WILDWOOD, N.J. - The thought is preposterous to Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano: The state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers want to build a $21.8 million two-story-tall sand dune along a beach so wide that in some spots trams are used to get beachgoers from the boardwalk to the water's edge.

"The idea is ludicrous," Troiano said of the proposal to build a 16-foot-tall dune and berm along a five-mile beachfront from Hereford Inlet in North Wildwood to Cape May Inlet in Wildwood Crest.

"I'm all for helping our neighbors to our north and south, but not at the expense of Wildwood," Troiano said.

Since the plan calls for a 700-foot-wide swath to be used to construct the dune, Troiano said the plan could ultimately decrease the width of Wildwood's beaches to the point where certain uses of the beachfront - like an annual international volleyball championship and large music festivals - would be curtailed. He said that could mean lost revenue for a town already struggling to fund the cost of maintaining its famous beachfront - which is one of only a few in New Jersey that do not charge admission.

Beach replenishment work under the widespread plan began earlier this month in Monmouth County on a stretch between Asbury Park and Avon where the $18.3 million in costs are paid for out of Sandy funds approved by Congress. Beach towns in Monmouth and Ocean Counties were among the hardest hit by the Oct. 29, 2012, storm.

Based on where Sandy made landfall in Brigantine, Atlantic County, the damage was significantly less in the southern Shore counties of Atlantic and Cape May, although places like Ventnor, Ocean City, and Sea Isle City experienced considerable flooding. In the "Wildwoods" - collectively, the towns of Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and North Wildwood - where almost no dunes exist, storm experts said the ocean just "rolled into town" as Sandy roiled off the coast, the report said.

While the 1,500- to 2,000-foot width of Wildwood's beaches helped minimize flooding in that resort, both North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest experienced more widespread damage, losing a considerable amount of sand from some of the beaches, municipal officials said.

And while Wildwood's beaches grow about 20 feet in width each year, beaches in the two other towns on the island known as Five Mile Beach routinely erode, especially around the two inlets, according to a 341-page report from a study of the region that was begun nearly a decade before Sandy hit.

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Weighing a massive plan to redo Wildwood's beaches