Open Space
In legal papers filed Aug. 12 in the appellate division of Superior Court in Mercer County, the littoral society and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation claim the deal violates state land-preservation law.
The 67 acres offered in exchange for the beach are in Toms River, nine miles west of the ocean, and are “inexpensive, undevelopable and inaccessible wetlands” valued at about $280,000, according to a statement issued by the groups. The groups also criticized the inclusion of the carousel, a boardwalk staple since 1932 that’s valued at $2 million, saying that “nostalgic ‘things”’ can’t be substituted for a public resource.
One boardwalk visitor said the swap was worth it. Bill Boytim, a 77-year-old AT&T Inc. retiree from Toms River, recalled putting his two girls on the carousel “when they were babies,” he said in an interview on the boardwalk. Future families should have that experience, he said.
“When they heard that the horses were going to be sold off individually, they were crying,” Boytim said of his daughters, now in their 40s.
Others said their own memories were more tied to the oceanfront. DeRosa, the dispatcher from New York, was on a weeklong vacation with his girlfriend, Lisa DeRienzo, a 32-year-old teacher and owner of a nanny-referral service, comparing long-ago family holidays in Seaside. After Sandy, they said, New Jersey should hold on to whatever beach is left.
“You can’t make any more,” DeRienzo said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.