Highlands, NJ - The American Littoral Society has filed a lawsuit against the Borough of Deal, NJ to protect public access to the beach. The Borough recently took action to sell a street end, Neptune Avenue, to a waterfront developer for $1 million. Neptune Avenue is used by the general public, fishermen and surfers to access the beach for recreational uses.
“Public
access to the beaches and tidal waterfronts of our state is constantly under
attack” said Tim Dillingham, Executive Director of the American Littoral
Society. “We are taking this action to prevent the loss of this important
public accessway to the beach, and to ensure that other towns aren’t tempted to
sell off the public’s rights to the highest bidder.”
For many
years, Neptune Avenue has been used by beachgoers to access the adjacent beach.
Fishermen, surfers and other members of the public have regularly parked on the
easterly end of the street. The street end is included as a beach access point
on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s New Jersey Public
Access locations website.
“In the
1850s, our courts recognized the value of street ends in providing the public
access to the shore. It is important to fight this new notion that street
ends—which are not typically owned by municipalities—can be vacated for the
right price,” said Andrew Provence of Litwin & Provence law firm,
legal counsel to the American Littoral Society.
Andrew
Chambarry, the immediate past Chair of the New Jersey Chapter of the Surfrider
Foundation, and a Littoral Society member, stated his support for the action:
“Municipalities frequently attempt to limit access by vacating street ends with
access to the beach. I’m proud to stand with American Littoral Society, and the
locals who have put in the time and effort to fight discriminatory beach
practices.”
The
Littoral Society is challenging Deal’s actions to sell the street end to a
waterfront developer, ICC Neptune Avenue, LLC for $1 million dollars. The
company intends to develop the property.
“We
are filing this lawsuit because Deal’s action creates a dangerous precedent
that will encourage municipalities to vacate street ends needed by the public
for public access to the beach for monetary consideration” Dillingham stated.
The Littoral Society’s lawsuit seeks to overturn the vacation of the street end and invalidate its sale to the private developer.
Surfrider Foundation: Jersey Shore Chapter supports this lawsuit and seeks to protect beach access up and down the New Jersey coast. We have been fighting beach access issues in Deal for decades, and are proud to stand with American Littoral Society on this issue.
Read about some of our past work in Deal on beach access issues:
Deal Will Stop Illegal Beach Fee Practices (January 2018)
Deal Passes Ordinance #1152 (June 2017)
Stop Permit Parking in Deal! (April 2017)
Deal Permit Parking: Again! (June 2016)
Beach Access Victory in Deal (For Now...) (October 2015)