NJ Looking Into Jenkinson's Beach Access Closure In Pt. Pleasant Beach

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — The move by Jenkinson's to lock all of the access gates along its beaches in Point Pleasant Beach may be in violation of New Jersey's public access requirements.

Officials with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection are aware public access points have been closed and are evaluating the situation, said Caryn Shinske, an NJDEP spokeswoman.

"The NJDEP will take appropriate action where warranted in Point Pleasant (Beach) and in any other communities where access requirements are not followed," Shinske said.

Jenkinson's padlocked all of its beach access gates on Monday, apparently in response to repeated ocean rescues and a lawsuit filed by a Morris County man whose father drowned in a rip current in late September 2020.

Jenkinson's officials did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The private company owns the beaches from the inlet south to end of the boardwalk, but under the Public Trust Doctrine, its ownership only extends to the mean high water line. From there to the water the beach belongs to the public. Read more: Jenkinson's Locks Gates In Point Pleasant Beach, Bars Access

Over the years, the NJDEP has fought — and won — repeated legal battles with private owners up and down the Shore over a provision of the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act that requires a public accessway be maintained that allows the public to reach the sand below the mean high water line.

It is that special provision that the NJDEP has cited in letters to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association and Neptune Township over the camp meeting association's beach access closure on Sunday mornings. The association uses chain and padlock barriers to block beach access; Ocean Grove is a section of Neptune.

The NJDEP warned the organization in an Aug. 10 letter that it had to stop. On Friday, Shinske shared a violation notice sent to the camp meeting association on Thursday that warned it has 10 days to remove the barriers and not replace them, or face penalties.

The letter from Robert H. Clark, region supervisor of the Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement, requires that the association cease "all unauthorized activities," which the NJDEP said involve the use of chains and padlocks to prevent public access to the beach between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon on Sundays from May through September.

"The Permittee cannot limit vertical or horizontal public access to any dry sand area covered under this permit 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," Clark said.

In response to the Aug. 10 warning, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association defended the closure, saying it “enhances religious and secular quality of life experiences in Ocean Grove which society recognizes as valuable.”

The policy to close Ocean Grove beach access has been in place for 154 years, Michael Badger, the Methodist organization's president, told NJ.com. This is the first year the policy has generated complaints.

Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra, in a message posted to his Facebook page on Tuesday, said the closure decision was solely that of Jenkinson's.

"I want to make it very clear that this decision is not the Borough of Point Pleasant Beach’s and that the only beach that the town owns, Maryland Avenue, is open for guests in accordance with our local beach ordinances," Kanitra wrote.