Coronavirus News: What to know about plans to reopen the Jersey Shore for Memorial Day weekend

Thursday, May 14, 2020

NJ shore reopens tomorrow, but what are the rules?Anthony Johnson reports from the Seaside Heights boardwalk with the latest details on tomorrow's beach reopening

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- New Jersey beaches and boardwalks will be open in time for Memorial Day weekend, Governor Murphy announced on Thursday.

Social distancing guidelines will remain in place.

Beaches can open on Friday, May 22, though crowds will be limited, Murphy said.

Boardwalk restaurants must be takeout and delivery only and amusement park rides, games and playgrounds must stay closed.

Showers, changing pavilions and rest rooms should be open. Murphy also urged towns to set limits on the amount of daily beach badges they sell.

The governor gave considerable leeway to local officials in reopening their beaches, refusing to set a uniform occupancy limit, instead letting individual towns decide how much is enough as they prepare for visitors eager to get sand between their toes.

Among them was Eichert, a Hillsborough woman who came to the beach in Belmar earlier this week to let her 2-year-old son Logan run around on the boardwalk and in the sand.

"It would be nice to have it like it used to be," she said. "But you have to keep your distance now; I get that. We'll see how it feels and how people are behaving. It's hard to imagine what it's going to look like this summer."

Murphy issued his long-awaited guidance the day before two of the state's most popular beaches planned to reopen.

Gov Murphy says social distancing guidelines will remain in place

On Friday morning, Point Pleasant Beach and Seaside Heights will begin allowing people back onto the sand in a phased reopening that officials in both towns characterize as an experiment.

In Point Pleasant Beach, the municipally owned Maryland Avenue beach will open. Once it reaches a certain capacity, which officials have not publicly announced, no one else will be allowed onto the sand. Masks will be "encouraged" while standing in line to buy badges, but won't be required once on the beach.

The borough will restrict parking to residents only for much of the area near the beach to discourage large crowds of tourists from coming. Murphy suggested such a tactic in one of his briefings earlier this month as a way to keep beach crowds manageable, at least at first.

Seaside Heights, famous as the former home of MTV's "Jersey Shore" show, will reopen on Friday with some substantial restrictions. Activities on the beach are limited to walking, jogging, active surf fishing, and surfing. No swimming, beach chairs or blankets, and no sitting or standing.

"Make no mistake about it, our beach and boardwalk operations will be very different from past years," Mayor Anthony Vaz wrote in a post on the Seaside Heights website. "We have the added problem at the local government level of a likely and substantial loss of revenue that has led to a reduction in manpower resources. This means less beach attendants, less lifeguards and less seasonal laborers."

Ocean City's beaches and boardwalk have been open in recent days "for exercise and active recreation."

Pauline Hebeler sat on the boards of Belmar's boardwalk - benches have been removed - and wondered what this summer will look like.

"You need to have social distancing on the beach, but I have no idea how they'll be able to do it some days," she said. "I don't want to just open it up totally and have everyone get sick again. Trying to find a happy medium is not going to be easy. I just want things to be normal again."

On Wednesday, Murphy announced the reopening of some non- essential businesses across the state.