With Spring officially here, and hints of warmer weather in the air, visions of sugar plums dancing and stockings hung by the fire are giving way to shorts, sandals, sunglasses, and yearnings for an ocean breeze.
It is also the annual time of year when talk of “beach badges” or “beach tags” start. It’s a tradition peculiar to New Jersey, like the mystery as to why NJ residents have the highest tax burden in the nation, but beach badges have been required for close to 40 years now and most people just accept it. Some folks have collected them for decades, and vintage ones can be purchased on e-Bay.
This niche industry does not exist in places like North Carolina where the Public Trust Doctrine has some substance. The Public Trust Doctrine dates back to Roman times, and is instituted in all 50 states, that certain natural resources are the property of the people…E.g, a person should be able to walk along a beach. North Carolina takes it a step further by actually having free and open access to the beaches.
New Jersey DEP has proposed changes to the state’s Coastal Zone Management regulations, allowing what is being billed as “common sense” approach to beach access along the New Jersey shore. The changes would rollback regulations instituted by the Corzine administration, and allow beach towns to offer access where it’s most convenient.
DEP Commissioner Bob Martin describes the new regulations as providing”… some common-sense practices and principles, we will build a comprehensive means for the public to have broad, diversified, safe, and reasonable access to tidal waters throughout New Jersey.” For residents from Oakland, the new proposals being implemented would allow shore towns like Long Beach Township to offer public access to the bay rather than the ocean.
NJ shore towns consume tens of millions annually in state & federal funds, adding up to billions over the years to protect beaches that are open to the public in name only. Long stretches of Sea Bright NJ continue to be littered with Private Access signs along the beach front restored with federal funds.
New Jersey is not the only state in the nation consuming billions of dollars to maintain beaches with little or no public access, and lobbyists are concerned this year that only 45 million in federal funds are available – not enough to even cover NJ much less the nation. Federal funds to replenish beaches are being cut regularly as many Americans see little benefit, or argue that the benefit is for the few or the wealthy.
Line Drawn In Sand Over LBI Beach Replenishment: MyFoxPHILLY.com