New Jersey governor signs law protecting public beach access

BARNEGAT LIGHT, N.J. — New Jersey’s governor signed a law Friday intended to protect the public’s right to reach the beach in a state where some shore towns have employed a wide variety of tactics to discourage outsiders from sitting on or even walking across their sand.

But not everyone is convinced the new law will actually change that.

Democrat Phil Murphy signed the bill, which codifies in law the state’s public trust doctrine — meaning that waterways including the ocean, bays and rivers are common property held in trust by the state for the use of all people. The public trust concept dates back to the Roman Empire.

It has been at the heart of decades of battles between access advocates, government and private property owners in a state where demand for access to the water remains high, but so do physical and legal obstacles.

Read more: https://www.phillytrib.com/news/state_and_region/n-j-governor-signs-law-protecting-public-beach-access/article_73358a4a-e186-58ab-a70e-3cf374b2819a.html