Judge Rules Ocean Grove Can Keep Beaches Closed On Sunday Mornings

OCEAN GROVE, NJ — An administrative law judge has ruled that Ocean Grove can indeed keep the beaches in that town closed on Sunday mornings.

It now remains to be seen if the state of New Jersey will challenge that ruling.

The Camp Meeting Association is a Methodist Christian 501(c)3 non-profit that owns nearly all the land in Ocean Grove. The Camp Meeting Association closes public access to the beach every Sunday during the summer. From 9 a.m. to noon on summer Sundays, the town puts a chain and padlock on the stairs leading to the main entrance to the beach.

This is violating New Jersey state law, which says all beaches in the state must be accessible to the public, within reason, argues the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Attorney General.

In the fall of 2023, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ordered the Camp Meeting Association to remove the padlocks, warning them in this letter they were risking fines of $25,000 a day if they continued to padlock the beaches.

At the beginning of summer 2024, the Camp Meeting Association complied and opened beach access on Sunday mornings.

But they filed their own request in NJ Superior Court, seeking a permanent injunction that allows them to keep the beaches closed on Sunday mornings.

This summer, administrative law Judge Tricia Caliguire sided with Ocean Grove; she ruled the Camp Meeting Association is allowed to restrict beach access on Sunday mornings, NJ.com and News 12 reported.

She wrote the Camp Meeting Association is not being unreasonable in "interfering with public access for several hours only on summer Sunday mornings" and that the town does provide "the general public with reasonable access to the water and to the dry sand beach throughout the year, including the summer months," according to the Asbury Park Press, which obtained a copy of her decision.

It now remains to be seen if DEP commissioner Shawn LaTourette will accept, modify or reject her ruling. On July 18, New Jersey Attorney General filed objections to Caliguire's decision, calling on LaTourette to overrule it.

Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association President Michael Badger said he thinks the town is a victim of religious persecution. He said Ocean Grove was founded as a Methodist summer seaside retreat, and is still used by Methodist religious groups today.

"Keeping the beaches closed leads to a quieter, less crowded and more relaxed Sunday morning in Ocean Grove: You do not have the crowds that you have on a Saturday morning. You don't have the jingle from the ice cream trucks running up and down the beach. You can get a parking space so you can walk to breakfast or yes, walk to church," he told Patch in this 2023 article.

He also argues there are many other Jersey Shore towns that close or partially block off their beaches from time to time — and are not threatened by the state.

"After Long Branch had that problem with the pop-up parties, they closed their beaches at night," Badger previously said. "And Asbury Park, which just had the Sea.Hear.Now festival, put barricades up at either end of their beaches to prevent people from getting onto the beach. Those barricades were in place all weekend."

In recent summers, both Ocean City and Seaside Heights have closed their beaches at 8 p.m. to discourage teens from gathering there. Neither town was issued a violation notice from the state.

The Attorney General previously said beaches can be closed when there is a safety risk to the public, or environmental concerns.

NJ Threatens Ocean Grove With $25K In Fines For Keeping Beach Closed (2023)

Ocean Grove 'Singled Out' By State For Sunday Beach Closure: Church Says (2023)