, Steve Rochette, Army Corps of Engineers spokesman, said Rehoboth had 1,231 grass plants installed.
Bethany Beach and South Bethany also received sand and new grass plants. Rochette said 2,805 grass plants were added in Bethany Beach, with 4,786 grass plants installed in South Bethany. There were no plantings in Fenwick Island or Dewey Beach, he said.
The cost of the project – a total of $23.8 million for all the communities – was split between the federal government and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control – 65% federal, 35% state. The project, designed to reduce storm damage to infrastructure, has been done five times before – 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2019.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories, random stories on subjects he finds interesting and has a column called ‘Choppin’ Wood’ that runs every other week. Additionally, Chris moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes during daylight hours that are jammed with coins, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
