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Marina Owners Say Public Access Will Kill Their Businesses
By Bill McLaughlin
A new set of regulations designed to provide public access to New Jersey waterways has one segment of the tourism industry up in arms.
Owners of marinas and boat docks say regulations first adopted a year ago and amended last month by NJ DEP would sink many businesses and harm the trade forever.
The intent of the new rules is a plus for the average citizen who can't afford a big boat or a house on the beach, but as now written public access means not having gates on properties, allowing non-patrons to use marina facilities all day, all year.
At a monthly social held by the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey last Thursday at the Captain's Inn in Lacey, marina owners discussed having their voices heard in Tren- ton. They agreed recent amendments to the regulations were a step in the right direction but more relief is needed.
Tom Wright, co-owner with Liz Barto of Cedar Creek Marina on Harbor Inn Road in Bayville, has been involved in the boating industry since he was 8.
"Forty-six years," he said one recent winter afternoon, "I used to hang out with my grandfather on this dock. At the time, Perry Grant owned it. This is one of the oldest marinas in Ocean County."
When he was old enough, Wright worked here as the Paul and later the Connolly families owned the business.
"I bought a forklift and used to work lifting boats here and at Up the Creek next door," he said.
In 1990, Wright and Barto bought the business and later the land beneath it. Through the years, he and other mariners have been rankled by more regulations, more exacting rules to the point where he said these are practically state-run businesses.
"Our customers' contracts say 'Abide by our rules' and they do, but now anybody off the street can come in here at all hours and we can't stop them. That's why so many marinas are turning into condos," he fumed.
Wright said public access means tearing down the gates to the business, which in many cases are homesteads for the owners. Imagine, he said, having people walking around your home at all hours and not being able to question their motives.
"Insurance is going up," Wright said. "Marina insurance, boat insurance - both are going to skyrocket because vandalism will go up. If they want to lose the marina industry and boating industry, this is the way to go."
Wright said one of the edict's mandates originally was to have a 10-foot wide walkway along the waterfront. That was later shortened to six feet wide. Another was that marinas provide ample parking at any time of day in any season. A third was providing heated bathrooms open 365 days a year.
"Marinas with security fences and gates would have to leave them wide open," Wright said. "That doesn't apply to Island Beach State Park or Berkeley Island County Park, of course. It's just the privately owned marinas."
Both parks close at dusk even at the heart of the summer tourist season and that is unlikely to change. Since the gates shut when they do, anyone on the wrong side is considered an outlaw. That won't be the case here.
"Costs are going to snowball," said Tom Leming, owner of the family-named marina in Waretown. "Our costs for insurance, insurance claims, attorneys fees, re-writing deeds, they're all costs passed on to the customer - and he's already facing increased fuel costs and his boat insurance."
Leming said his teenage children are eager to get into the business, but he wondered if the business will be there when they're ready.
"Our customers are not aware of it yet," he said. "I can't wait for the feedback we'll get when they realize the public will be wandering around 24 hours a day."
Leming and others said the DEP has done valuable work in regulating storm water runoff and other conservation initiatives, but they're off-base here. "The Marine Trades Association took these changes very seriously and we're looking to see what can be done to lessen the impact," Leming said.
The regulations provide a Catch-22 for marina owners, Wright said, because any time you need to make even minor changes to the property, DEP approval is required. Wright said he was tempted by a one-time offer of $20,000 to simply sign his name to a document that would keep the site a marina in perpetuity. But where would he go when it was time to sell the business? Who would try to make a go of a business if he couldn't make it work?
He has no answers.
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