The years long squabble over one Jersey Shore town taking beach protection measures into its own hands has taken place on the sand, off the coast and — of course — in court.
The cost? A collective $1,024,075, according to documents acquired by NJ Advance Media via Open Public Records Act requests.
Since 2020 — when the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection first cited North Wildwood for allegedly breaking environmental rules with various beach repairs — the city has spent $452,495 on legal fees while fighting the state. The NJDEP says the state has so far used $571,580 of taxpayer money on the legal matters.
“Obviously, that million dollars should have been spent on shore protection not on legal fees,” North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said Wednesday.
“I’m very grateful to the governor that we now appear to be putting our efforts and energy and money in a productive direction,” Rosenello said, calling the funds spent on the legal fight — instead of shore fixes — a “complete waste.”
“I don’t think anybody would disagree with that,” he said.
A $12.8 million notice of violation was issued to North Wildwood last year and is being handled independent of a $21 million lawsuit in which the city is looking to recoup money it says it lost from its own budget re-nourishing its shore and conducting other beach repairs.
North Wildwood and the state of New Jersey appear to be in a better place, according to local officials, despite an ongoing $33 million legal battle.
The mayor said all the litigation is part of global settlement discussions he hopes are resolved by early July.
A spokesman for the NJDEP said Thursday the department looks “forward to continuing to work with North Wildwood towards a resolution on these matters.”
Natalie Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Murphy, similarly said that the governor’s office “looks forward” to continuing to work with the NJDEP and North Wildwood to resolve the litigation.
Rosenello, a Republican, has been at odds with Murphy, a Democrat, and his administration in the past. Settlement talks have fallen apart before.
But Rosenello said this week he is hopeful the latest approval of a new nourishment in North Wildwood means the lawsuits can also finally be put to rest very soon.
The emergency project is expected to be done by July 4.
Over the years, cities that run along the coast nationwide — including the Jersey Shore — have sometimes dedicated millions in spending to spruce up beaches. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assigns crews to plan sand replenishment projects in New Jersey, but those only happen after extensive study and with approval of federal funding.
Climate change, which has been seen to fuel harsher storms and worsen erosion, is only expected to complicate the need for frequent sand replenishment work going forward.
North Wildwood officials say they’ve had to wait for years for massive shore construction work — which won’t come until after next summer — and thus have been forced to build physical waterfront structures and bolster sand dunes on their own.
The state has challenged that work in court and otherwise, saying it could have aggravated erosion on sections of the local shore.
North Wildwood leaders have disagreed, highlighting that properties and power lines have been protected because of its steel bulkhead. Shore work, the mayor has said, has also ensured the city has a beach to attract visitors.
In response to a public records request, the NJDEP noted that the $571,580 total spent so far on its legal back-and-forth with North Wildwood does not include billing for legal matters related to an appeal the city previously filed to extend a steel wall.
Besides legal costs, another hefty sum North Wildwood has put up: more than $32 million on beach construction since 2011 following frequent severe erosion.
“Quite frankly, I think what North Wildwood has done,” Rosenello said in terms of spending and building beach barriers, “is probably where a lot of towns are going to end up.”
