Beach Erosion in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey: The Karan Case and the Dune It Built

What This Page Will Not Do: Invent an Erosion Rate

Real-estate content about barrier-island towns often states a specific erosion rate, in feet of shoreline lost per year, as though it were a settled, current fact. For Harvey Cedars, no such figure was independently confirmed during the research behind this page, and stating one anyway, even a plausible-sounding one, would be a fabrication dressed up as data. Shoreline change on a New Jersey barrier island is not static in any case: it moves with storm cycles, with the timing of federal and state beach-nourishment projects, and with the specific stretch of beach in question.

What this page offers instead is the strongest, most concrete evidence available about what erosion and storm exposure actually mean for property ownership in Harvey Cedars: a decided legal case about the price of a protective dune, and the borough's own catastrophic storm history that explains why that dune was built. Neither is a substitute for a current, professionally surveyed erosion rate. Both are real, sourced, and directly relevant to anyone considering oceanfront property here.

Borough of Harvey Cedars v. Karan: A Quarter of a Lot, Condemned for a Dune

Harvey and Phyllis Karan owned an oceanfront home on an 11,868-square-foot lot in Harvey Cedars. As part of a federal, state, and local beach-restoration and storm-protection initiative, the Borough sought a perpetual easement covering 3,381 square feet of the Karans' property, more than a quarter of the entire lot, to construct a 22-foot-high protective dune. The Borough's original compensation offer for that easement was $300. The Karans rejected it.

When the Karans would not consent, the Borough exercised its power of eminent domain and took the easement anyway. The resulting dune rose high enough to obstruct the panoramic ocean view the Karans previously had from the upper decks of their own home. A jury was asked to determine just compensation, measured as the difference between the property's fair market value immediately before the taking and immediately after it. The jury awarded the Karans $375,000, a figure that reflected the loss of their ocean view but did not offset that loss against any protective value the dune itself added to the remaining property.

The New Jersey Supreme Court's Reversal, July 8, 2013

The Borough appealed, and the case reached the New Jersey Supreme Court on the question of whether courts may consider non-speculative, calculable benefits from a public project, such as storm protection from a dune, when calculating just compensation owed to a property owner in a partial taking. The Karans argued that only "special" benefits unique to their property, not "general" benefits shared by the whole community, could reduce a compensation award. The Borough argued that a real, measurable increase in storm protection is a real, measurable increase in property value, regardless of how many other homes also benefit from it.

On July 8, 2013, the New Jersey Supreme Court sided with the Borough, reversing the jury verdict and remanding the case for retrial. The Court held that non-speculative, reasonably calculable benefits that increase a property's value at the time of a partial taking must be factored into a just-compensation award, whether or not neighboring properties enjoy comparable advantages. In plain terms: if a dune measurably protects a home from storm damage and measurably adds to its value, that added value can be weighed against the harm the same dune causes by blocking a view, even though the whole neighborhood benefits from the protection too.

The case ultimately settled in September 2013 for exactly $1 in compensation for the easement, a resolution widely reported at the time by outlets including the Associated Press via CBS Philadelphia, the Press of Atlantic City, NJ Spotlight News, and Fox News. A couple who had rejected a $300 offer, then won $375,000 from a jury, ultimately accepted one dollar once the state's highest court ruled that the dune's storm-protection value could offset their claimed damages. This page states the case's legal outcome as fully and finally decided, not as an ongoing dispute; it takes no position on the broader policy debate over property rights versus public storm-protection interests, only on what actually happened.

Why the Dune Existed at All: 1944 and the "Storm of the Century"

The Karan case is not an abstract legal curiosity for Harvey Cedars; it is the direct legal consequence of a real, catastrophic storm history that made large-scale dune protection a priority for this borough specifically. In 1944, a major hurricane struck Harvey Cedars with little advance warning, destroying 20 percent of the homes in the borough and causing significant beach erosion. A real oceanfront pavilion, built by local resident Jason Fenimore, was destroyed in that storm.

Worse came in March 1962, when a nor'easter often called the "Storm of the Century," and known regionally as the Ash Wednesday Storm, tore through the Jersey Shore over several tide cycles. In Harvey Cedars, it destroyed approximately 350 homes, roughly half of the borough's entire ratable base, earning this small town the specific, sourced distinction of being the most heavily-damaged town on the New Jersey coast. That is not a comparison to Hurricane Sandy or to any other LBI town's storm record; it is Harvey Cedars' own, standalone storm history, and it is the reason a 22-foot protective dune eventually became worth condemning a quarter of an oceanfront lot to build.

What the Karan Case Actually Means for a Prospective Buyer

For anyone considering oceanfront property in Harvey Cedars, the Karan case is not legal trivia; it is a real, decided precedent describing exactly what can happen to an oceanfront lot in the name of storm protection, and how New Jersey courts will value the tradeoff when it does. A municipality participating in a federal or state dune or beach-nourishment project can take a meaningful easement across even a modest-sized lot, and a court may weigh the protective value that same dune adds to what remains of the property against whatever it takes away, including an ocean view.

That does not mean every oceanfront buyer in Harvey Cedars will face condemnation. It does mean that dune easements, beach-access rights, and storm-protection infrastructure are not abstractions here; they are the subject of a real New Jersey Supreme Court case involving this exact borough. Anyone evaluating an oceanfront parcel should ask directly, through a title search and a New Jersey real-estate attorney during attorney review, whether any existing or planned easement, dune-maintenance agreement, or storm-protection project affects the lot in question.

A 1.19 Square Mile Town, Just Over Half of It Water

Harvey Cedars' total area is 1.19 square miles, and of that, only 0.56 square miles is land; the remaining 0.63 square miles, 52.61 percent of the borough's total footprint, is water. That is a majority-water town, fronting both the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay, bordered by Barnegat Township, Long Beach Township, and Stafford Township. A borough where more than half of the official footprint is water, not dry buildable ground, is a borough where dune protection, bulkheads, and shoreline management are not optional amenities but structural necessities, exactly the kind of necessity that made the Karan easement worth pursuing in the first place.

That geography also helps explain why Harvey Cedars remains small and low-density even as land values run high: 391 year-round residents as of the 2020 census, swelling to an estimated summer population of roughly 12,000, with the majority of housing units in the borough seasonal and used primarily in summer by owners who live elsewhere. A town this exposed, this small, and this seasonal has a direct, practical stake in exactly the kind of storm-protection infrastructure the Karan case was fought over.

Where to Get a Real, Current Erosion and Replenishment Answer

Beach erosion and replenishment on Long Beach Island are managed at the county and state level, not by individual towns acting alone, and that is exactly where a real answer to "what is Harvey Cedars' current erosion rate, and what is being done about it" should come from. Ocean County's engineering and planning offices track shoreline conditions and coordinate with federal and state partners on beach-nourishment schedules for LBI communities including Harvey Cedars. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is the state agency responsible for coastal management, permitting, and beach-replenishment program oversight, and its current published materials, not a real-estate page, are the right source for program specifics, funding status, and scheduled nourishment cycles.

A prospective buyer, renter, or relocating resident should ask Ocean County and NJDEP directly for current erosion-rate data, the status of any active or planned replenishment or dune-maintenance project affecting Harvey Cedars' beaches, and any parcel-specific coastal-construction setback or easement history that applies to a property under consideration, including whether the parcel was ever part of the federal or state storm-protection project at issue in the Karan case. FEMA's Flood Map Service Center and a licensed insurance agent familiar with coastal Ocean County property are the right sources for a current flood-zone determination and premium quote, respectively.

Adding It Up: What Is Real, and What We Will Not Invent

What is confirmed and real here: Borough of Harvey Cedars v. Karan, decided by the New Jersey Supreme Court on July 8, 2013, in which the Borough condemned 3,381 square feet, more than a quarter, of an oceanfront lot to build a 22-foot protective dune after the owners rejected a $300 offer; a jury's $375,000 award, reversed on the ground that non-speculative storm-protection benefits must offset just-compensation awards; and a final settlement of exactly $1 in September 2013. Also confirmed: a 1944 hurricane that destroyed 20 percent of the borough's homes, and a March 1962 nor'easter that destroyed roughly 350 homes, about half the borough's ratables, making Harvey Cedars the most heavily-damaged town on the New Jersey coast from that storm. And Harvey Cedars' own geography: 1.19 square miles total, 52.61 percent of it water.

What we could not find, and will not fill in with an invented figure: a current, confirmed beach-erosion rate for Harvey Cedars in any unit, a current beach-replenishment project schedule or funding status, a more precise settlement date for the Karan case beyond September 2013, or a current parcel-specific flood-zone determination. Get current erosion, replenishment, and coastal-construction information directly from Ocean County and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, a current flood-zone determination from FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, and a current insurance quote from a licensed agent before budgeting a purchase. Nothing on this page is legal, engineering, or financial advice.