Ortley Beach, N.J., residents mark Sandy anniversary

TOMS RIVER, N.J. — "How many of you aren't home yet?" Paul Jeffrey asked the crowd of more than 100 people gathered on the Ortley Beach boardwalk Thursday night.

About a third of them raised their hands.

"It's pretty emotional," said Jeffrey, president of the Ortley Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association, of the third anniversary of superstorm Sandy, which caused so much damage to this oceanfront section of Toms River that some residents and members of the media dubbed Ortley the storm's "ground zero." "It was hard standing up there."

The association marked the storm's anniversary with a tiki torch vigil on the boardwalk, along with a showing of Toms River filmmaker Sandy Levine's documentary about the storm and its aftermath, Heartbreak and Healing After Sandy.

Slowly but surely, Ortley is coming back. Across the street on Ocean Avenue from the spot where the crowd had gathered, Oak Hill Construction and Development is rebuilding Seaview Condominiums, a 23-unit development that Steve Romano, a principal with the company, hopes to have finished by Memorial Day.

The company broke ground on the project in July. The previous building on the site had to be demolished after it was badly damaged by the storm.

Reflecting on the storm's aftermath, Romano said he was lucky, with only some damage to ductwork in the crawlspace of his Sixth Avenue home in Ortley.

Construction continues at a steady pace in Ortley Beach, and Jeffrey estimates about 50% of the neighborhood's 2,600 homes are back. But even as they rebuild and move home, residents remain uneasy: Ortley's beaches are still dangerously narrow and its dune line is vulnerable to storms.

"It's upsetting since there are no dunes," said Sherry Saltzman, whose mother's home on Eighth Avenue has been repaired and elevated. She said oceanfront homeowners in northern Ocean County who have refused to sign easements are "selfish."

"It's not fair, just because someone wants their view, that everyone else has to worry every time there is a storm," Saltzman said.

Follow Jean Mikle on Twitter: @jeanmikle