Beach Access on The Jersey Shore

New Jersey DEP has proposed new rules that take a step backwards for public beach access on The Jersey Shore.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's proposed beach access rules won't increase oceanfront beach access, but they will make it easier for inaccessible beach towns to get state beach replenishment money.

The current beach access rules are good. The state DEP plans to issue new beach access rules later this month, designed to balance the public's right to use beaches against the cost to towns and property owners of providing public access.

DEP's proposed beach access rules won't increase oceanfront beach access, but they will make it easier for inaccessible beach towns to get state beach replenishment money.

If our taxes are going to dredge and dump sand on a beach, we should be able to get to that sand. The new rules don't do that.

 The current beach access rules are good. We want the state to leave them alone. The state should distinguish between Atlantic Ocean beach access and access to private marinas, back bays, and waterfront industrial sites.

The proposed rules are voluntary for the towns to comply with and the state would have no way to make the towns comply.

A new poll finds most New Jerseyans want shore towns that get public money for beach replenishment to offer better public access to those newly widened beaches.

The state Department of Environmental Protection plans to issue new beach access rules later this month, designed to balance the public's right to use beaches against the cost to towns and property owners of providing public access.

A Rutgers-Eagleton survey paid for by the Surfrider Foundation, a beach access group, found more than 82 percent of those surveyed want towns that get beach replenishment funds to provide better public beach access on The Jersey Shore.

The Surfrider Foundation is a grassroots, non-profit, environmental organization that works to protect our oceans, waves, and beaches. Founded in 1984, Surfrider Foundation's most important coastal environmental work is carried out by Surfrider Foundation's 60 chapters located along the East, West, Gulf, Puerto Rican, and Hawaiian coasts.

Karl Hess, Jersey Shore Real Estate Agent