Chiropractor in Allenhurst, NJ

Three Monmouth County beach towns — Deal, Allenhurst and Loch Arbour — will get new beach sand in a $24 million project to start next month.

There is an option to place fill in the Elberon section of Long Branch, which is still under review.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said the federal investment in the project is $16.9 million, which is 65% of the total cost. He said state and local funds will make up the remaining cost.

The beach replenishment project, which will be carried out by the Army Corps of Engineers, will restore more than 1.1 million cubic yards of sand to the towns’ beaches. The amount of fill is equivalent to 51 football fields.

The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of March if there are no weather or mechanical delays.

Beach access conflict: No permit-only parking on Deal beachfront streets — for now

Pallone, who has been a longtime advocate for beach replenishment along the Jersey Shore, called the projects critical to protecting the beach and local communities.

“After Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey nearly nine years ago, coastal restoration projects like beach replenishment ensured that our beaches would remain resilient to bad weather events," Pallone said.

This new round of beach fill is part of a federal beach renourishment project from Manasquan Inlet to Sea Bright that started in 1994 and finished in 2001.

That project was restarted following superstorm Sandy, using 8 million cubic yards of sand.

In 2015, the areas from southern Deal to Loch Arbour, which weren't included in the original project, were filled. Pallone said the beach replenishment projects are repeated every six years on average where needed.

2015 project: Deal to Loch Arbour beach replenishment to begin

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.

@smfalk

ALLENHURST – The Allenhurst Beach Club dyed the Atlantic Ocean lime green Sunday — as it has on the day before Labor Day every year since 1943 — but this year was a little different.

By this time next year, the lagoon at the northern end of the beach, built after the 1916 shark attacks in Matawan, will be gone.

"This year is kind of historic," Jack Lehmann, one of the organizers, said before the ceremony in the borough just north of Asbury Park. "That cove over there that we've been using to dye in over the years ... That's all going, as part of beach replenishment."

Lehmann said the federal government is conducting the replenishment because of damage from superstorm Sandy. He said the area from Loch Arbor to Elberon has never been replenished. The storm also damaged the restaurant at the Allenhurst Beach Club. The restaurant is currently being renovated, Lehmann said.

"They basicially want to create a buffer," Lehmann said. "It doesn't really make us happy because we're losing some of the things that we cherish. It's just another kick in the pants from Sandy. Everything's changing."

Lehmann, who is an Allenhurst native and resident, said this year's dye — created with a greenish-yellow dye known as uranine dye — was dedicated to the lagoon.

Several hundred people gathered in the cove of the borough's beach for a photograph Sunday as a nearby bagpiper played "Amazing Grace." Attendees wore T-shirts that read: "Old Memories Never Dye."

Still, one thing that will not change is the dyeing of the ocean, attendees said.

The event was started by Robert Fountain, the grandfather of Gail Matarazzo, who is also an organizer of the event.

"We believe he (started) it on what would have been my mom's first birthday," said Matarazzo, of Allenhurst. "He just put it in as a lark. Then, everyone seemed to enjoy it so much we continue to do it every year."

Matarazzo said Fountain would use different people each year to help out with the event. The first person to help out was Ernest Lass, who was publisher of the Asbury Park Press when the Press' offices were on Mattison Avenue in Asbury Park. She said Lehmann's father was the second person to help Fountain with the event. Lass and Lehmann's fathers were both members of the Allenhurst Beach Club.

Jack Lehmann and Matarazzo have been organizing the dyeing for about 15 years, Matarazzo said.

"It's actually become the biggest event at the beach club," Lehmann said.

"It's the unofficial end of summer," Matarazzo said.

When the dye was actually placed into the water on Sunday, young children raced to swim in the dye. Lehmann said three to four generations of families in Allenhurst have swam in the green dye over the years.

"A lot of them feel like it's good luck. They bottle it up and take it with them, until next year," Matarazzo said.

Staff writer Steven Falk: 732-643-4267; sfalk@app.com

Traditionally, the Allenhurst Beach Club bids adieu to summer with an emerald spectacle.

The ocean is dyed lime green on Labor Day weekend, colored with an eco-friendly chemical mix that gives the sea a neon glow.

Youngsters splash around in water that looks borderline radioactive. Some bottle up the salty green potion and bring it home for good luck.

The custom of coloring the ocean as a summer coda dates to 1943, when a club member put green dye in the water to celebrate his daughter’s first birthday.

What began as a whim has evolved into an institution that draws hundreds of swimmers and spectators. Organizers, Jack Lehmann and Gail Matarazzo are set to pour two vats of green pigment into the sea today.

The event is always bittersweet, said Lehmann, as folks prep to shutter their cabanas, shelve the sunblock and retire their bathing suits for the season.

This year, folks in Allenhurst are say they’re feeling end-of-summer ennui coupled with the beach replenishment blues.

The club’s swimming cove, where the green dye goes into the water annually, will be gone next summer after the Army Corps of Engineers completes its work.

Truckloads of sediment are going to transform an idyllic half moon of placid water into a dry sprawl of sand, according to Lehmann. The Army Corps also plans to fill in a historic lagoon nearby, Lehmann said.

Commemorative T-shirts are being printed up with the slogan, “Old memories never dye.” To say farewell to the lagoon, folks are gathering a final group portrait today.

“The lagoon was built in 1917 or 1918 to keep children safe after the famous Matawan shark attacks,” said Lehmann, manager of the club. “The beach club made a lagoon lined with huge rocks to keep bathers safe from sharks. Every kid that’s ever graced this beach club has played in that lagoon. You’re literally talking almost a hundred years of history that’s going to vanish when the Army Corps fills it in.”

Army Corps spokesman Chris Gardner acknowledged that some swimming areas are going to be eliminated but building a barrier of sand is integral to protecting the coastline. Flooding from Hurricane Sandy destroyed the restaurant at the Allenhurst Beach Club and damaged cabanas.

“The upcoming Corps of Engineers coastal storm risk management project being implemented, in partnership with the state of New Jersey, will involve the placement of sand to construct a wide, flat, elevated beach berm that may extend past the (cove and lagoon),” said Gardner, via email. “The work will help reduce coastal storm risks to the area from waves, inundation and erosion, and while it may impact the recreational area, a secondary benefit of the coastal storm risk management work will be the creation of a new, wide beach for recreation.”

Lehmann said he and Matarazzo intend to continue dyeing the ocean on Labor Day weekend but say the event will be decidedly less dazzling without the cove. An L-shaped jetty prevents the dye from washing out to sea.

“The cove holds the color really nice,” said Lehmann. “Next year, we’ll be pouring the dye into the open ocean whereas now we have this friendly, intimate cove that keeps the dye in and protects the kids from the waves. We’ll dye the ocean but we’re going to be vulnerable to whatever the tides are. The tide could take the green out in five or ten minutes. It’s not going to be as spectacular.”

The replenishment project, which spans from Loch Arbour to Elberon, stirred up controversy because steep new beaches could create dangers for bathers, surfers and anglers. In response to an outcry from the community, the Army Corps scaled back its plan. Three jetties originally targeted for removal will be preserved.

Matarazzo said she understands the need to step up storm protection but she is concerned about the loss of the swimming holes for kids. The cove and the lagoon were havens away from the churning waves, Matarazzo said.

“The whole landscape of the coast is going to be different,” said Matarazzo. “The ocean is a very volatile thing and you don’t know what it’s going to look like year to year but the mainstays have been the lagoon and the cove area. It’s going to be weird after they replenish. I don’t know what to expect.”

Matarazzo’s late grandfather, Robert Fountain started the ocean-dyeing tradition. He owned an Asbury Park boardwalk amusement park called Bubble Land. In order to hide the motors that powered a boat ride, he put psychedelic green colorant in the water.

Fountain often found himself with a surplus of dye at the end of the season and one year, the stars aligned. He was celebrating his daughter Susan’s first birthday at the beach club on Labor Day in 1943 when he got an idea. There was a container of leftover green dye in his car and he decided to surprise his daughter by changing the color of the ocean, Matarazzo said.

“It was just a lark but everybody liked it so much that he did it again and again year after year,” said Matarazzo. “People think it’s an Irish thing but my grandfather wasn’t even Irish. It’s funny because so many people don’t know why it’s done but they’ll walk all the way from Asbury Park and Loch Arbour just to watch. Kids bottle up the water because they think they’re bottling up good luck.”

Matarazzo said they’ve never skipped a year, even pouring dye on wet, windy days with only handful of diehards in the water.

They use 10 pounds of a Coast Guard-approved colorant called Uranine that simulates oil spills and enables boaters to signal distress. Lehmann notifies the Environmental Protection Agency annually ahead of the event.

“We tell the EPA in advance because they get calls on the day of the event,” said Lehmann. “People are driving their boats by or planes are flying over. They call the EPA to say, ‘There’s something going on. There’s green water in Allenhurst, New Jersey.’”

The sea will be dyed on Labor Day weekend in Allenhurst for decades to come, Lehmann predicted. They got a big crowd last year even though portions of the club were closed for Sandy repairs. Their slogan was “Greener than the storm.”

The tradition endures because it has become a part of the town’s identity.

“If you talk about the dyeing of the ocean, everybody knows that it’s Allenhurst, New Jersey,” said Lehmann.

Next summer, the color may be murky without the cove but the spirit of whimsy that drives the event will be undiluted, Lehmann said.

“People start screaming and getting excited and the minute you put one drop of that stuff in, everybody flies into the ocean,” said Lehmann. “The little kids are the ones who really love it and they’re like, ‘Why don’t you do pink? Why don’t you do blue?’ I tell them we have a vote every year and green comes up every year. The little kids who love it now, one day they’ll have children of their own and 20 or 30 years from now, their kids will be jumping in, too.”

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With beachfront views and large, luxurious homes, Deal's average residential property value of $3,042,186 was the highest in the state last year, at least according to New Jersey property tax records.

And the property taxes on that average Deal home — $19,757 for 2021 — might also seem pretty hefty.

Then again, Deal's average property tax bill might sound like, well, a deal for taxpayers in South Orange, where the tax bill is $19,759 for a home with the average residential assessment, which is about 20% of the price for the average Deal home.

More:NJ's biggest, smallest 2021 property tax hikes by town: One lucky place saw bill drop 12%

In fact, a home with a $3 million tax assessment in South Orange would have paid $101,528 in property taxes, with nearly 60% of that bill going towards schools alone.

The same is true across New Jersey. Say you could buy a $3 million home in any town in the Garden State. The tax bill could range as low as $13,600 to $211,500.

And often, the places that offer the lowest property taxes on your $3 million purchase are tony, beachside communities, some of which only pay a fraction of their bills toward funding schools.

More:Our view: Your tax dollars shouldn't pay for rats and mold. Clean, safe rental housing is a right.

Here's a look at the towns that would have the lowest property tax bill on a $3 million home. The full list is in a searchable database at the bottom of the page.

If you bought a $3 million home, taxes would be

25. West Cape May, Cape May County

24. Beach Haven, Ocean County

23. Rockleigh, Bergen County

22. Ship Bottom, Ocean County

21. Avon, Monmouth County

20. Longport, Atlantic County

19. Harvey Cedars, Ocean County

18. Alpine, Bergen County

17. Cape May, Cape May County

16. Barnegat Light, Ocean County

15. Surf City, Ocean County

14. Ocean City, Cape May County

13. Bay Head, Ocean County

12. Long Beach Township, Ocean County

11. Loch Arbour, Monmouth County

10. Lavallette, Ocean County

9. Mantoloking, Ocean County

8. Allenhurst, Monmouth County

7. Sea Girt, Monmouth County

6. Deal, Monmouth County

5. Sea Isle, Cape May County

4. Stone Harbor, Cape May County

3. Spring Lake, Monmouth County

2. Cape May Point, Cape May County

1. Avalon, Cape May County

How we did this

We looked at what the taxes would be for a home purchased at $3 million, which is roughly the average home price in Deal, which had the state's highest average residential home values in 2021.

But some towns haven't had a revaluation — which sets the tax value for each property in a town — in years or decades. We used a state formula to adjust the values to make an apples-to-apples comparison across towns. We then applied the tax rates for each town.

We also eliminated former federal Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Division communities of Winfield and Audubon Park, where, because of their unique nature, it's not possible to buy a house.

Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Press at APP.com/subscribe.

Susanne Cervenka covers Monmouth County government and property tax issues, winning several state and regional awards for her work. She's covered local government for 15 years, with stops in Ohio and Florida before arriving in New Jersey in 2013. Contact her at @scervenka; 732-643-4229; scervenka@gannettnj.com.

If you are ever looking for Chris Mumford, check the garden behind his Allenhurst home.

Chances are good you will find him among the rows of lettuces, destined for the kitchens of local restaurants, and heirloom tomato plants, asparagus, peppers, Brussels sprouts and herbs of all kinds. He moves from one plant to the next, pointing out that the parsley needs nitrogen to mend its yellow leaves, and the tomatoes could use some warm weather.

Two beehives buzz nearby; honey will be ready in the fall.

Mumford, who gardened long before his 30-year career owning farm-to-table restaurants in Monmouth County, has turned his passion for growing food into a business. Hay Mumford launched last year, three years after closing Cafe Mumford's in Tinton Falls.

The 61-year-old grows more than 200 plants, including 74 varieties of tomatoes.

"It's a lot of work, but I'm ok with it," he said. "It's a joy. I'm just reinventing myself."

More:Farmers markets at the Jersey Shore are back. Here's where to find them

Potted fig trees pepper the garden; Mumford uses cutting from one plant to grow another. Any plants leftover after the season become compost.

"I come from the school where I don't throw anything out," he said, pointing to a bucket filled with rhubarb in need of a little TLC.

On Saturdays in May and early June, Mumford opens his home garden to the public. They buy leek, eggplant, onion, squash and beet plants for their own gardens, and maybe a bag of compost. He also sells his plants, which are grown from seed, at Asbury Fresh farmers markets in Asbury Park and Holmdel.

"Lots of commercial growers don't have this stuff," he said, flipping through a book he made to teach people about the tomato varieties they purchase: Indigo Kumquat, Lucky Tiger, Citron and Hillbilly, among them.

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"... I'm trying to educate at the same time," said Mumford, whose shed is lined with buckets of worm castings and fish meal he'll give to customers whose gardens need help. "If I can get them to grow more, if I can get them to compost, if I could influence people to grow a little bit..."

Orders can be placed at facebook.com/HayMumfordFarm or instagram.com/haymumfordfarm. For more information, visit haymumford.com.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, and for more Jersey Shore food news, subscribe to our weekly Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.