Matthews v. Bay Head Improvement Association

95 N.J. 306, 471 A.2d 355 (1984)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The Borough of Bay Head was a narrow strip of land located on the Atlantic Ocean. There were seventy-six separate parcels of land that bordered the beach, owned by private individuals (D) and the Bay Head Improvement Association (D1), which owned 6 of them. D1 was founded in 1910 and became a non-profit corporation in 1932 with its object to promote the best interests of the Borough. Nine streets in the Borough, which are perpendicular to the beach, end at the dry sand. D1 also owns the land at the ends of seven of these streets to the mean high water line, the beginning of the wet sand area or foreshore. D1 also owns the fee in six shorefront properties, three of which are contiguous and have a frontage aggregating 310 feet. Many private beachfront owners have executed and delivered to D1 leases of their upper dry sand area with the leases being revocable by either party on 30 days notice. Some owners do not allow D1 to use their beaches. D1 monitors the beach strictly, and only allows Association members to use the beach during peak hours in the summer. D1 hires about 40 employees who serve as lifeguards, beach police, and beach cleaners during the June to Labor Day period. Membership is generally limited to residents of Bay Head. Except for fisherman, who were permitted to walk through the upper dry sand area, only association members were permitted to use the beach between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. during the summer. The public was allowed to use the beach from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. the next morning. There were no restrictions between Labor Day to mid-June. The public can access to the foreshore by coming from the Borough of Point Pleasant Beach on the north or from the Borough of Mantoloking on the south. Matthews (P), the Public Advocate, representing the Borough of Point Pleasant brought suit on behalf of the nonmembers who were not allowed to use the beach under the theory that D1 and D denied the general public its right of access to public trust lands along the beaches and its incidental right to use private property along the ocean in the exercise of the public trust doctrine. D got a summary judgment and P appealed.