Public advocate's report offers guide to state beaches

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Public advocate's report offers guide to state beaches

By DEREK HARPER Statehouse Bureau, 609-292-4935

Published: Friday, July 04, 2008

TRENTON - The cost of hot beach action is going up and up, state Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen said Thursday in his third annual New Jersey Beach Guide.

The guide, released on the eve of the Fourth of July holiday, found that 10 of the 48 towns that charge beach fees increased the cost this year, while all residential beach discounts were eliminated.

State courts have long held that every person has a right to access and use the state's beaches, a right protected by the common law public trust doctrine that predates the country's founding. Towns have been able to charge fees to recoup maintenance costs, but must be responsible.

Local residents have a small reason to rejoice: of the state's seven free beaches, southern New Jersey has the only four on the Atlantic Ocean: Atlantic City, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and the Strathmere section of Upper Township.

But some of the most expensive beaches in the state are also nearby.

Only four towns in the state refuse to sell daily passes, forcing beachgoers to buy weeklong passes regardless of stay.

These include Ventnor ($5) and Margate and Longport ($10 each). The fourth, northern Ocean County's Mantoloking, only sells a $12 seasonal pass, making it perhaps the state's most expensive beach for single-day use.

The Public Advocate's office also singled out a number of towns that ban people from taking food to the shore, while offering no boardwalk or easily reached food stands, restaurants or convenience stores.

Locally, the office said those towns with outright food bans include Barnegat Light, Surf City, Ship Bottom and Long Beach Township.

The office wrote others, such as Stone Harbor, Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Beach Haven and Harvey Cedars, ban "picnicking" but allow snacks on the beach.

The office said that it will update the guide later in the summer to include information on the state's 40 private beach clubs it was able to identify.

This year's guide, with a listing of every beach's fees and amenities, is available online at:

tinyurl.com/6p7gyb

E-mail Derek Harper:

dharper@pressofac.com