The natural rhythm of our tourist economy is in full view across all the county’s shore resorts. Teams are busy everywhere preparing for the arrival of second homeowners and visitors who will soon descend on the barrier islands and other resorts, initiating yet another year in which the population of the state’s second smallest county swells to rival that of the state’s largest counties.
Yet in one of our ocean-fronting communities, potential danger lurks because of a long-simmering dispute between the local municipality and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Huge cliffs await visitors and their children along parts of North Wildwood as a struggle continues over needed beach work.
The struggle has become an end in itself with each side seeking full vindication. Litigation is ongoing, generating counterclaims and more litigation. North Wildwood has been hit with what may be the largest set of fines anyone can recall, $12.8 million for unauthorized work, much of it related to renovations to the Seaport Pier.
The statutes the state says are being violated include the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA), Water Pollution Control Act, Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act and Flood Hazard Area Control Act. The state paints a picture of a defiant municipality that has bulldozed mature dunes, allowed unauthorized oceanfront construction, and built an unapproved bulkhead.
The city counters with claims that an incompetent state agency has endangered the lives and property of its citizens and visitors. It speaks of the futility of submitting permit applications, of the millions spent annually to replenish its beaches as the DEP fails to allocate shore protection resources to Five Mile Island towns, and of the disregard at the agency of obvious and real safety hazards with summer quickly approaching.
The DEP goes to court and seeks an injunction against unauthorized beach work. The city counters with a $21 million suit. The DEP issues its historic fines and the city claims they represent an act of retaliation against the town.
The whole mess is taking on the characteristics of a nasty divorce in which egos have overridden consideration of what is best for the kids. The DEP and the city administration owe concern for the well-being of the property owners, citizens, and visitors in the community.
A case now sits before the Chancery Division of the Cape May County Superior Court. The city has said it is considering an appeal of the fines to the Appellate Division. It is also possible that the DEP fines will end up before the state Office of Administrative Law. Does anyone think this will end well?
Whoever wins in this struggle is likely to be handed a pyrrhic victory.
As we stand on the precipice of ever greater dangers to our shore communities, this is an exceptionally bad time for the major state regulator of coastal zone activities to be at war with what it appears to regard as a renegade shore community. It is also an exceptionally bad time for an island municipality to engage in a winner-take-all battle with a state agency it is going to need a working relationship with in the face of future challenges.
This is not about saving political face. It is not about who has the most power. We should not allow this to become something that looks to the judicial system as the arbiter of differences.
An all-out battle with the DEP will not serve any of our shore communities well in the long run. Ignoring real safety hazards while trying to force the city’s hand with respect to dangerous cliffs will backfire on the DEP if a child is hurt.
North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said the city’s actions have placed the issue “on the radar” following a recent visit by DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette. More is needed.
As the city piles construction materials for another unauthorized bulkhead and as the DEP denies a city application for an emergency permit to extend the bulkhead and regrade the area of large cliffs, the impasse continues to work its way through the judicial system.
In less than 60 days, we will be at Memorial Day and the official opening of the summer season, and we will also be at the start of the hurricane season. There is no clear victory available here for either the DEP or the city.
What is needed is an end to the fighting. The agency and the city must come together to work out a solution to the city’s oceanfront vulnerability. We could go back over the long saga of the conflict, to mistakes made by both the DEP and the city, but the necessary end point is clear.
It is time to seek a compromise and not a victory.
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From the Bible: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
