North Wildwood bans tents, cabanas from beaches. But Mayor says it may not be permanent

North Wildwood has banned tents, canopies, and beach cabanas, though beachgoers can still create their chair and towel fortresses, moated by sandcastles and ocean water.

On Tuesday, North Wildwood passed an ordinance banning all types of sun shaders except for umbrellas, as long as they’re under 7 feet, 6 inches tall and 8 feet wide. The Jersey Shore town, which has long dealt with beach erosion without state replenishment, has very limited dry beach areas left.

“We’ve gotten to the point where our dry beach areas currently are very limited,” said North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello. “We are enacting this ban to provide the most usable amount beach space for the most number of people, and these tents and cabanas tend to take up significantly more room than your single pole umbrella, which is what we’re permitting.”

The move has been unpopular among some beachgoers, with more than 1,000 people signing a petition to amend the ordinance, to no avail.

Fortunately for those opposed, in April, Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration, the state Department of Environmental Protection, and North Wildwood came to an agreement to replenish its beaches for the first time in 10 years, the last one having came after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the East Coast in 2012.

Rosenello expects this replenishment project to be completed by Fourth of July weekend.

“Once that project comes through, we will reevaluate this and if we have returned to a situation where we have ample dry beach space, we will look into rescinding this restriction,” Rosenello said of the tent and cabana ban.

This tent and cabana ban comes on the heels of the Shore town enacting a teen curfew in preparation for the summer rush of young people to Jersey’s coastal vacation destination.