North Wildwood might ban tents and cabanas on its beach, or what’s left of it

In North Wildwood, every square inch of sand matters, and that’s why the city says it is considering banning tents, cabanas, and oversize umbrellas on its shrinking beaches.

North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said residents and tourists can blame the state’s Department of Environmental Protection for that.

“The beach situation has deteriorated pretty dramatically in the last year,” Rosenello said. “We are completely dependent on the NJDEP. This restriction is a direct result of NJDEP not doing the beach replenishment for 10 years.”

The city has been steadily losing sand to erosion and storms in recent years, and some beaches have all but disappeared during high tide. Erosion and storms will always affect the Jersey Shore’s barrier islands, but those issues have been addressed, for years, by dredging sand offshore and pumping it back onto the beaches.

In North Wildwood, the beach replenishment issue has grown into a protracted war of words, along with some fines, between the city and the state. North Wildwood filed a civil suit against the state last year for the $21 million it claims it spent trucking sand in from neighboring Wildwood while it waited for state and federal programs to get started.

North Wildwood even put up small signs affixed to street signs, urging residents and visitors to implore Gov. Phil Murphy for help.

The state has accused North Wildwood of illegally reshaping dunes and building protective bulkheads. The NJDEP believes those measures would actually make erosion worse.

“You are placing the public safety, environment, and the City’s access to continued financial support for shore protection at risk,” NJDEP commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette wrote to the city in July.

A spokesman for the NJDEP referred comments to the governor’s office. A spokeswoman for Murphy said the governor “will continue to work collaboratively to identify a solution to mitigate erosion in North Wildwood.”

Rosenello said North Wildwood’s proposed ordinance would still allow traditional, single-pole beach umbrellas. Tents, cabanas, and other temporary shade structures could be allowed back if and when beach replenishment occurs. He said North Wildwood’s proposed ordinance was copied from similar language in Rehoboth Beach, Del., which is also dealing with shrinking beaches.

There’s a Facebook group dedicated to North Wildwood’s “coastal processes” that explores the history and width of its beaches along with some theorizing about how they got so bad, what may be causing the erosion, and what could be done about it. Some suggest that Hereford Inlet, along the city’s northernmost shore, is the main factor with its constantly shifting channels, islands, and sandbars pulling sand from the beaches.

Others have wondered whether massive rock jetties could protect the beaches.

Rosenello said beach erosion will always plague the whole Jersey Shore coastline and it will always require human intervention — mostly dredging — to address the problem.

“Unfortunately, it’s looking like North Wildwood is a case study for when it doesn’t happen,” he said.

North Wildwood’s last beach replenishment, Rosenello said, came in 2013 when the Federal Emergency Management Agency did an emergency dredging.