New Jersey city ends dispute over eroding beaches

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By Wayne Parry

The Associated Press

NORTH WILDWOOD, NJ – A New Jersey resort community whose residents feared they would be wiped out by the next big storm will end a decades-long battle with the state over the condition of its beaches and protective sand dunes that has resulted in $42 million in fines. dollars and litigation.

The North Wildwood City Council has agreed to a settlement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that will see the state waive $12 million in fines it levied against the city for conducting unpermitted and potentially harmful beach repair work has.

The city will drop its lawsuit against the state to repay $30 million in sand it trucked onto ever-eroding beaches popular with Philadelphia-area tourists.

“It’s good to put this behind us and move on,” said Mayor Patrick Rosenello, a Republican whose city stubbornly fought the state and insisted it receive the same beach replenishment project that has been done in virtually every other part of Jersey Riverbank.

“All we wanted was to be treated the same as everyone else,” he said.

Although North Wildwood has been subject to severe erosion that has recently cut through the protective sand dunes to the height of Rosenello’s knees, the town has not yet received a full beach replenishment project from the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, due in part to delays financing and difficulties in obtaining easements from private property owners.

The state Department of Transportation conducted an interim replenishment project last summer after Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, called erosion in North Wildwood “shocking.” Rosenello said work progressed well in the following months.

The settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period before taking effect next year.

The DEP thanked Rosenello and North Wildwood “for their collaboration” and help in designing coastal protection measures to be included in the project.

“Resolving pre-existing compliance matters will allow DEP to move forward on both the North Wildwood Dam and the Five Mile Island beach and dune projects, which we expect to begin construction in 2025,” said spokesman Larry Hajna.

Stephen Rochette, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, said an exact start date for the project has not yet been set. One reason for this is that the state is still acquiring real estate.

In addition to ending the litigation, North Wildwood will contribute $1 million toward the eventual cost of the federal beach replenishment project once it arrives in the city and contribute $700,000 to a state water pollution control fund, the mayor said.

North Wildwood made emergency repairs on multiple occasions, including building a partition wall without state approval. New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette warned the city in 2023 that unpermitted work could have more serious consequences if it continued, including the possible loss of future coastal protection funding.