Belmar Looks To Ban Tents On the Beach

Next month, Belmar officials will vote on whether or not to ban tents and canopies from their beach for the 2018 season.

Mayor Matthew Doherty wants to put a stop to "beach spreading", where large groups of people set up tents or canopies that block the view of others. The new rules would prohibit them from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend.

Mayor Doherty said

We designate certain dates and it is really for the summer time only. Tents you see in people’s backyards or parks, things like that, which are tailgating even-like - that doesn’t seem to work well.”

Many residents have complained about their views of the ocean being blocked, and hope the town passes the ordinance similar to one already being used in Avon-By-The-Sea.

I'm a little bit torn on this. I have super-Irish skin, so I need as much shade as I can get. I don't go to the beach often, but when I do, I make sure I have a large umbrella at the very least. Now that Baby Varacchi is here, we also have to make sure that baby skin stays protected. My wife and I bought one of those half-dome tents, which turned out to be a piece of junk. While I do think that people should be able to keep umbrellas, and maybe tents that stay low enough to the ground, I agree that people who use those pop-up tailgating tents need to be stopped.

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