$4.7M Awarded To Berkeley Beach Condo Owners After Seizure Of Dunes

SOUTH SEASIDE PARK, NJ — The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection offered the Midway Beach Condominium Association $500 to take their beachfront property. Now, the DEP will pay them $4.7 million after a trial ruled in the condo owners' favor.

It was in 2017 when the state used eminent domain to seize the dunes as part of a dune improvement project - much to the chagrin of the homeowners, who believed that their dunes protected them during Superstorm Sandy. The oceanfront properties of Midway Beach, a small community, were protected from worst of Sandy and suffered little damage while surrounding areas were devastated.

Midway Beach said that their dunes, 25-feet high, were better than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' proposal of 22-foot dunes and resisted the reconstruction project. The Midway dunes were preexisting and constructed by homeowners many years prior, bolstered by things like discarded Christmas trees. It was ruled that the state could seize those dunes as long as they didn't shorten any existing ones.

The DEP offered to pay $500 and said that the project would benefit Midway Beach. But after a trial by jury, the DEP must now pay Midway $4.7 million, according to court documents. According to the Asbury Park Press, the jury determined that Midway was not properly compensated for the seizing of the dunes.

That Asbury Park Press report said the state determined the beachfront property taken to be worth $6.6 million; Midway appraised it at $4.69 million. The DEP said that Midway wasn't entitled to that due to the benefits of the project, according to the report. The jury sided with Midway.