NJDEP Sues North Wildwood for Doing NJDEP’S Job

Superior Court Judge Rejects Their Injunction Request

North Wildwood, NJ – On December 6, 2022, without any prior warning, the City was informed that the NJDEP had filed suit against us, seeking to prevent the City from constructing a protective bulkhead immediately landward of the failing 15th St. dune so as to protect property and lives in our community. The NJDEP asked the Superior Court to impose a temporary injunction that would have prohibited the City from protecting itself right as we head into the winter storm season.

While I wish I could say that DEP’s actions surprised me, they unfortunately do not. The NJDEP has completely failed in one of its primary duties as protector of the New Jersey Shore here in North Wildwood. The Department has literally sat by and done nothing for years as a beach front community has lost property to the Ocean. We welcomed the opportunity to take this issue out of the hands of the DEP and present facts in front of a judge. We are elated that an unbiased judge saw right through the smoke screen that the NJDEP was trying to create to cover their failings and rejected their request for an injunction against North Wildwood. The fact that the DEP has now officially spent more time and energy on lawyers trying to stop shore protection in North Wildwood, then they ever have on building shore protection for the City, is proof alone of the of incompetence of this agency. I am calling on Governor Murphy to step in and exercise his authority as Governor to rein in this out-of-control agency.

The City will make the appropriate responses and arguments in due time in court. In the meantime, since NJDEP has decided to take this matter to court, North Wildwood is going to exercise every legal right at our disposal to compel the NJDEP to do its job. We will also continue to take whatever actions necessary to protect property and lives in our community. The City of North Wildwood has been asking for the State’s assistance in protecting its community for more than 10 years now, to no avail. This must stop, and a solution must be found. Written by Mayor Patrick Rosenello