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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 31 OcTOber 2017
New challenges to New Jersey Pennsylvania OKs betting online, at truck stops

protective dune plan launched ter option to balance the

By WAYNE PARRY state’s persistent deficits
Associated Press than a tax increase.
BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey home- While lawmakers also saw
owners have been fighting Gov. Chris Christie’s plan a gambling expansion as
to build protective sand dunes since he announced a way to bring tax revenue
the effort months after Superstorm Sandy. to their districts and pet
They’ve lost at almost every turn. projects, Wolf had focused
But five years after the storm, the latest challenge on ensuring a gambling
brought by homeowners objecting to the state’s in- expansion would not dam-
tention to seize privately owned land for the dune and age the state’s existing tax
beach widening project might have the best chance collections from casino
of succeeding out of the half-dozen that have gone revenues or receipts from
before judges, thus far. the struggling Pennsylvania
A condominium association in Berkeley Township, just Lottery.
south of Seaside Heights, where the notorious MTV re- Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf speaks with members of the “There’s been a lot of pres-
media at a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon in Harrisburg,
ality series “Jersey Shore” was filmed, is fighting New Pa., Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. Wolf has approved legislation sure from a lot of places in
Jersey’s attempt to seize part of their privately owned authorizing a major expansion of gambling in what is already the commonwealth to ac-
beach for the dune project. the nation’s second-largest commercial casino state. tually expand this and we
What makes this case unusual is the size of the dune (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) do need some recurring
that’s already there, which was built, paid for and By MARC LEVY Under the measure, the revenue,” Wolf told report-
maintained by the homeowners. The 25-foot-tall dune, Associated Press state will become the ers Monday. “Again, the
which is several decades old and bolstered each year HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — fourth to allow offer online goal has been all along
by discarded Christmas trees that trap sand and add Pennsylvania, the nation’s gambling, joining Nevada, to do what’s prudent, not
to the dune structure, is taller than what the U.S. Army second-largest commer- New Jersey and Delaware. cannibalize existing gam-
Corps of Engineers plans to build there. cial casino state, is taking It also makes Pennsylvania bling revenue coming to
It effectively protected the 386 small houses behind it an even deeper plunge the first state to allow online the state, and I think what
during Sandy. “Where’s the common sense?” asked into gambling and will al- play for both commercial we’re settling on will actu-
Dominick Solazzo, president of the Midway Beach low people to bet online, in casinos and its state lot- ally do that.”
Condominium Association that owns the beach. “It’s airports and at truck stops. tery, as both go in search In addition to online play,
just crazy. How are you going to give us something With government lead- of newer and younger the new law will allow the
that’s less than what we already have and tell us it’s ers searching for money players. Wolf, a Democrat, state to be peppered with
going to be better?” The case is to be heard Friday in to plug holes in Pennsyl- had not been enthusiastic games of chance.
state Superior Court by the same judge that has ruled vania’s tattered finances, about expanding gam- Ten of the state’s 12 exist-
against dune objectors on two previous occasions, Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday bling, but he entertained ing casinos will be able to
ruling that the state has the right to proceed with land signed legislation authoriz- the idea in dealings with a bid on a license for a new,
condemnations for the project. ing a major expansion of Republican-controlled Leg- smaller casino with hun-
A coastal storm on Sunday, the fifth anniversary of gambling. islature that saw it as a bet- dreds of slot machines.q
Sandy, caused some erosion in the area but left the
dune largely intact. The state Department of Environ-
mental Protection said Sunday’s storm did not appear
to cause significant erosion along the shore.
Anthony DellaPelle is the attorney for the Midway
Beach condo association. He previously represented
homeowners objecting to the dune project in Bay
Head, where they claimed that the privately built
and maintained rock wall offered the same or better
protection than the state and federal project, and in
Point Pleasant Beach, where homeowners included
the Republican governor’s brother, Todd Christie. In
both cases, Judge Marlene Lynch Ford ruled in favor
of the state.
But DellaPelle says that this case is a clear example of
trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.
“They have a dune system which the government
concedes is better, and if the (condemnation) pro-
ceeds, they will not be able to maintain it, so that it will
result in less protection,” he said.
He and members of the condo association also won-
der whether officials will actually lower the height of
the existing dunes to conform with specifications of
the planned project, or whether they would allow
what is in place to remain as is.
A spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office
declined comment.
Steven Rochette, a spokesman for the Army Corps,
said the agency probably would leave the dune
height unchanged and add width around or in front
of it. But the state’s property assessment notes that ho-
meowners’ views might actually be improved by re-
ducing the height of the dunes from the 25 feet that is
there now to the 22 feet called for under the project.q