A New Jersey coastal town that defied state environmental authorities and fixed its dunes that were severely eroded by a storm can proceed with a lawsuit seeking to recover $21 million it spent to reinforce its shoreline, but cannot build a bulkhead to permanently frustrate it. waves, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Superior Court Judge Michael Blee issued a restraining order prohibiting North Wildwood from building a bulkhead along a severely eroded section of its coastline, as it has been threatening to do for months. The city defied the state Department of Environmental Protection and carried out emergency repairs to its beach in October after the remnants of Hurricane Ian uprooted large chunks of protective sand dunes.
Blee also directed the city to submit a new application to DEP for authorization to make emergency repairs in light of what the city says are continuing deteriorating conditions at the beach, which authorities say has lost 75%. of his sand.
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But in what Mayor Patrick Rosenello called a significant victory, the judge allowed North Wildwood to proceed with its own lawsuit against the state. The city wants to recoup the $21 million it has spent trucking sand from neighboring beaches over the past decade while waiting for a federal and state beach replenishment project that most of the rest of the Jersey shore has already received.
“I’m very happy, obviously,” Rosenello said after the judge’s ruling. “We’re going to have to go through the legal and administrative process and hopefully come to a good decision.”
As it has done since October, North Wildwood said Wednesday that parts of its beaches are at imminent risk of destruction in the next severe storm.
“This is the most eroded site in the state of New Jersey,” said Anthony Bocchi, a North Wildwood attorney. “Conditions have only gotten worse in the four months since October. Yes, the dunes haven’t broken, by the grace of God. We’re just lucky.”
A judge ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey by North Wildwood to recover dune construction funds could proceed.
(AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
Kevin Terhune, assistant attorney general representing the state, said the immediate danger ended when Ian left the area in October, noting that the city’s dire predictions have not come to pass.
The DEP declined to comment on the judge’s ruling. He previously said the work North Wildwood wants to do could actually worsen erosion and likely damage environmentally sensitive areas.
In October, North Wildwood applied for permission from the state to perform emergency repair work on the beach, including construction of a bulkhead and placement of temporary traffic-style barriers in front of the lifeguard headquarters building. The DEP allowed the temporary barriers but denied the other jobs requested.
But North Wildwood made repairs anyway, including moving sand from one section of the beach to another, which was prohibited by the state in the absence of a permit. And it has stockpiled construction materials and construction equipment on shore in case it gets court permission to build a bulkhead, which remains off the table for now.
The disagreement between North Wildwood and the state dates back more than a decade. The state notes that North Wildwood continues to violate a 2020 order to restore 12 acres of mature vegetated dunes that were removed for a separate unauthorized boardwalk project.
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While most of the 127-mile coastline of the Jersey shore was restocked with beaches in the years following Superstorm Sandy in 2012, North Wildwood has not. The town is part of a proposed multi-town federal and state beach replenishment project that also involves Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Lower Township.
Numerous real estate and legal agreements must be finalized before that can happen, and that project likely won’t be able to begin until fall 2024 at the earliest, the state estimated in August.
Meanwhile, the city is keeping its collective fingers crossed.
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“If there’s a moderate storm, it’s over,” Bocchi told the judge. “There is zero beach left.”
