A decadelong legal standoff over beach reconstruction in North Wildwood, New Jersey, ended Tuesday after city officials agreed to the terms of a proposed out-of-court agreement with state environmental regulators.
The deal — which will undergo a 30-day review — would allow work to begin next month at one of the state’s most severely eroded public beaches.
Under the agreement, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection would drop $12 million in fines it had levied against the city for unpermitted beach restoration work, and North Wildwood would withdraw a legal complaint seeking $30 million in compensation from the state for what city officials called essential work to save their beaches.
The South Jersey city of 3,600 people is among the several seashore towns on “Five Mile Island,” about 80 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Like hundreds of other Atlantic Coast communities, the city is struggling with rising seas and pounding storms.
