Superior Court Backs Avalon’s Decision to Deny Dune Pool

AVALON – NJ Superior Court’s Appellate Division decided today, June 23, in favor of the Borough of Avalon to uphold its Beach Protection Ordinance and not allow a pool to be constructed in the high dune maritime forest.
Stephen Hankin, representing borough resident Dr. Coyle Connelly, who was denied a construction permit in an application before Borough Council and the Planning Board to add a pool to his 25,950 square-foot oceanfront lot, argued that the ordinance was irrational, void for vagueness and is preempted by the Department of Environmental Protection’s CAFRA (Coastal Area Facility Review Act) permit process.
Other properties within the same R1-AA zone have pools that are believed to preexist the protection ordinance.
The decision states that the ordinance is a proper exercise of borough police powers and is not void for vagueness or preempted by CAFRA.
The decision, by Judges Lisa, Reisner and Sapp-Peterson, states, “We perceive nothing irrational in the borough’s decision to adopt a pool ordinance as a condition of obtaining DEP funding for beach replenishment.
“Further a ban on construction of swimming pools in an environmentally sensitive area such as the dunes is rationally related to an important public purpose. We find no basis to strike the ordinance as invalid on its face, because it serves a rational purpose.”