The borough felt it had to sign the DEP agreement calling for public restrooms, 24-hour beach access and public parking because the state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were paying for most of the beach protection project. The Army Corps also was pushing for public restrooms.

The town never had such amenities before. Even though it has had lifeguards for a century and required beach tags since 1972, it has never had a public restroom.

The DEP also is not sure if the agreements are still valid, DEP spokeswoman Karen Hershey said.

"The agreements pre-dated the (court) decision. I don't know what that means. Our attorneys and the Attorney General's Office are still reviewing the decision, so there is no determination made on the effectiveness of the agreements. I expect the review to be completed soon," Hershey said.

For towns that refused to sign the agreements, or fought to at least modify them, the ruling seems to validate their concerns.

"I read it, and I wouldn't sign it," Surf City Mayor Leonard Connors said. "We wrote a letter to the DEP and said we wouldn't sign unless they removed certain objectionable things."

Connors agreed with the idea of supplying more public restrooms but did not want 24-hour beach access or to have to get state permission to close beaches in storms. He also questioned sections to protect beach-nesting birds and rare beach plants.

"We just couldn't run the beach unless they took them out," Connors said.

As it turned out, the state did pay for the beach replenishment project without the agreement. Surf City never even paid its share of the costs. It also joined the lawsuit filed by Avalon against the state beach rules.

"We never signed it, and we got the sand. We also got the munitions," said Connors, referring to World War I-era ordnance pumped in with the beach sand last year.

Cape May signed the agreement but did so under protest about the rule to keep beaches open 24 hours a day. The city closes the strand from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and claimed it was a public safety issue, as beach cleaning machines are on the beaches during that time. Police Chief Diane Sorantino also raised concerns about parties on the beach at night and the safety of people who decided to go swimming when no lifeguards were on duty.

"We signed the state aid agreements but under protest and without prejudice," City Solicitor Tony Monzo said.

The court ruling should not invalidate the agreements, Monzo said, but should take some items out of the contracts, including 24-hour beach access. Monzo recalled signing the agreements knowing the issue was heading to the courts.

"If the court strikes down beach-access regulations, then it should be out of the contract," Monzo said.

Cape May Point, meanwhile, has slowly come to the conclusion that bathrooms are not such a bad idea. A town of only 230 year-round residents draws about 75,000 people each summer to its beaches. Most of those people do not have a bathroom to walk to. A scene from last summer has stuck in Schupp's mind.

"A builder was building a house on Harvard Avenue, and he had a portable potty. There would be a line of 8 to 10 people waiting to use it. We'll take it under consideration regardless of what the DEP does," Schupp said.

The borough is at least hoping to be able to use the ruling to negotiate from a position of strength on where public restrooms go. It has looked into putting them in the dunes, which would require DEP permits.

"This gives us a much better position today than before the ruling," Schupp said.

E-mail Richard Degener:

RDegener@pressofac.com