New Jersey beachfront owners challenge sand dunes plan

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. (AP) — Seventeen oceanfront homeowners are challenging New Jersey's right to use eminent domain to seize strips of their sand for a protective dune project, calling it a land grab.

The filings came days before a major winter storm was due to hit the area with severe coastal flooding and potentially record-setting storm surges likely to cause property damage.

The complaints from beachfront owners in Point Pleasant Beach, Brick and Mantoloking say the state Department of Environmental Protection does not have the right to take private property.

The plaintiffs said the DEP is using the beach project as a "smoke screen" to take control of private beaches up and down the coast, without the underlying legal authority to do so.

In the past, Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican presidential candidate, and DEP officials have spoken of the need for the dunes to protect entire coastal communities, not just those who live directly on the beach.