Ocean Grove beach. It should be free. May, 2021. Paul Goldfinger photograph. Click to enlarge.
God’s Square Mile? If so, then how does the CMA gain ownership? Historical Society of OG. 2021.
State of New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection:
“The public rights of access to and use of the tidal waterways and their shores are based in the common law rule of the Public Trust Doctrine, first codified by the Roman Emperor Justinian around 500 AD as civil law. It establishes the public’s right to full use of the seashore. The current rule stems from this but has been modified by legal decisions and recent implementation policies.”
“By the law of nature these things are common to all mankind – the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea.”
“All lands and waters extending seaward of the MHW (Mean High Water Line) are held in trust by the state on behalf of the public. The rights of the public are vested in the state as owner and trustee. These publicly owned lands include tidelands, shores of tidal rivers and streams, the land beneath oceans and tidal rivers and streams (submerged lands) and filled lands formerly flowed by the tide. As the Public Trust Doctrine has evolved over the years, courts have ruled that the dry sand areas landward of the MHW line are also subject to certain public rights under the Pubic Trust Doctrine, as needed for enjoyment of the tidal waterways and lands below the MHW line.
“These public rights are vested in the state as owner and trustee of lands subject to public trust rights
“While the original purpose of the Public Trust Doctrine was to assure public access for navigation, commerce and fishing, in the past two centuries, state and federal courts have recognized that modern uses of tidal waterways and their shores are also protected by the Public Trust Doctrine.
“In New Jersey, the Public Trust Doctrine recognizes and protects natural resources as well as recreational uses such as bathing swimming, sunbathing, and walking along tidal waterways and their shores.
“The public has the right to use tidal waterways and their shores for activities including fishing, swimming, boating, walking and sunbathing. In addition, the public has the right of access to and use of a reasonable amount of the dry sand area landward of the MHW line at beaches according to the factors set forth in the NJ Supreme Court case Matthews v. Bay Head Improvement Association, 95 N.J. 306 (1984) and listed above, as well as along the Hudson River as upheld by the Federal District Court in National Association of Home Builders v. NJDEP, 64 F. Supp. 2d (D. NJ 1999). An example of linear or lateral access is the ability to take a walk on a beach along the shoreline. Because of the public trust nature of these lands, anyone should be allowed to walk uninhibited within this area and free of charge.
“Visual access is the ability of the public to have access to views of coastal resources without these views being unreasonably obstructed. As development along shorelines continues, there is a tendency to build in ways that provide the maximum benefit of views to those on the developed site, often at the expense of the public.
(Attention those Neptune authorities who have a responsibility to protect the views of the beach by those Grovers who might be blocked by the North End project in Ocean Grove.!)
“The Public Trust Doctrine is an example of common law authority that is continually developing through individual court cases.”
Here is a link to DEP writings on this issue:
www.nj.gov/dep/cmp/access/njparightslegal.htm
Blogfinger: “It’s curious, but this topic is rarely covered by sources talking about the CMA’s management of the beach and boardwalk. However, it’s important that you remember one thing which offers perspective: “The Public Trust Doctrine.” It is a legality since 500 ad–Roman times when the public was pronounced to be the beneficiaries of air, water, and shorelines.
“After the USA was founded, all the 13 states enshrined this Doctrine into law, and it became part of the “Common Law of the United States” And recently Governor Murphy wrote it officially with new modifications into the laws of New Jersey: “The New Jersey Public Trust Doctrine.”
We could not find any mention of the ownership issue of Ocean Grove in the two major Ocean Grove history books going back to the founding. Maybe the CMA and historians simply accepted the “Common Law of the United States” where the people own the oceanfront in Ocean Grove.
And perhaps the CMA never mentions this subject for fear that someone might challenge them on their assertion in the Grove that they,” the CMA, owns the beach.”
NJ 101.5: “The bill codifies in law the state’s public trust doctrine, which holds that waterways including the ocean, bays and rivers, are common property kept in trust by the state for the use of all people.”
American Littoral Society: “This legislation was supported by almost every major conservation, fishing and surfing organization in the state, from beach advocates to defenders of access along urban waterways.”
NJ Patch: “New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Friday (4 days ago) that could ultimately eliminate private beaches, allowing anybody to go to any beach they want”.
“The bill enshrines into state law the “Public Trust Doctrine,” which is a principle that establishes that the state’s tidal waters and adjacent shorelines belong to the public and should be used for navigation, commerce, and recreation, including bathing, swimming, and fishing.
“The people’s ownership of the tidal waters and adjacent shorelines is held in trust by the State, lawmakers say.
“But there are some sticking points in the bill that beach-access advocates aren’t happy about, and could defeat the purpose of the bill,” they say.
“And you’d still have to pay – the bill doesn’t address that issue, nor does it deal with parking.”
NJ Spotlight News May, 2021:
New Jersey’s iconic oceanfront boardwalks would be legally known as “public highways,” so they could qualify for dedicated state transportation funding under legislation that passed a key state Assembly panel on Wednesday.
The measure, which has bipartisan support, calls for spending at least $4 million annually on boardwalk projects over the next decade using funding from New Jersey’s Transportation Trust Fund. (BF: But does this apply to privately owned boardwalks like ours? This was a turning point when FEMA was initially refusing to pay for our damaged boardwalk after Sandy.)
Blogfinger: So, entrenched false ideas have a way of remaining in hiding, as has the notion that the CMA owns the beach, the adjacent lands, and even the ocean out to a point.
No one has lately challenged the question of ownership, and it becomes of interest because of the way that the CMA has used the beach and boards for religious activities as if they are the owners.
Also, the question of charging for access to the beach should be challenged because we are the only state with beach badges. Florida has free access, but they do charge a nominal amount for parking in public lots (there are none which are private.)
It is a disgrace that poor families cannot enter whenever they wish, and for free. And there should be easy and inexpensive parking.
Paul Goldfinger, M.D. Editor, Blogfinger.net June 22, 2021.
THE URI CAINE ENSEMBLE
STEPHEN SONDHEIM PERFORMED BY HELENA BONHAM CARTER AND JOHNNY DEPP “By the Sea.”
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
What I posted was from Sept. 2022 and was a response to an inquiry made just before that time.
This information was forwarded to me recently:
“The State issued a Tidelands (Riparian) Lease in 1880 to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association Of The Methodist Episcopal Church. That lease got converted to a Tidelands Grant (sale of the State’s tidelands ownership) on 12/17/1887.
That grant extends 1,000 feet easterly from a former mean high water line in the vicinity of Ocean Ave. (Boardwalk Park/Beach area) out into the Atlantic Ocean. It extends 3,000 feet northerly from the vicinity of Broadway Ave.”
“A party holding the rights to a valid Riparian grant does Not have automatic rights to build any type of structure desired. Approval of all pertinent federal, state & local construction permits would first be required. A valid riparian grant would negate the need to apply for and obtain a Tidelands License (rental agreement with an annual fee) prior to permit approved construction within the limits of the granted area. A license is required whenever there is no grant within a State tidelands claimed waterway, such as the Atlantic Ocean within the State’s 3 nautical mile limit.”
Michael Cuccia
NJDEP Bureau Of Tidelands Management
Editor’s note: Current policy is to issue grants only for historic tidelands. That is, the State of New Jersey no longer sells currently flowed tidelands.
Riparian grants require complex processing as well as the approval of state officials. Therefore, a grant takes approximately one year to obtain.
The State of New Jersey is under no obligation to issue a riparian grant.
Did the CMA get required construction permits; federal, state and local to build this pier? And is the CMA’s original riparian grant still valid? Grants cannot be awarded if the riparian waters. (ocean) still flow with the tides. And what is the date of the note above? And why has the CMA not made public this grant during recent conversations about the new pier? PG. Blogfinger.net
Does the Camp Meeting Association own the Ocean Grove Beach?
The Answer is No
All the residents of New Jersey own the Ocean Grove Beach, under the jurisdiction of Green Acres and The N.J. Department of Environmental Protection.
Kevin: Thank you for your input. But there is only one question now on the table for discussion: Is the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association the owner of the OG beach?
Around the turn of the 20th century the New Jersey State Assembly gave the OGCMA the power to prevent anyone to come onto the beach from the water. In other words, the State gave the OGCMA control of the entire beach, even beyond the wet water mark.
The question is if this would stand up in court today?
But all of this raises the question if any of the North End designation was legal since in fact the North End hotel was merged with the North End Pavilion which in fact was merged with the rest of the beach and therefore needed a legal subdivision from the rest of the beach land.
Neither the OGCMA nor the Township ever held a legal subdivision in order to create the North End subdivision.
So is anything the Township is doing with the North End legal?
The State allows those responsible for the maintenance and safety of a beach to collect monies that MUST be designated only to be used to pay for these services…it cannot go into the municipalities general fund. Unlike many other states that place these costs into the overall tax, NJ enables the individual towns to charge for these services.
Editor’s note: Beacher—Thank you for your research, but there is only one question up for discussion now on Blogfinger: Is the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association the owner of the OG beach?