PRESS RELEASE
NORTH WILDWOOD - The City of North Wildwood has filed a Verified Complaint against the Borough of Wildwood Crest with the Superior Court of New Jersey - Chancery Division.
In the filed complaint, North Wildwood is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to protect the dynamic coastal environment of the Wildwoods Island, a mission rooted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project.
On March 18, 2025, the City of North Wildwood participated in a virtual hearing in front of Judge M. Susan Shepard. Representatives from Wildwood Crest, along with Wildwood, Lower Township and the NJDEP also participated. During the hearing, the court issued temporary restraints enjoining Wildwood Crest from withdrawing pending further briefing to be submitted by the parties to the court and a court hearing to be conducted at a later date.
In June 2024, the NJDOT constructed a dredge project to place 750,000 cubic yards of sand onto the city's inlet and front beaches. This project was intended to be an interim solution to address shore protection in the city until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the NJDEP are able to complete a project to address long-term shore protection across the entire 5-mile island.
To date, since the dredging, the North Wildwood beaches are in the best condition for this time of year in over a decade.
Despite the current beach conditions, the island coastline remains at risk of potential deadly coastal storms. The Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet Project is a fifty (50) year commitment from the federal and state government to provide shoreline stabilization and storm damage reduction.
In recent weeks, the Borough of Wildwood Crest has made public statements about potentially withdrawing their commitment to the Project, despite signing off on the State Aid Agreement for the Project on March 1, 2022. While the Borough has not formally withdrawn at this time, their public comments have placed the vital commitment of the federal and state governments at risk of being canceled.
The commitments from the federal and state government will be beneficial to protect not only North Wildwood, but the entire island as the Project aims to stabilize the shoreline. Along the New Jersey coastline, the Wildwoods are the only beaches in the state that have yet to benefit from the commitment to a resilience project post-Hurricane Sandy.
The filed Verified Complaint intends to preserve the pledged commitment for the Wildwoods.
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