Ocean Grove has reopened part its damaged pier — which is built in the shape of a Christian cross — as it prepares for an influx of summer visitors amid an ongoing battle with state officials over Sunday morning access to the beach.
Workers installed a fence across the middle of the pier Tuesday, blocking access to the portion of the walkway that extends over the water. The pier had been closed for months due to an ongoing structural investigation.
The public is now able to walk on 243 feet of the 500-foot-long structure off the Ocean Grove boardwalk, said Gina LaPlaca, business administrator for Neptune Township.
Visitors could be seen Wednesday on Ocean Grove’s live webcam walking onto the newly-opened pier up to the new fence.
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which owns the boardwalk and the pier, did not immediately respond to a request to comment Wednesday.
Ocean Grove is a section of Neptune Township. The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which was founded by Methodists during Ocean Grove’s days as a summer religious retreat, controls many of the public spaces in the community and leases land to homeowners and businesses.
The group spent $2 million rebuilding and redesigning the pier after it was destroyed during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The new pier closed in December, just eight months after opening, after three of the 88 newly-installed pilings were broken by waves, officials said.
Ocean Grove announced April 20 it would be reopening a portion of the pier.
The pier remains controversial because some residents objected to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association choosing to build the pier in the shape of a Christian cross, reflecting the area’s history as a Methodist retreat.
The reopening comes amid a separate dispute between Ocean Grove and the state Department of Environmental Protection over beach access from the boardwalk. The association, founded in 1870, has traditionally barred access to the beach before noon on Sundays between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend in another reflection of the town’s Christian roots.
State officials said the restriction runs afoul of state law. In September, Ocean Grove was ordered to stop using chains and padlocked barriers blocking beach access on Sundays or risk fines of up to $25,000 per day.
Ocean Grove recently said it would lift the Sunday beach restriction when the summer season resumes this weekend, though officials from the camp meeting association are continuing their legal challenge to the ruling.
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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.
