LOWER TOWNSHIP — The Sunset Beach Sportsmen’s Club has lost its appeal of an eviction order from the state Department of Environmental Protection and now must vacate its longtime clubhouse.
The state Superior Court Appellate Division ruled Sept. 30 that the private club failed to prove the trial judge erred by awarding DEP summary judgment in the case May 7, 2024.
“From our review of the undisputed facts, we are convinced the court correctly considered the purpose of the Summary Dispossess Act,” the ruling states.
The dispute has been ongoing for decades. The state signed a charter for the club in 1957 and the land on which the clubhouse is located was given to the club by the owners of the former magnesite factory, Harbison-Walker Refractories.
Harbison-Walker owned the property from 1982 to 1999, when the DEP purchased the 1,160-acre Higbee Beach property to restore the environmentally damaged land.
The club contends a lease of the land for the clubhouse has been in effect since 1982 and it continued to pay property taxes. The club obtained a liquor license in the 1970s and began serving alcohol at the clubhouse, which following the sale was now on land that is part of a wildlife management area.
According to the ruling, the club attempted to reach a lease agreement with the DEP but “failed to agree to mutually acceptable terms and no new lease was ever signed.”
“Over the ensuing 20 years, the club continued operating with a new lease, selling food and alcohol pursuant to a liquor license despite DEP regulations prohibiting the consumption, possession of control of alcoholic beverages on property managed by DEP without its consent,” the ruling states.
Lower Township Council continued to renew the liquor license despite the effort by the DEP to evict the club from a small portion on the former magnesite factory property, having last done so in October 2024.
In 2021, David Golden, director of the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, stated the club’s building occupies land owned by the state within the boundaries of the Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area.
“The club does not have, nor has ever had, permission to sell and serve alcohol on this state-owned and -managed land,” he stated at that time. “The club is aware and has been reminded by New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife personnel of the regulatory restriction on the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages.”
Chris Gillin-Schwartz, attorney for the club, did not return a call seeking comment.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Cape May Star and Wave
