Enough Is Enough - Township Officials Oppose $3 Fee For Boaters At Island Beach State Park

by Patricia A. Miller

Excessive, Unfair. Discriminatory.

Those were just a few of the words residents used to describe the state Department of Environmental Protection’s recent plan to charge a $3 fee to boaters who access Island Beach State Park through a walkway near Tices Shoal in Barnegat Bay.

The Township Council unanimously approved a resolution at the April 13 meeting opposing the fee. The DEP announced last week that a third bathing beach with lifeguards about five miles from the park’s entrance gate would be open this summer. They also imposed the $3 boaters fee.

“I’d like to add my two cents to the $3 boater’s fee,” quipped Fred Bekiarian, a member of the township’s Waterways Advisory Commission.

The third bathing beach will have no facilities or a pavilion, like the two other bathing beaches at the park, he said.

Waterways Commission Chairman William McGrath said boaters who access the park from Tices Shoal don’t take up any of the 2,200 valuable, revenue-producing parking spots at the park.

“They don’t take up a parking spot,” he said. ”The revenue is based on the parking spots.”

Most boaters will access the parking by walking through the shallow waters of Barnegat Bay in their bathing suits, McGrath said.

“It’s really inconvenient,” he said.

Township Councilman James J. Byrnes lashed out at the state’s “abandonment” of the Jersey coast in general and its failure to demand the Army Corps of Engineers extend its dune replenishment project to include Island Beach.

He suggested the state move the new bathing beach ”to the Governor’s Mansion” at the park.

Berkeley has lost tax revenue from the state’s takeover of two buildings at the end of South Seaside Park, he said.

“Now they want to give us a tax,” he said. ”It’s not fair for the taxpayers of Berkeley Township to pay for the abandonment of Trenton.”

Critics of the fee also noted that pedestrians and bicyclists can walk in or ride into the park for free.

DEP officials have said the third guarded bathing beach will provide additional protection for bathers and help lifeguards focus on their respective beaches without having to respond to emergencies in unguarded areas.

“The safety of our park visitors is our first priority,” said Richard Boornazian, DEP Assistant Commissioner of Natural and Historic Resources. “Emergencies in unguarded sections of the park often results in compromised lifeguard resources at our main pavilion areas where swimming is permitted. So providing this additional protection at the popular A-7 section will benefit all users of the park.”

The $3 fee will be used to pay for the cost of the additional lifeguards on the third beach, DEP spokesperson Bob Considine said.

Swimming at all other unguarded sections of Island Beach State Park is prohibited.