Tuesday, October 2, 2012
State Supreme Court appellate panel rules that the club must provide more public access to the beaches taxpayers pay to have replenished
The tide has turned once again in a familiar Sea Bright beach access fight. After a settlement in the courts in 2006 that called for a string of private beach clubs to open at least portions of their beachfronts, one club, Sea Bright Beach Club, refused and is now being forced, via a new state Supreme Court ruling, to stop limiting public access, a Star Ledger story reported. The ruling is based on the fact that since taxpayer-funded beach replenishment made the beaches at the club more extensive, then the taxpayers who foot the bill for it should be able to use those beaches. The new ruling, which came from a panel of three appellate judges, says that a 1993 ruling that allowed beach clubs to limit public access to a 15-foot swath close …
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
DEP holds public hearing in Long Branch
A large contingent of citizens and groups gathered at Long Branch City Hall on Wednesday night to criticize the Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) proposed public access rules and amendments for beaches, bays and other waterways. The DEP held the meeting to hear public comments on the public access rules and the amendments which were drafted after hearing feedback from the public in the past. According to the DEP, the proposed amendments will: Most spoke against the rules and the amendments. Their contention: While the amendments were a step in the right direction, they will not help create more public access areas for all residents and will give too much power to municipalities to close off access to appease wealthy property …
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Several groups plan to protest the DEP's plans, claiming the amendments give too much power to individual municipalities to arbitrarily restrict access in places where it should be open.
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Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is holding a public hearing on Wednesday night to discuss proposed amendments to public access rules for beaches, bays and other waterways. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Long Branch Council Chambers, at Long Branch City Hall, 344 Broadway. "Wednesday’s hearings will focus only on amendments to the Public Access rule that the DEP proposed earlier this year in response to public comments on the initial public access rule proposal," a DEP release states. According to the DEP, the proposed amendments will: According to the DEP, the public access rule will "improve and enhance public access to New Jersey’s beaches, bays and waterways through plans to be developed and implemented by …
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Rule-making authority would still go to municipalities, with caveats
Following numerous rounds of public comment that took place over the past year, state officials proposed a slate of revised beach access rules on Monday that they say represents a compromise between a number of stakeholder groups. The plan would still allow municipalities — rather than the state — to develop local beach access plans, though the municipalities would be required to include both day and night public access to the shoreline. Municipalities would also be required to hold hearings on the access plans before they could be formally adopted and approved by the state. Last year, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held numerous public hearings on a Christie administration initiative that would have put several …
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Jersey's beaches ranked among the nation's cleanest
Not even Snooki and the gang could get in the way of the facts. New Jersey's beaches are among the nation's cleanest, according to a report out this week. The Natural Resources Defense Council issued its Annual Beach Report yesterday, just in time for the Independence Day holiday. The report shows that the nation's beaches saw the second-highest number of closing and advisory days in more than two decades last year. New Jersey, however, had among the lowest number of closings, along with the Delmarva region and the southeast. More good news came in the form of water contamination — or, specifically, a lack of it. New Jersey beaches were the second-least contaminated in the country, with a 2 percent contamination rate. Only New Hampshire, …
Monday, June 27, 2011
Christie signs bill amending beach tag law, but local communities must give their own OKs.
With local permission, members of the military and their spouses and children may now access New Jersey beaches for free or at a reduced price. Gov. Chris Christie has signed into law a bill sponsored by a group of Ocean County legislators that amends a state law on the books since 1955 that allows municipalities to except certain groups of people from having to pay to access beaches. Previously, the state law allowed individual towns to let persons older than 65 or younger than 12, and those with certain disabilities, to receive beach badge discounts or free access to paid beaches. But many coastal municipalities from Sandy Hook to Cape May also sought to allow members of the armed forces and their families a similar exception. The …
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
New rules could impact boardwalk, parking, bathrooms near beaches
Although critics say the rules would restrict access to local beaches, it was the local officials who stressed that the changes would ultimately give them more input into the access planning process. A crowd of nearly 60 people, representing various stakeholders in the beach access fight, gathered in the municipal court room in Seaside Heights on May 23 to voice their criticism or support of the state Department of Environmental Protection's proposal to change waterfront access rules under the Gov. Chris Christie administration. (See story.) In a nearly three hour hearing, members of the state business community, access and environmental advocates and elected officials registered their opinions for consideration by the DEP before the …
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Good or bad? State DEP's new rules would give municipalities more control over public access points to rivers, bays and beaches.
It's an ongoing issue that affects all shore areas: from the Bayshore of Middletown to Sandy Hook and all the way down south on the seaside. It's all about beach access. The issue has been riddled with controversy for some years. Now it's being weighed in public again. Do the new state edicts on the subject make things easier on residents or visitors? Are the new rules a developer's or Joe Q. Public's dream? Patch offers a look at the issue with a peak into a recent meeting calling for public comment. The state Department of Environmental Protection held a forum in Jersey City last week giving the public a chance to sound off on proposed changes to rules governing waterfront access, which would impact the Hudson River and Newark Bay as …
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Environmental and advocacy groups worry rule changes could hurt public access
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, under the direction of Gov. Chris Christie and Commissioner Bob Martin, has proposed a set of changes to public access rules regarding beaches and waterways. The Public Access Rule will relax stringent access requirements made under former Gov. Jon Corzine's DEP. Rather than enforcing overall state mandates for access, the DEP says it will work alongside local officials to craft access plans tailored specifically for those towns. "The DEP will work with towns and cities to craft access plans that make local sense and protect the rights and needs of residents and businesses, instead of imposing one-size-fits-all, state-dictated access rules," Martin said in a press release. "The …
Linda DeNicola
8:34 am on Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The photo is amazing. more ›