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By Wayne Parry

The Associated Press

NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. 鈥� A New Jersey resort community whose residents have lived in fear of being wiped out by the next big storm will end a decade-long battle with the state over the condition of its beaches and protective sand dunes that involved $42 million worth of fines and litigation.

The North Wildwood City Council voted to accept a settlement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under which the state will cancel $12 million worth of fines it has levied against the city for conducting unauthorized and potentially harmful beach repair work.

The city will drop its lawsuit against the state seeking reimbursement for $30 million worth of sand it had trucked in and dumped on its ever-eroding beaches, which are popular among Philadelphia-area tourists.

鈥淚t鈥檚 good to put this behind us and move forward,鈥� said Mayor Patrick Rosenello, a Republican whose city tenaciously fought the state, insisting that it receive the same sort of beach replenishment project that has taken place on virtually all other parts of the Jersey Shore.

鈥淎ll we wanted was to be treated the same as everyone else,鈥� he said.

Although North Wildwood has been聽prone to severe erosion聽that recently whittled the protective sand dunes down to the height of Rosenello鈥檚 knees, the city has not yet gotten a full beach replenishment project from the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in part because of funding delays and difficulty in obtaining easements from private property owners.

The state Department of Transportation performed an聽interim replenishment project聽last summer after Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, called the erosion in North Wildwood 鈥渟hocking.鈥� Rosenello said that work has held up well in the ensuing months.

The settlement will be subject to a 30-day public comment period before taking effect next year.

The DEP thanked Rosenello and North Wildwood 鈥渇or their collaboration鈥� and help in designing shore protection measures to be included in the project.

鈥淭he resolution of pre-existing compliance matters will enable DEP to advance both the North Wildwood sea wall and Five Mile Island engineered beach and dune projects, which we expect to begin construction in 2025,鈥� spokesman Larry Hajna said.

Stephen Rochette, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, said an exact start date for the project has not yet been set. One reason is that the state is still acquiring properties.

In addition to ending the litigation, North Wildwood will contribute $1 million to the eventual cost of the federal beach replenishment project once it arrives in the city and will pay $700,000 into a state water pollution control fund, the mayor said.

On several occasions, North Wildwood carried out emergency repairs, including construction of a bulkhead without approval from the state. Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey鈥檚 environment protection commissioner, warned the town in 2023 that unauthorized work could have more serious consequences if it continues, including potential loss of future shore protection funding.