Tiny Shore community can secede from its far-flung township, N.J. Supreme Court ruled

South Seaside Park, just 20 blocks long, can deannex from Berkeley Township, its governing body that is separated from the barrier island community by the Barnegat Bay and seven other municipalities, the N.J. Supreme Court ruled.

In ruling for South Seaside Park, the Supreme Court granted a wish that the community of about 500 residents has been seeking for 11 years. The neighborhood must now convince neighboring Seaside Park to accept it.

Secession in New Jersey, a state with 564 municipalities, has typically been a high bar. Residents of Seaview Harbor Marina, just outside Longport, were denied their application to leave Egg Harbor Township for the tiny island community.

In 2019, a judge denied Strathmere’s attempt to secede from Upper Township, ruling that the secession would harm the township.

In the Seaview-Longport case, a judge ruled, and an appellate court agreed, that Egg Harbor Township did not act unreasonably in denying Seaview Harbor Marina’s petition to leave the township, and that EHT would be harmed by the loss in tax revenue and prestige.

In the South Seaside Park case, the Supreme Court said the township’s planner did not act impartially in evaluating whether the community met the standard for seceding, thus denying the petitioners an independent evaluation, as required by law.

New Jersey law requires a three-prong test to challenge the denial of a deannex petition: that the ruling is arbitrary or unreasonable; that refusal to consent to the annexation would be harmful to the economic and social well-being of a majority of the residents of the affected land; and that the annexation will not cause a significant injury to the municipality in which the land is located.

To get from South Seaside Park to Berkeley Township requires a trip of about 15 miles, including crossing the bay and traveling through seven other towns: Seaside Park, Seaside Heights, Island Heights, Toms River, South Toms River, Beachwood, and Pine Beach, noted Justice Anne Patterson in the decision.

“South Seaside Park’s municipal facilities consist of a basketball court and White Sands Beach, a public beach with restrooms and a water fountain,” the justice wrote. “The Township provides emergency and police patrol services to South Seaside Park. South Seaside Park shares a border and a ZIP code with the municipality it seeks to join, Seaside Park.”

The Supreme Court ruled that the community would be hurt by not being allowed to secede, due to the distance of Berkeley Township, and that any financial harm to Berkeley Township would be offset by cost savings.

Berkeley Township argued that South Seaside represented 10% of its tax base.

Seaside Park Mayor John A. Peterson told the Asbury Park Press that Seaside Park would undertake a “thorough review process” before any decision is made about a potential merger between the borough and the adjacent South Seaside Park neighborhood.