Seaside Park Votes to Annex South Seaside Park, Ending Half-Century of Debate

The oceanfront in Seaside Park, Aug. 2025. (Photo: Shorebeat)

In what many framed as an answer to a question that has simmered behind the scenes for more than a half-century, the two communities that represent the southern portion of Ocean County’s northern barrier island are no longer neighbors – but a single town.

The Seaside Park borough council voted 6-0 – six affirmative votes and one abstention – on Monday night to annex the South Seaside Park portion of Berkeley Township. The 158 acres that make up South Seaside Park, isolated by more than a half-hour drive, a bridge and the entirety of Barnegat Bay, from its mainland government, will be subsumed into Seaside Park borough. The vote came after a similar effort ended in a denial of annexation nearly five decades ago, leaving an open question as to whether an opportunity would ever again arise for the communities to become one. Residents of South Seaside Park began a renewed quest over a decade ago to break away from Berkeley Township, battling the township at 38 planning board meetings and ultimately bringing the matter all the way to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which ruled the neighborhood met all of the qualifications necessary to “de-annex” themselves from the mainland township.

The question then turned to the stumbling block left over from five decades earlier. South Seaside Park could “de-annex” from Berkeley Township, but would have to convince Seaside Park to “annex” them into the borough. A formal petition was certified and submitted to Seaside Park over the summer, shortly after the Supreme Court ruling was published, which culminated in Monday’s vote.

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Seaside Park held numerous hearing on the matter, and opened its council meeting to residents who could not attend the meeting in person via a stream through the Zoom app. The majority of public comments leaned toward supporting the annexation, while several asked for the council to table the matter and obtain more information. The issue with tabling the matter, officials said, was the fact that there was simply no more information to be gleaned from waiting. While annexations are relatively common in many other states, such as Florida, they are exceedingly rare in New Jersey. As a result, the statute governing annexation is more open-ended than in other parts of the country, experts have explained. When a portion of an existing town in annexed by another, a three-person committee from both towns must agree on how the receiving municipality would square its “indebtedness” with the municipality that has presumably bonded for capital projects covering the area being annexed. If no agreement is met within 60 days, the matter is heard by a court, who appoints a special master to make a determination.

Route 35 South in South Seaside Park. (Credit: Monmouth-Ocean MLS)

Taking more time to debate the prospect of annexation would never generate any solid answers to the question of initial costs, officials determined. Mayor John Peterson, himself a retired Superior Court judge, sought guidance from legal counsel as to whether his town could seek an advisory opinion from a sitting judge on how the process might play out. The state statute governing annexation, however, does not provide for such an option.

“New Jersey courts will not render an advisory opinion or provide prospective relief,” said Peterson. “We have digested and reviewed that fact, and that goes to many of the questions people had. We cannot go to the court.”

Some residents said additional studies should be conducted, especially after a mathematical error on the part of a consulting group overstated tax savings residents of both the borough and South Seaside Park, however the error was corrected in a matter of a few days, and the long-term data would not change. The sole variable – subsuming debt from Berkeley Township related to existing bonds – would remain an open question either way. No future report would provide definitive answers to those questions, officials said, and even if figures in the consultant’s report erred, the amount by which they could be incorrect would likely still leave taxpayers in a position to benefit from an increased ratable base, a more diverse housing stock, more permanent residents, and the opportunity to expand the town’s business community.

“We can be off by quite a bit before it turns into a negative scenario,” said Councilwoman Gina Condos. “We’re going to have to build out a very strong implementation strategy and rely upon our department heads, who are experts, and our planning board, who are experts.”

The council ultimately voted 6-0 to adopt an ordinance on final reading to annex the territory that the Supreme Court recognized as South Seaside Park in its ruling last summer, totaling about 158 acres of land. Councilman Joe Toth abstained because he has a professional relationship with Berkeley Township, though he did so by choice. The township’s special attorney for annexation, Jean Cipriani, said there were no conflicts of interest among any of the members of council that would obligate them to abstain.

Following the annexation vote, which drew applause from many people seated in the council chambers above the Seaside Park Police Department headquarters building, the governing body went on to adopt a number of zoning ordinance that would govern the newly-annexed land on “day one.” South Seaside Park immediately becomes part of Seaside Park as soon as the ordinance’s passage is published, meaning there must be laws governing zoning, building requirements and similar matters. Seaside Park chose to largely adopt Berkeley Township’s existing zones, almost word for word, for South Seaside Park, and will customize them and adopt a new master plan for the now-expanded town in the near future.

Peterson specifically addressed concern over Midway Beach, a unique community of traditional Jersey Shore bungalows that sits beside the Atlantic Ocean in South Seaside Park. Some had been worried that Seaside Park would attempt to take the neighborhood’s privately-owned beach, or allow residents to build large houses there, upsetting its character. Peterson said both he and the borough’s planning board recognized that the majority of residents want to preserve there community as it is, and its new municipal government has no plans to force changes upon it.

A ‘Welcome to Berkeley Township’ sign in South Seaside Park. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Following the adoption of zoning ordinances, Seaside Park appointed its three-person committee to negotiate on behalf of the borough during the 60-day period for the two towns to reach an agreement on the assumption of debt. The committee will consist of Peterson, Township Attorney Steven Zabarsky, and an attorney from the firm that handles Seaside Park’s bonding matters. Some officials from Berkeley Township also attended the meeting, though their negotiating committee’s slate was not mentioned publicly.

Peterson said he looked for to “remaining friends, and working together” with Berkeley Township, recognizing friends and colleagues who had served in government there. State Sen. Carmen Amato, the former Berkeley Township mayor, was on hand, as well as several current officials who pledged cooperation on civic events and organizations, and honoring veterans of the community.

Cipriani said, as a practical matter, Seaside Park would likely ask the state to amend its annual budget – which, coincidentally, was introduced during regular business at the same meeting – and instructed borough officials on how to arrange for an emergency contract for private trash collection while the existing Public Works department expands. Similar practical matters have already been contemplated, she said, including cooperation with the Ocean County tax board to process property tax payments by residents when they are due.

Peterson had one word for his new constituents when all was said and done: “Welcome.”