{"id":1638,"date":"2016-04-15T01:58:02","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T05:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=1638"},"modified":"2016-04-15T12:50:32","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T16:50:32","slug":"surf-turf-war-seaside-park-asked-to-ban-surf-camps-after-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2016\/04\/surf-turf-war-seaside-park-asked-to-ban-surf-camps-after-complaints\/","title":{"rendered":"Surf Turf War? Seaside Park Asked to Ban Surf Camps After Complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Surfing<\/a>

Surfing in New Jersey. (Photo: Todd Binger\/Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

Surfers in Seaside Park have had enough of newbies crowding the waves \u2013 and they\u2019ve gotten the ear of a borough councilman who argued Thursday night for a denial of permission for surf instructors to hold camps on the town\u2019s beaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were complaints that they\u2019re overcrowding the breaks,\u201d Seaside Park Councilman\u00a0Frank \u201cFritz\u201d McHugh, said at a work meeting. \u201cThese surf camps are now creating a situation where, again, it is becoming hazardous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The discussion came after the borough\u2019s governing body began discussing permitting the\u00a0Hammer Surf School to\u00a0use of 4th Avenue ocean beach for lessons this summer. The school is run by Sam Hammer, a professional surfer who is from Lavallette.<\/p>\n

The surf camp asked to operate from June 20 through Sept. 3 during normal beach hours. In exchange, the camp pays the borough $3,500.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re allowing a commercial enterprise to come down on our beach and, really, take over a whole block of beach all summer long,\u201d\u00a0McHugh continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see the conflict,\u201d said Mayor\u00a0Robert W. Matthies. \u201cIt seems to me, the way that this is now, you\u2019re just giving him this beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials said, in all, four surf camps operate in the town. Surfing is allowed in areas that are not covered by a lifeguard, where normal swimming is permitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nothing against Sammy Hammer and his surf school. I think it\u2019s wonderful,\u201d said Councilwoman Gail Coleman. \u201cBut if we\u2019re letting borough property be used by a for-profit business, what\u2019s the difference between this application and my application to, let\u2019s say, to set up an ice cream stand on 4th Avenue. Or if I want to set up and sell beaded necklaces on the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer was provided by Borough Attorney\u00a0Steven A. Zabarsky, who said there is a difference between actively selling retail items on the beach and provided surf lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can stop someone from buying a beach badge and saying, \u2018hey, come on, I\u2019ll teach you how to surf for $50,'\u201d said Zabarsky. \u201cThere\u2019s no real way to police that. You don\u2019t even have to know about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Essentially, the attorney implied, someone who wanted to offer surf lessons could purchase beach badges, bring his clients to the beach and teach them how to surf without ever asking for permission \u2013 or paying the $3,500 fee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re crowding the lineup and these guys are acting like it\u2019s a concession,\u201d McHugh argued.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Councilwoman\u00a0Nancy Koury suggested the matter be brought to the borough\u2019s beach captain, who would be asked to submit a report before June, when the surf camps would begin. The council agreed to table the matter until the beach captain\u2019s report was revealed.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surfers in Seaside Park have had enough of newbies crowding the waves \u2013 and they\u2019ve gotten the ear of a borough councilman who argued Thursday night for a denial of permission for surf instructors to hold camps on the town\u2019s beaches. \u201cThere were complaints that they\u2019re overcrowding the breaks,\u201d Seaside Park Councilman\u00a0Frank \u201cFritz\u201d McHugh, said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,6,5],"tags":[32,460],"class_list":["post-1638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-seaside-government","category-seaside-heights","tag-seaside-park-nj-news","tag-surfing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/3380184346_c052c5739c_o.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-qq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}