{"id":4009,"date":"2017-05-12T00:12:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T04:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=4009"},"modified":"2017-05-12T01:35:16","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T05:35:16","slug":"as-residential-dock-lengths-increase-shore-town-questions-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2017\/05\/as-residential-dock-lengths-increase-shore-town-questions-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"As Residential Dock Lengths Increase, Shore Town Questions Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A boat dock extends out into Barnegat Bay. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

The proliferation of residential docks growing longer and longer have some Shore towns concerned that they could pose a hazard to boats in Barnegat Bay.<\/p>\n

The longer docks aren\u2019t cases of neighborly ego \u2013 keeping up with the Jonses on the water \u2013 but rather the result of a state law that requires docks to end at a depth no less than four feet. The issue in Lavallette, especially in the area near West Point Island, is that four feet is not reached, in some cases, for hundreds of feet. The town just approved two which drew scrutiny from officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of these docks is 340 feet out, and the other one is 315 [feet],\u201d said Councilwoman Joanne Filippone. \u201cThat\u2019s seven properties\u2019 woth of 50-by-100 lots.\u201d<\/p>\n

The purpose of the law, officials say, is to protect sea grass, which grows in the bay\u2019s shallow waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoastal rules do require that a minimum water depth of four feet at mean low water must be present in the area where the boats will be moored in order to reduce impacts to\u00a0[submerged aquatic vegetation,\u201d said Bob Considine, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.<\/p>\n

The law also protects the safety of boaters, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coastal rules for navigation channels require that proposed docks not cause a hazard to navigation and discourage structures within 50 feet of a navigation channel,\u201d said Considine. \u201cThe dock in question meets the criteria of both rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A boat dock extends out into Barnegat Bay. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Though Lavallette\u2019s docks are within the law, officials say it adds to the cost of building a home, and could pose a hazard to boats that are not in the navigation channel. The borough attorney is currently looking into whether the planning board can order lights to be placed at the end of docks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a terrible cost to the homeowner, but if you want a boat, you have to do it, and that\u2019s what the DEP\u2019s saying,\u201d said Filippone.<\/p>\n

The borough council is planning to write a letter to the DEP requesting the policy be changed.<\/p>\n

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

The proliferation of residential docks growing longer and longer have some Shore towns concerned that they could pose a hazard to boats in Barnegat Bay. The longer docks aren\u2019t cases of neighborly ego \u2013 keeping up with the Jonses on the water \u2013 but rather the result of a state law that requires docks to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4010,"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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16,18,2],"tags":[1115,1117,29,1116],"class_list":["post-4009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boating-fishing","category-featured","category-lavallette","tag-boat-dock","tag-dock-length","tag-lavallette-nj-news","tag-residential-dock"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_3203.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-12F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009","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=4009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}