New Jersey DEP proposes less-restrictive beach-access rules

Jersey Shore officials - from towns that encourage day-trippers and those where scarce parking and public restrooms can make a visitor feel unwelcome - are applauding a draft of loosened beach-access rules released by the state.

The Department of Environmental Protection intends to "enhance" public access to coastal areas while relaxing its regulatory grip on Shore towns, the agency announced in June.

Gov. Christie called for revisions based on "commonsense principles" in consultation with towns and property owners, said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin.

Regulations imposed in 2007 were "burdensome and costly" and eroded municipalities' abilities to manage their waterfronts, according to the Christie administration.

The proposed regulations roll back the requirement that towns provide 24-hour beach access to receive state funds for beach-replenishment projects. Municipalities would again be able to set beach curfews, and marinas seeking to renovate or expand would not have to provide continual public access.

Also rescinded would be provisions that mandated additional public parking, bathrooms, and beach pathways.

Under the new rules, municipalities would present to the DEP their own plans for access and amenities.

The agency will mull whether to allow beach bars and related structures - especially popular in Atlantic City - to remain in place year-round. A business now may spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to build an oceanfront bar that must be dismantled after Labor Day.

The new approach is a "breath of fresh air," said Joseph Mancini, mayor of Long Beach Township, epicenter of a contentious debate over the rights of property owners.

"Every town along this coast is different, and now we each will be allowed to develop our own access plans," Mancini said.

But some worry that, left to their own devices, municipalities may not do the right thing.

"[Public] beach access is important for the quality of life in New Jersey," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the state's Sierra Club chapter.

Without requirements, he said, "there are no penalties for towns that don't comply."

During the administration of Gov. Jon S. Corzine, the DEP determined that taxpayers, whose dollars maintain tidal waterways and the shoreline, were entitled to unlimited use of those natural resources. Towns contended that 24-hour access to beach and bay front areas, including marinas and parks, created a public danger and exposed them to lawsuits.

Access has been a hot-button issue from Sea Bright and other upscale Monmouth County towns down to the Diamond Beach area of Lower Township near Wildwood Crest in Cape May County. Public-access advocates have fought individual owners and private clubs for decades for easier entry to strands where tax money helped pay for sand replenishment.

Cape May County's Avalon and Stone Harbor, which have miles of open beachfront and ample parking and restrooms, won a lawsuit in 2009 to keep the state from withholding funds to municipalities not in compliance.

The law's ambiguity made it unconstitutional, Avalon argued. The broad-brush regulations also did not consider towns' unique circumstances, the borough maintained.

The rules "did not make sense," said Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi. "They represented a one-size-fits-all approach to managing a very important environmental asset."

The borough never had an issue with the access concept and strove to comply as fully as possible, he said.

"That's why we found the whole thing so onerous," said Pagliughi, who had worried the town would be required to put restrooms and parking on "land we just don't have."

In Long Beach Township, the public is denied entry to beach spans of up to two miles. In the Loveladies and North Beach sections, where street parking is prohibited and there are no public lots, there is virtually nowhere to leave a vehicle. Restrooms are equally rare.

"We certainly still have our issues in some areas, and we are working on that," Mancini said. "But there was no way we could condemn a $3.5 million beach house to build a public restroom."

A draft proposal of the revisions may be reviewed on the DEP website via http://go.philly.com/njaccess. It will be submitted formally on Wednesday and followed by a 60-day comment period, including public hearings, DEP chief Martin said.