Opened Beach Access in Ocean Grove, NJ

The Jersey Shore Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation worked to end the practice of closing the Ocean Grove, New Jersey beach to the public on summer Sunday mornings from 9AM until noon. The Chapter worked with local community members, who were the first to call for the closures to end.

The Chapter issued a press release on September 26, 2023, alerting the New Jersey public to a spate of beach closures and access issues in northern NJ that cropped up in late summer, including at Bradshaw’s and Jenkinson’s beaches in Point Pleasant, Seaside Heights, and the Sunday beach closure at Ocean Grove.

On October 18, 2023, the Chapter released a second press release after a flurry of legal action related to Ocean Grove. On October 12, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) sent an Administrative Order to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (OGCMA), informing OGCMA that their continued closure of the Ocean Grove beach on summer Sundays is in violation of State law. Previously, NJDEP sent similar notices to the OGCMA on August 10 and September 14, 2023.

The Order states: “The Permittee [OGCMA] cannot limit vertical or horizontal public access to any dry sand beach area…nor interfere with the public's right to free use of the dry sand for intermittent recreational purposes connected with the ocean and wet sand."

The Chapter went on to release seven press releases in total, adding media coverage to the issue, and doing several interviews.

Ocean Grove is an unincorporated section of Neptune Township in Monmouth County that began as a Christian “camp meeting” in the late 1800s. Through a special charter with Monmouth County, it operates as a largely independent town.

New Jersey citizens rely on beach access for recreation, quality of life, and peace of mind. This include surfers, swimmers, bird watchers, fishing groups, and anyone who wants to take a break from modern living and stroll along the shore. And it is their legal right as New Jerseyans.

New Jersey has clear beach access rights language in State regulations, common law, and the State Constitution. These rights originate from the Public Trust Doctrine, in which the public rights to tidal waterways and their shores are held by the state in trust for the benefit of all people. The doctrine further provides that the public has the right to fully utilize these lands and waters for a variety of public activities, including recreating on the dry sand and accessing the ocean.

The Murphy Administration worked to codify the Public Trust Doctrine into State law in 2019, passing the NJ Public Trust Doctrine Act of 2018. That law codifies state obligations to ensure that the public has meaningful access to, and use of, the shoreline, tidal waters and other areas subject to the Public Trust Doctrine.   

Furthermore, multiple legal cases over the years have upheld the publics’ right to use New Jersey beaches. Those cases held that in order for the public to enjoy Public Trust lands, they have the right to gain access through, and the use of, dry sand areas on privately owned beaches, and that a private beach owner can not limit vertical or horizontal access to wet and dry sand beach areas for intermittent recreational purposes.

Additionally, if a municipality accepts federal funding for beach replenishment projects, as most did after Hurricane Sandy (and continue to accept in the frequent beach fill projects up and down the NJ coast), additional rights are granted to the public. Those rights include: open and equal public use to all, sufficient parking, and public access points at least every quarter mile.