TRENTON -- The state did not overstep its authority when it allowed a Shore town to use a public recreation area along a former railroad right of way for a new road, an appeals court has ruled.
An state appeals court said the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection did not overstep its authority when it allowed Lacey Township to build a road on its portion of a bike trail
The decision to allow the Lacey Rail Trail to be turned into a bypass road of busy Route 9 was not a result of the state Department of Environmental Protection making new rules without going through the proper procedures, the three-judge panel ruled on Wednesday.
The ruling is another setback for environmental groups in their 17-year fight to preserve open space in a town experiencing rapid development over the past two decades.
"We do not discern from the record that the DEP engaged in rulemaking when it determined the subject property was not open space," judges Ellen Koblitz, Garry Rothstadt and Thomas Sumners wrote in their 43-page decision.
The path is part of a more than 15-mile railroad right of way in Ocean County that was known as the Barnegat Branch Rail Line owned by the Central Railroad of New Jersey until it was abandoned in 1973.
In 1993, Lacey bought the 4.8-mile section running through its borders with the intention of eventually building a road to alleviate traffic on Route 9.
Lacey did not dedicate the site as open space and did not maintain the trail except where it intersected roads, the court noted.
The DEP twice - in 2006 and 2009 - rejected Lacey's permit applications to build the road because the plans failed to comply with several Coastal Zone Management Rules.
When the DEP granted a permit under the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act in 2014, environmental groups argued Lacey hadn't made any changes to its plans for the site and the state agency essentially made up new rules by issuing the permit without any specific reason.
Eight days after the permit was issued, trees started coming down along the path.
The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, the Lacey Rail Trail Environmental Committee, Save Barnegat Bay and the American Littoral Society went to court to try to reverse the permit approval.
They said the ruling abandons open space used by thousands of bikers and hikers for more than four decades.
"We are very disappointed in the court's decision. We feel that the NJDEP did not use their coastal policies to protect public open space in Lacey Township and conversely decided to give in to a local municipality's development-hungry interests and approve a needless roadway that impacts a special place in the community," said Helen Henderson of the American Littoral Society. "The railroad right of way is unique and an irreplaceable natural landscape in the coastal region and should not be paved over."
All but the Lacey portion of the right of way was acquired by Ocean County and designated as open space and now is a bike trail. Lacey granted a portion of its section to Ocean County for a bike trail.
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.