Jersey Shore Town, State At Odds Over Sunday Beach Restrictions

OCEAN GROVE, NJ - State officials say a Jersey Shore town’s long-held rule prohibiting beach access on Sunday mornings is not in line with New Jersey law, according to a letter shared by the community advocacy group Neptune United.

In the Ocean Grove section of Neptune Township, which is controlled by the Christian Methodist group Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, access to the beach is restricted before noon on Sundays through Sept. 3, when the beach closes for the season.

But the camp meeting association, which owns much of the land in Ocean Grove, was sent a warning by the state last month denouncing the use of chain and padlock barriers blocking beach access on Sunday mornings. The action specifically violates a special condition of the Coastal Area Facility Review Act surrounding public access to the beach during daylight hours, Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement Regional Supervisor Robert H. Clark said in the letter.

NJ.com initially reported on the exchange.

“Please be advised that the DEP may continue to monitor the site for compliance and we are available to provide guidance as needed,” Clark wrote.

In a response to the DEP provided to NJ.com, Michael Badger, the president of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, said the closure “enhances religious and secular quality of life experiences in Ocean Grove which society recognizes as valuable.”

The camp meeting association has not been issued any fines from the Department of Environmental Protection, the outlet reported.

The policy to close Ocean Grove beach access has been in place for 154 years, Badger told the outlet, and 2023 marked the first year the association was met with complaints.

This isn’t the first time the camp meeting association has been the subject of controversy in recent years. Earlier this year, the group drew criticism from some locals after rebuilding a cross-shaped pier by the waterfront.

Shane Martins, an attorney who lives in Ocean Grove and sits on the Neptune Zoning Board, said last summer he was going to ask the ACLU to look into the legality of cross-shaped pier.

"This is Christian nationalism," Martins said at the time. "We are not a Christian nation; we are a nation that has many Christians in it.”

One Ocean Grove resident, Douglas Grote, told Patch last year he donated $50 to a fundraising campaign to help build the new pier, but added he never would have donated had he first seen a rendering that the pier would be in the shape of a cross.

"It's sectarian," Grote said. "And I'm a Presbyterian. Just this past weekend, I saw brown and black people on the beach in Ocean Grove; I saw people with Muslim scarves, someone in a Jewish scarf, and a transgender person in a halter top and bikini bottoms. If they are out here on the beach and there's a cross right in the middle of their views, I would say that's offensive as all get out. Wouldn't you?"

Back in 2007, the Camp Meeting Association refused to give two lesbian women permission when they applied for a permit to get married at the boardwalk pavilion. The Methodist group denied the women's application, saying civil unions violated Christian doctrine against same-sex marriage.

The couple sued and in 2012, a state administrative law judge ruled the Camp Meeting Association was breaking New Jersey's law against discrimination.

In response, the Camp Meeting Association now does not allow any weddings to be held at its boardwalk pavilion. Read more: Judge Rules In Favor Of Same-Sex Couple In Ocean Grove Discrimination Case

-With reporting by Carly Baldwin.