newjerseynewsroom.com

BY GINA G. SCALA

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The sand storm that followed the Sea Bright Beach Club’s restricted use of its beachfront is over, thanks to a state appellate court decision.

In its 23-page decision, the court ruled the entire beach is public domain. It was funded through a taxpayer beach replenishment project, according to the Star-Ledger of Newark. The ruling nullifies the 1993 agreement struck between the state Department of Environmental Protection and the beach club, which allowed the club to keep non-members at bay, the Star-Ledger reported.

“The club has obtained many benefits from the project, including a greatly expanded dry beach area, many years of almost exclusive enjoyment of a limited natural resource, and protection of the physical assets of the club, all of which were obtained at public expense,” the three-judge panel wrote in its decision, released Sept. 29.

The pact between the DEP and the nine beach clubs of Sea Bright was made to grant the state easements along the oceanfront properties as part of the beach replenishment project, ABC News reported. That project altered the narrow Sea Bright beaches into expansive, sandy beaches. But general access to the beaches was a 15-foot corridor for walking purposes only. The general public wasn’t permitted to sit, fish, swim or surf in the area, according to ABC News.

When the state sued in 2006, eight of the beach clubs settled. The Sea Bright Beach Club insisted the wider beaches were only possible because it agreed to grant the easements.

Two years ago, a state judge was successful in overturning the 1993 pact. With an appeal pending, a new agreement providing the public access to 80-feet of the club’s northernmost border was reached, according to the Star-Ledger.

"We are pleased that the court vindicated the public's right to access these beaches, particularly since public funds were utilized to re-build them," state Division of Law Director Christopher S. Porrino said.

Tim Dillingham, executive director for the American Littoral Society, told the Asbury Park Press the court ruling “…clarifies that the beaches in New Jersey really are public areas and given that most of the beaches will receive some kind of replenishment, the public should not have to fight to access those beaches."