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Revised Public Access Rules Fall Short of the Mark - Oppose the (NO) Access Rules at Public Hearings on Wednesday, April 18th: Public Hearings - April 18 Avalon, NJ - 12 Noon
Avalon Municipal Court Meeting Room
3100 Dune Drive
Avalon, N.J. 08202 Long Branch - 6 p.m. Long Branch Municipal Council Chambers 344 Broadway, 2nd floor Long Branch, N.J. 07740. Written comments may be submitted through May 18, electronically at http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/comments or in hard copy to N.J. Department of Environmental Protection, Gary Brower, Esq., Attn: DEP Docket No. 05-11-03, Office of Legal Affairs, Mail Code 401-04L, P.O. Box 402, 401 East State Street, Floor 4, Trenton, NJ 08625-0402. After tremendous public opposition to the Christie Administration’s 2011 public access rules, NJDEP has revised them once again and, once again, the rules fall significantly short of the mark. “The Christie Administration made some minor changes, but they didn’t fix the fundamental problems,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director. They are giving responsibility to towns to promote and develop public access, but those towns have often been hostile to public access in the past. They have also reduced the scope of coastal development projects which will be required to provide access – the result will be fewer places to access the water. The state needs to protect the broader public interest in access to the shore, and it is failing to do so with these rules. The public will have one more chance to try and defend our rights to public access, and defeat this proposal. Public hearings will be held in Avalon and Long Branch, NJ on April 18. The Littoral Society and other groups have also called on the DEP to hold a hearing in northern New Jersey where the rules roll back important current requirements for public access. Our criticisms of this rule remain the same: fishermen, surfers and families will find it more difficult to get to the shore. Coastal development will continue to put up an unbroken wall between the public and the water. Towns with a long tradition of excluding the public from “their beaches” will have an easier time being exclusionary, and will get a stamp of approval from the Christie Administration. The resources below are still relevant to the proposed revised rule. Stay tuned for updates. Read Barriers Remain to Beach Access (Asbury Park Press) Read the full version of the rules
When the 2011 Rules were released, Tim Dillingham, Executive Director of the American Littoral Society, testified in opposition to the proposed rules at the final hearing on June 2 in Long Beach Township on LBI. Turnout in opposition to the rules was tremendous--200 people packed the room. We submitted our written comments on the proposed rules to the NJDEP on June 3 with sign-on by 15 additional groups. We also made these comments available to other groups to use as the basis for their own comments. You can download our comments and check out the press coverage below. Download comments on the proposed public access rules. Press Coverage: Asbury Park Press Press of Atlantic City ABC Action News NJ.com Proposed Rules will Roll Back Years of Progress on Public Access to the Shore In April, the Christie Administration announced new rules that would dramatically reduce New Jerseyan’s rights to view, use and enjoy the state’s rivers, bays and coast for fishing, swimming, surfing, kayaking, or simply enjoying a walk in the surf or along an urban waterfront. If implemented, these rules will roll back years of hard-won progress by the American Littoral Society and other coastal advocates by placing much of the control and authority over public access squarely in the hands of local towns—a practice that has proved disastrous for decades, as our more than forty years of litigation in local beach access issues demonstrates. Add to this the fact that what little protection these rules provide is totally unenforceable and negotiable, renders what the NJDEP has termed a “common sense” solution a “non-sense” solution. The American Littoral Society strongly opposes the proposed rules and urges anyone who wants to protect their right to enjoy New Jersey’s coastal waterways (including Delaware Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay , and the Hudson/Raritan estuary) to get the facts and make your voice heard at the final public hearing. Fact Sheets on the Proposed (NO) PUBLIC ACCESS RULE The following 6 fact sheets cover aspects of the proposed rule that will impact New Jerseyans the most. Feel free to cut and paste content in your letters to the editor, to the NJDEP, and/or the Governor. #1 - Overview Download #2 - Municipal Public Access Plans Download #3 - Renourished Beaches Download #4 - Urban Waterfront Download #5 - For Fishermen Download #6 - What You Can Do to Help Download RESOURCES: Official DEP Announcement of Rule, and link to rule text: http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/notices/040411a.html LINKS TO NEWS ABOUT THE PROPOSED RULES: Urban Access Issues Asbury Park Press Editorial Calls Rules a Setback NJN News Covers the Proposed Rules Coverage on Patch.com In the blogosphere
PUBLIC ACCESS ARCHIVES - info on the rules threatened by the Christie Administration’s proposed rules and important beach access litigation In-force NJ Beach Access Rules - Frequently Asked Questions download pdf Impact of NJ Beach Access Rules Adopted 12/07 FACT SHEET download pdf American Littoral Society Comments on Proposed Access Rules (12/07) download pdf Proposed Beach Access Rules (12/07) FACT SHEET download pdf Raleigh Avenue Beach Assn. vs. Atlantis Beach Club FACT SHEET (2006) download pdf Raleigh Avenue Beach Assn. vs. Atlantis Beach Club, Text of NJ Supreme Court Decision (2006) download pdf |