Veterans Memorial Park in Cliffwood Beach has a spray park, a playground, a gazebo, a picnic grove with shade structures, two basketball courts, a multi-purpose field and the Veterans Memorial Monument, according to the township's facility page. It is also where Aberdeen held its July 1 fireworks this year.
Past the lawn, the Raritan Bay beachfront is about to become a construction site. A Navy installation and a state climate program each have their own reason to want this shoreline rebuilt, and each has committed money to it. Together they are paying for salt marsh, oyster castles and maritime forest as well as beach replenishment and dunes.
Two funders, one beachfront
The project's formal name is the Cliffwood Beach Hybrid Living Shoreline Project. A living shoreline uses plants, marsh and reef-like structures to steady a coastline, often instead of a solid wall alone. The two largest named sources of money are listed below.
| Funder | Program | Amount | Stated purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Navy, Naval Weapons Station Earle | Defense Department REPI program, through Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute | About $3 million | Rebuild the beach, dunes and upland maritime forest; install oyster castles; keep Ocean Boulevard/Lakeshore Drive open as an evacuation route |
| New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection | Natural Climate Solutions Grant Program | $2,694,505 | Restore three acres of tidal salt marsh, build about half a mile of living shoreline, reforest three acres of maritime forest |
At the June 18 council meeting, Township Manager Russell said federal, state and other local grants together come to $5.5 million, which "essentially covers the project." The Navy and the state are paying for the same project for different reasons. The Navy wants a road kept open, and the state wants marsh and forest restored.
Why a naval weapons station is paying for a town beach
Naval Weapons Station Earle sits along the same stretch of Raritan Bayshore. In 2022, the Navy began funding applied research with Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute under the Defense Department's Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration program, known as REPI. The program's research covers storm resilience at the installation and in the communities around it. In September 2025, the Urban Coast Institute announced that the agreement had been extended through 2029 with $4.2 million in new funding.
About $3 million of that new money goes to building the Cliffwood Beach living shoreline. The Institute will manage the project and monitor how the improvements perform afterward. In the same announcement, UCI Associate Director Tom Herrington explained why this particular beach:
"This project will help ensure the roadway remains open as an evacuation route during storms, and restores a public beach that is the center promenade for the town's bayfront."
The road he means is Ocean Boulevard/Lakeshore Drive, which runs along the Veterans Memorial Park beachfront. The Navy is using the same approach on its own property. The same agreement funds the Institute's continued work on an oyster reef at Earle and living shoreline improvements in the Ware Creek salt marsh, which flows through the base to the bay. Cliffwood Beach is the off-base version of work the Navy is already doing on base.
The state is paying mostly for marsh and trees
On September 22, 2026, NJDEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak used Climate Week to announce $9.4 million in Natural Climate Solutions grants for eight projects across Bergen, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Union counties. Aberdeen's $2,694,505 was the largest of the eight. The next-largest went to Passaic County, at $1,477,471, for forest restoration in West Milford.
The state's description of what that money buys contains very little about sand. It lists three acres of restored tidal salt marsh, about half a mile of living shoreline and three acres of reforested maritime forest. Maritime forest is the salt-tolerant woodland that grows just inland of a bay beach. The Navy's share also pays for upland maritime forest and dune restoration. The two largest funders are both paying for trees behind the beach.
The township's ordinance accepting the state money spells out the full scope of the work:
- Design, permitting, construction and installation of a hybrid living shoreline at Cliffwood Beach
- Shoreline stabilization structures, including breakwaters, sills and revetments
- Dune, beach and tidal marsh restoration
- Grading, plantings and related site improvements
The ordinance lists both kinds of work, which explains the word "hybrid" in the project's name. Breakwaters, sills and revetments are engineered structures placed in or along the water. The marsh, dunes and plantings are the living part. The oyster castles in the Navy's portion fall somewhere between the two. According to the Urban Coast Institute, they are meant to slow erosion by blunting the force of waves while also restoring the ecosystem.
How the funding came together
The Navy and state money did not arrive at the same time. The project took four years to assemble:
- 2022: The Navy's REPI-funded resilience work with Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute begins at Earle and nearby communities.
- 2024: New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium's resilience specialist, working with the U.S. Navy and Colliers Engineering, moves the Cliffwood Beach project through final design and permitting, with construction expected in 2026, according to the Consortium's annual report.
- September 17, 2025: The Navy extends its agreement with the Institute through 2029 and sets aside about $3 million for building the shoreline.
- June 18, 2026: At the council meeting, Deputy Mayor Hirsch reports that the township received a letter that day about $2,694,505.30 for the beach project and thanks John Roman for his help. Township Manager Russell says federal, state and local grants now total $5.5 million, which "essentially covers the project," and that the township is hoping to start in the fall.
- August 20 and September 3, 2026: The council introduces and then adopts Ordinance 19-2026, appropriating the NJDEP grant to the project.
- September 22, 2026: NJDEP announces Aberdeen's award publicly as part of its Climate Week grant round.
The order matters. Design and permitting were finished before the state money came in, so the NJDEP grant pays to build a plan that already exists. The state award arrived after the Navy's commitment, and by June the combined grants had reached the point where, in the manager's words, they essentially covered the project.
What it changes about the park
The manager's June remarks put the hoped-for start in fall 2026, so the beachfront is likely to look like a work site before it looks finished. The scope puts the work at the water's edge: in the water, on the beach and dunes, and in the strip of marsh and maritime forest the state is paying to restore. The spray park, playground, courts, gazebo and monument are on the township's list of park facilities, and the shoreline ordinance doesn't list them.
The finished beachfront will include more than sand. Along with beach replenishment and dunes, the funders are paying for tidal salt marsh, maritime forest, oyster castles, and the breakwaters, sills and revetments listed in the ordinance.
The project also continues after construction. The Urban Coast Institute's role includes monitoring how the improvements perform, under a Navy agreement that runs through 2029. For several more years, people using the Veterans Memorial Park beachfront will share it with researchers monitoring how the improvements perform.
I follow public projects like this one because they change how the places around them are used and talked about, and that comes up whenever a neighbor asks what their home is worth. If you own near the Cliffwood Beach bayfront and want a clear read on your home's value, Doreen DeMarco can walk you through it step by step. Get a Free Home Valuation.
