LOWER TOWNSHIP – The Sunset Beach Sportsmen’s Club’s bar license has been renewed again, but this time without a letter of objection from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The Township Council voted support for the club license issued by the state. The state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control requires municipal support for a club license.
Club President Emaleigh Kaithern recalls the letter coming to the township on an annual basis, saying the state does not allow the sale of alcohol on state-owned land, on which the clubhouse sits. Bearing that in mind, about 25 members of the club showed up at the Township Council meeting to ask it to once again show support for the license and the club.
Kaithern told the council the club did not want to take the council’s support for granted. “We thanked the council for its continued support despite there being no objection,” Kaithern said.
Mayor Frank Sippel confirmed that the township did not receive objections from the DEP and thanked the club members for coming out, saying he appreciated its support.
On May 7, 2024, Superior Court Judge Dean Marcolongo issued a summary judgment requested by the DEP that would have allowed for the club building to be demolished after Nov. 11, 2024. On July 1, 2024, Marcolongo granted a stay of his judgment while the matter was being appealed.
“It’s still in the appellate court,” Kaithern said. “We’re looking for any reasonable solution for us to stay on our historic property.”
The club, which currently has about 200 members, celebrates a 75-year history that began in Cape May Point before moving to Sunset Beach, which is in Lower Township. The property on which the clubhouse sits is just over half an acre and is located at the edge of the property next to the Sunset Beach Gift Shop.
“It’s not interfering with any of the projects they are in the process of or have completed,” Kaithern said.
The DEP has been engaged in a saltwater marsh restoration project involving about 428 acres of the 1,200-acre Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area.
According to the DEP website, “The principal project goal is to reestablish tidal inundation to a large portion of Pond Creek Marsh without increasing the flood risk to the upper watershed or inundating the eastern freshwater marsh area, and allowing for habitat management of the northern marsh area.”
“Achieving these goals will require modification of the inlet channel to allow sufficient tidal flushing, developing a network of secondary and tertiary channels to assist tidal flow into the interior of the marsh, excavating deep flood pools for fish habitat, and creating upland islands for shorebirds. An earthen berm will be constructed around much of the perimeter of the marsh, which will provide access to wildlife observation blinds and contribute to a trail system encircling the marsh.”
Kaithern said, “The construction closest to us was rebuilding of the dune, and that seems completely done and has been replanted. We were there the whole time.”
The “interference” the DEP cited in court documents was essentially the club’s being a nonconforming use on state-owned land. The club’s attorney, Christopher Gillin-Schwartz, pointed out a seeming contradiction in the DEP’s policy, saying it owns and leases a golf course to Empire Gold Management, LLC, for the White Oaks Country Club, which includes the White Oaks Bar & Grill.
In a brief prepared for the Appellate Division, Gillin-Schwartz said, “The service of alcohol is permitted and provided all around the course.”
Gillin-Schwartz said he didn’t know if the DEP had cooled in its opposition to the clubhouse continuing to stand on the property, or if the agency is simply waiting for the Appellate Division’s decision on the matter.
“They had gotten into the habit of submitting their opposition since about 2021. This is the first year they didn’t bother. Beyond that, the appeal is still pending,” Gillin-Schwartz said.
Both sides have submitted written briefs and are waiting to give oral arguments. Gillin-Schwartz said that, for his client’s part, “We need a trial. We should at least get a trial and let the jury find based on the facts.”
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
