Part of Ocean Grove's cross-shaped pier is ready to reopen

OCEAN GROVE - The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association says a portion of the rebuilt ocean pier will be open this summer, but a specific opening date has yet to be determined.

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association rebuilt the pier, destroyed during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, in the shape of a cross. The 500-foot pier cost $1.3 million, was privately funded, and it opened last April. But eight months after opening to much fanfare and controversy, the cross-shaped pier was closed after engineers found a loose piling.

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association owns most of the land in the unincorporated community located within Neptune Township and is rooted in its Methodist heritage. The group's goal is to provide opportunities for spiritual birth, growth and renewal through worship, educational, cultural and recreational programs for people of all ages in a Christian seaside setting, according to the group's mission statement.

According to a letter dated April 24 from the McLaren Engineering Group, the firm performed an assessment of the pier on Feb. 15, which has been closed since December 2023.

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A full copy of the letter can be seen at the end of this story.

McLaren requested documentation from the original design and construction phases of the project that need to be reviewed prior to determining the overall safety of the entire pier and whether it can be fully reopened. According to the April letter they had yet to receive those documents, and until they receive them and are afforded the time to review them, McLaren recommends that the offshore portion of the Pier remain closed.

But during their assessment, McLaren engineers noted that the upland portion of the pier, which extends approximately 243 feet from the offshore extent of the boardwalk, uses previously existing piles to support the pier deck.

"Because these inshore piles have a lower reveal height and are generally not exposed to normal wave action, it is our professional opinion that this portion of the pier may be reopened without further investigation, provided necessary barriers and partitions are placed for public safety," the letter states.

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Members of the nonprofit activist group Neptune United have been among the most vocal residents who expressed concerns about the pier prior to its opening because of the religious nature of the cross shape.

During construction, which began in September 2022, Ocean Grove was fined by the state Department of Environmental Protection because an inspection found sand moving activities were occurring near the dunes south of the pier. A sand stockpile was seen adjacent to the eastern side of the southern-most dune. During the DEP investigation, sand was removed from the stockpile with an excavator and relocated to the east.

The Camp Meeting Association has drawn criticism over the last year for a few reasons, including a fight over beach access that drew the attention of the state Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP ordered the Camp Meeting Association last year to open access to the beach from the boardwalk on Sunday mornings in the summer. The association refused and is seeking to overturn the order.

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The Camp Meeting Association's standoff with the state over its beach-access policy is a fight that has divided the town, the latest battle in a long history that has seen the Methodist group that owns the land clash with secular state government as it seeks to hang on to what it says is its mission: "build and maintain a beautiful seaside community to serve as a place for meditation, reflection and renewal."

Earlier this year, Neptune United released a report arguing properties owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association are generally assessed at a lower value for property taxes compared with similar properties owned by other taxpayers.

The group, which describes its mission as advocating for parity and equity for all of Neptune Township, which includes Ocean Grove, and has frequently battled the Camp Meeting Association, has spent the last several months reviewing eight years’ worth of publicly available property assessment data, all of which is available at Monmouth County’s Office of Record Management.

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McLaren Letter by Dennis Carmody on Scribd

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. @CharlesDayeAPP Contact him: [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ocean Grove cross-shaped pier can party reopen summer 2024