VILLAS – Lower Township has introduced an ordinance prior to executing easements with property owners along the Delaware Bay to improve public beach access points.
Ordinance 2023-24, introduced on Monday, Nov. 20, would ensure the public has access to the beach or bayfront across private property based on the New Jersey Public Trust Doctrine, which “provides that public rights to tidal waterways and their shores in the state are held by the state in trust for the benefit of all of the people.”
The points of access mentioned in the ordinance are privately owned by the Property Owners Association of Cape May Beach Inc. and Historic Townbank Inc., running from the street ends at Englewood Road north through Avalon Road. According to the ordinance, the parties involved recognize that the access points have fallen into disrepair and need to be improved to ensure public safety.
Township Manager Mike Laffey said the situation is unusual in that the beaches are privately owned, but there needs to be public access. He said there was discussion in the past where the township was going to split the cost of the improvements with the property owners associations, with the associations covering the cost of materials and the township supplying the labor.
Laffey said the township is instead planning to handle the entire project at a yet undetermined cost. He said not all the beach entrances are the same. Four entrances, he said, would require pile-driving, while others only require a split-rail fence down to the beach. Some current beach entrances are simply a foot path.
Dean Umscheid, president of the Property Owners Association of Cape May Beach, said he was happy to sign off, Nov. 20, on a deed of easement with Lower Township, allowing the work to proceed. He said the property owners association and the township had discussed the matter of public access point improvements from about 2014 or 2015, but the cost to the homeowners was always a hold-up.
In a prepared statement, he said there were discussions between the property owners association and the township regarding splitting the cost of improving the beach access points, but the association saw their portion as “so out of sight with the permits,” which he said could amount to $30,000, “labor, and material especially on the complex pathways that required platforms, stairs, and pilings.” The association discussed seeking grants, large donations, and even door-to-door soliciting, without any success.
More importantly, Umscheid said, the township did not believe it should be constructing access points on private property. Umscheid said he, along with legal assistance, and the help of other association members, investigated the matter and found that, under the Public Trust Doctrine, private property owners have to permit public access to the shoreline. However, per the state Department of Environmental website, it is up to state and local government to ensure that public access is provided and preserved (Section II, Part A, 3).
“I am now happy to report as president, that I signed off on the Deed of Easement with Lower Township on Nov. 20 allowing the township to access, construct, and maintain these access pathways,” Umschied said.
He expressed thanks to the township officials and department heads for their work in resolving the matter and their “will to complete this project.”
Laffey said the beach accesses between Englewood and Avalon roads are part of general improvements being made on the bayfront. He said there is consideration of improving beach accesses north of the Cape May Beach area, and perhaps even constructing observation decks at various points. Such a project would require approval from the DEP, he said.
The second reading and public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m.
