North Wildwood sues N.J. for $21M over beach dune fight and acknowledges impact of climate change

North Wildwood is suing New Jersey for $21 million, saying that’s how much it has spent fighting beach erosion the last decade because the state Department of Environmental Protection hasn’t been doing its job.

The suit, filed in Superior Court in Cape May County, attests to the acrimony that’s developed between the Shore community and the DEP over not only recent beach erosion but a beach replenishment project planned in 2012 that was never started.

The DEP sued North Wildwood in December, seeking to stop it from buttressing its dune system with what the state calls an illegal 400-foot steel bulkhead the Shore community plans to install after fall storms caused beach erosion. A hearing is set for Jan. 17.

» READ MORE: N.J. is taking North Wildwood to court over the town’s planned dune repairs

North Wildwood’s answer was a two-pronged legal action filed Wednesday, seeking not only the money for its long-term expenses but also a request to proceed with the bulkhead.

“They haven’t done their job,” Mayor Patrick Rosenello said of the DEP. “It’s cost us a lot of money. And we’re asking the courts now to intervene.”

Rosenello said the relationship between the town and DEP has “gone off the rails.”

Caryn Shinske, a spokesperson for the DEP, said Thursday that the agency did not comment on pending litigation.

For its part, North Wildwood acknowledged climate change as a factor in what it now faces.

“Like the rest of the world, North Wildwood is faced with unprecedented weather systems caused, in part, by climate change,” its court filing states. “Our sea levels are rising at alarming rates never seen before, and at the same time our communities are compelled to prepare for and defend against destructive weather systems that can wreak irreparable havoc on communities within a matter of minutes.”

Indeed, North Wildwood was faced with several nor’easters in 2022 that wreaked havoc on its beaches and led to the current standoff with the DEP.

Part of a temporary dune project the town undertook last year was destroyed by another storm weeks before Memorial Day. Then, the remnants of Hurricane Ian struck in October, causing cliffs to form on dunes that were eaten away. North Wildwood spent millions alone in 2022 trying to keep its beaches intact.

After Ian, North Wildwood asked the DEP for an emergency authorization to install a 400-foot steel bulkhead, reshape dunes between 13th and 16th Avenues, tear out some decking, and erect jersey barriers to keep people out. The state has authority to oversee the shoreline and plans for its protection.

The state approved the barriers and decking removal. But it said no to the new bulkhead at 15th Avenue and regrading of dunes because there was no immediate threat of “loss of life or property” and because the new infrastructure could make erosion worse.

Finding themselves in what they said was a bind, North Wildwood officials defied the DEP and worked on the dunes, saying they had become a safety hazard, and ordered the bulkhead anyway. That led to a back-and-forth between DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette and Rosenello.

Having had enough of what it said was continued defiance, the DEP sued seeking to stop installation of the bulkhead.

Rosenello said the bulkhead has arrived, and while the town has not installed it, it will do so if needed after another storm.

“We are going to give the NJDEP their wish and let a hole form in the dune before we start installing,” Rosenello said.

Rosenello said the second prong of North Wildwood’s filing this week seeking $21 million stems from a promised dune replenishment by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and DEP after Superstorm Sandy in 2012 that still hasn’t happened.

North Wildwood is on a barrier island known as Five Mile Beach, which contains North Wildwood, Wildwood, West Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and Diamond Beach (part of Lower Township).

The year after Sandy struck on Oct. 29, 2012, the state and U.S. Army Corps mapped out a complex plan to address erosion on the island from Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet. In language updated last year, the Army Corps noted that while North Wildwood was once the largest beach in the state, it has suffered “significant erosion of its berm and dune” and gets flooded repeatedly.

However, there still is no real movement on the plan because the DEP has been unable to get all the towns involved to sign off on it.