What needs to be done to make Ocean Grove cross-shaped pier safe to walk on again?

OCEAN GROVE - Eight months after opening to fanfare and controversy, the $1.3 million, Christian cross-shaped pier here has been closed after engineers found a loose piling, officials said.

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which owns and governs the community within Neptune Township, closed the pier a week ago, marking the second time the structure has been temporarily closed due to safety concerns.

Neptune Township officials, who have been updated, said the project's engineering firm, Neptune-based Leon S. Avakian Inc., recommended that the Camp Meeting Association close the pier and undergo a more thorough safety inspection.

"I can't speak for the whole committee, but I have concerns, and we are asking for further investigations be done to make sure this isn't a systemic problem," Neptune Mayor Keith Cafferty said.

The Camp Meeting Association, the Methodist organization that founded the town in 1869, opened the 500-foot-long pier in April, more than a decade after superstorm Sandy washed away the previous pier and private fishing club.

The pier has become a flashpoint in the debate between the separation of church and state. It was built in the shape of a cross. And the terms of the permit, approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, have been used by the state to challenge the Camp Meeting Association's rules prohibiting beach access from the boardwalk on Sunday mornings.

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The closing raises more pressing questions: Is the pier safe?

The Camp Meeting Association announced the decision to close on its website and Facebook page on Dec. 12, saying, "The pier is temporarily closed. The construction company and the engineers have been made aware that a single piling is loose."

The Camp Meeting Association didn't respond to an email left Monday seeking more information. A person who answered the phone at Leon S. Avakian said no one would be available to comment.

Neptune Business Administrator Gina LaPlaca said the pier was temporarily closed in October after a torrential storm left a piling damaged. The Camp Meeting on Oct. 9 wrote on its Facebook page: "The pier is open. The engineers have inspected and approved reopening."

LaPlaca said she learned about the recent closing through the Camp Meeting's Facebook post last week and spoke to an Avakian official on Dec. 13.

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LaPlaca said, "Avakian indicated they were going to meet with the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to sort of revisit best practices, (saying), 'OK, let's assess the whole pier before we reopen it. Let's understand what we're dealing with. Is this a pattern? Is this an issue we're going to keep having, or is this a one-off based on weather or something we couldn't have expected to happen?'"

A sign at the pier's entrance notes that the pier is private property that is built, maintained and insured by the Camp Meeting Association.

The state Department of Environmental Protection, which approved the pier's permit in August 2022, does not require safety inspections of piers, a spokesperson said.

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ocean Grove cross-shaped pier: What must be done to reopen it?