NJ - Let us continue blocking beach access on Sundays, Ocean Grove group asks judge
A Jersey Shore landowners association is asking a state judge to intervene and allow it to continue restricting beach access in Ocean Grove on Sunday mornings in a summer tradition tied to the community’s Christian roots.
The lawsuit filed by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is the latest development in a fight between the group, which oversees the community’s boardwalk, and critics over the influence of religion in public spaces in the Ocean Grove section of Neptune Township.
The state Department of Environmental Protection issued the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association a violation notice three weeks ago for using chains and padlocked barriers to block access to the Monmouth County beach from the boardwalk on summer Sundays between 9 a.m. and noon.
The lawsuit filed by the association does not name the state as a defendant. Instead, the suit lists two opponents of the beach access rules by name and up to 100 others who allegedly entered the beach on Sunday this summer after being told of the association’s prohibition.
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association asked the judge to rule that preventing public access on Sunday mornings from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend is “a valid and lawful practice that satisfies the public interest of reasonable access to the sea and a lawful accommodation of the interests” of the camp meeting association.
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The court papers signed by the association’s attorney, James M. McGovern, were filed Oct. 2 in Superior Court in Monmouth County.
The lawsuit was first reported by the Asbury Park Press.
Access to the beach via the privately-owned boardwalk is available during all but 45 hours during the year, McGovern said in the court filing.
“The slight limitation on physical presence on the beachfront on the Lord’s Day is consistent with the Plaintiff’s Mission to build and maintain a beautiful seaside community to serve as a place for meditation, reflection and renewal during the Summer months,” the lawsuit said. “The ability to reflect upon an empty and quiet beachfront during this limited time is at the core of Plaintiff’s very creation, existence and uninterrupted private ownership of the Ocean Grove Beach front and adjoining lands.”
Limited access to the beach on Sunday mornings benefits the community, according to the lawsuit.
