When I worked in my first business, a booming fashion design and manufacturing firm based out of NYC and NJ, I would do poetry and short story readings and send my work out to be published. This was the price I paid - writing part time - in order to satisfy another one of my creative and financial goals. But it was worth it - really worth it - since my writing was published (stress free) and I also got to live out one of my dreams - in Mantoloking.
During that time, all the hard work and endless hours of stress resulted in a decade of prosperity for myself, my former husband, my partners and my family. As many other businesses and marriages, none of this lasted forever. But during our time “on top”, I decided to buy my dream house, on the ocean, in Mantoloking.
It was beyond my wildest dreams - to live on the ocean all summer, most weekends, and during vacations, and to be on my own beach, writing and working. My house was stunning: built over two lots, it was a combination of a vintage beach house mixed seamlessly with a modern, contemporary style, complete with soaring high ceilings, a gigantic wooden deck, and bedrooms built outwards towards the sea, like giant hulls of a wodden ship. And, for most of these years, it was a very bustling, happy home.
Now, in so many ways, it is gone. After I sold it, the new buyers beat Sandy to the punch (8 years in): demolished it and built a new house - one I would have never fallen in love with, but still on that charming large beach.
Hurricane Sandy destroyed or severely damaged this home along with the other homes in this lovely town set on the bay and the ocean. In total, all of the 521 homes were damaged or totally destroyed. Now, Mantoloking faces tough decisions - and homeowners are not all in agreement as to what to do with their properies.
Eminent domain, described succinctly by Columbia University, “is the power of the state to seize private property without the owner's consent. Historically, the most common uses of property taken by eminent domain are public facilities, highways, and railroads.”
Mantoloking is looking to use eminent domain to solve their problem - but again, this is a tricky issue, which places some property owners’ rights against that of the borough - and the safety of the beach, a home to many and a natural mile-plus sandy refuge to all.
This borough sits between the ocean and the bay, and due to the severe damage of the hurricane, it was ripped in half, adding in another inlet of water - where route 35 used to be pre-Sandy. The work to fix this main avenue has been done, but if there is another storm and no work is done to build up the beaches, experts believe the entire borough will once again be split by water. One idea by the borough is to install fabric geotubes, which are created by filling tubes with sand, in order to layer in a stronger foundation on the beaches.
The borough of Mantoloking approved moving ahead with condemning the homes of some of these owners in town, since they have not agreed to plans to replenish the severely damaged beach. This borough plans to use their powers of eminent domain, a highly controversial plan used by towns in the United States which effectively takes away a property owner’s rights and offers them money - according to valuations that are also highly controversial.
Currently, there are 128 oceanfront home owners in Mantoloking. 121 of these homeowners have agreed to work with the borough, and 7 have not agreed. And, out of these 121 homeowners who have agreed with the borough, some have still not officially signed their agreements.
The borough is looking for easements from the homeowners, and have set a deadline of this Friday, April 26. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not work on these damaged beaches - which also offer a buffer from storms to the rest of the borough when their sand dunes are intact.
On Tuesday night, Mantoloking Council President Steve Gillingham said in public that the hold-outs (5-6) are "selfish and short-sighted". Now, armed with a legal firm, Paul V. Fernicola, this seaside council vows to publish the names of these hold-outs.
Though homeowners surely have rights, with the fate of the entire beachline in jeapordy, this is becoming a heated battle between the council and mayor, the majority of the property owners in the borough, and a small group of beach front homeowners who, for some reason, do not want their property rebuilt.
To me, this is a case where the good of the many must outweigth the decisions of a few.
Though I owned my beach - to the high water mark - I did not keep it private and shared it with anyone who wanted to plop down their blankets or chairs there. The beach, to me, is for everyone and not just the well-off who own ocean front property (though in New Jersey I know the law disagrees.)
After all, I never really owned that beach. Instead, I was it’s temporary caretaker. And, like a parent, I always believed it was my duty to protect the natural beauty of this magical spot, while also sharing with my neighbors and those who did not have this chance to own a piece of heaven.
This stretch of ocean front land in Mantoloking, New Jersey must be safeguarded, and shoring up this shore seems to be the only way to protect the entire town and strip of land that sits, so precipitously betwen the bay and the ocean.
Sometimes it is indeed good to let go - as I can tell you - though of course, those memories of sunlit and snowfall days on the ocean still linger with me and bring a smile to my face, my heart, and my life.
But it - like love itself - was never truly mine to own.
Eminent domain, in this case, is the right move for this distressed borough.
