{"id":231733,"date":"2026-02-18T10:57:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/?p=231733"},"modified":"2026-02-24T18:08:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:08:03","slug":"south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"South Seaside Park Could Merge With Seaside Park After Decade-Long Legal Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"custom_featured_image\" style=\"display:none;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-800x533.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"south seaside park\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-800x533.png 800w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-768x511.png 768w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-585x390.png 585w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-263x175.png 263w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/div><div id=\"custom_category\" style=\"display:none;\">News<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Seaside Park residents could become <a href=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/jersey-shore-snow-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seaside Park residents<\/a> in the near future. It took over a decade, but the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in 2025 that South Seaside Park met the legal requirements to secede from Berkeley Township and merge with Seaside Park. Now, Seaside Park is waiting on the results of a study that would detail the impact of that merger between the Borough and South Seaside Park. <\/span><b>Here\u2019s a closer look at why South Seaside Park residents wanted to detach from Berkeley Township and the timeline of a possible merger with the Borough of Seaside Park.&nbsp;<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-231802 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1.png\" alt=\"south seaside park \" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1.png 1000w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-800x533.png 800w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-768x511.png 768w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-585x390.png 585w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1-263x175.png 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The South Seaside Park Petition<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Seaside Park is a small community made up of about 10 blocks and 500 year-round residents. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/new-jersey\/title-40a\/section-40a-7-12\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Jersey law<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, land in one municipality may be annexed, or joined, to another municipality that shares a common border. In order to do so, a petition must be presented to the governing body of the municipality that the petitioners want to join. It must be signed by at least 60% of legal voters from the original municipality and agreed to by at least two-thirds of their governing body.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/asbury-park-carousel-building-closed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Historic Asbury Park Carousel Building Officially Closed Amid Structural Warnings<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The process began back in 2014 when South Seaside Park residents petitioned the Township Council, looking to leave Berkeley Township and join Seaside Park Borough. The Township Council referred the petition to the Planning Board, which conducted 38 hearings between 2015 and 2019. The group of residents argued South Seaside Park is geographically isolated from Berkeley Township, forcing them to drive nearly 16 miles through other towns to reach the mainland. They also argued South Seaside Park has limited municipal facilities and relies more on Seaside Park for services. The residents argued that leaving wouldn\u2019t significantly harm Berkeley Township and would benefit South Seaside Park economically and socially.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The residents argued that the Planning Board\u2019s professional planner, who was supposed to be impartial, actually helped the Township in opposing the deannexation. Some Planning Board members reportedly made public comments against the petition, according to the residents petitioning for the deannexation. When the Planning Board recommended denying the petition, the Township followed that recommendation.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The residents then sought judicial review of the Township Council\u2019s decision. The trial court found the Planning Board\u2019s process was biased, the denial was arbitrary and unreasonable, leaving would not significantly harm Berkeley Township, and the denial was detrimental to the economic and social well-being of South Seaside Park residents. The Appellate Division affirmed the trial court\u2019s decision.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In April of 2025, South Seaside Park residents <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/new-jersey\/supreme-court\/2025\/a-40-24.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">filed a petition with the New Jersey Supreme Court<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to secede from Berkeley Township and join the Borough of Seaside Park.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In July 2025, the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed with lower courts, allowing South Seaside Park continue plans to merge with Seaside Park.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>What Happens Next<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled South Seaside Park could seek deannexation, the town continued working toward a merger with Seaside Park.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seasideparknj.org\/community\/annexation_impact_study_.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seaside Park website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cthe governing body must consult with financial, engineering, planning, legal, and many other professionals to make competent, informed decisions in the best interest of all parties. While there is no specific timeframe for when the governing body must vote, the governing body wishes to proceed with their careful consideration of all relevant data as expeditiously as possible.\u201d The town says it contracted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.governmentstrategygroup.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Government Strategy Group<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a management consulting firm dedicated to supporting New Jersey government entities, to conduct an Annexation Impact Study.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report will be posted on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seasideparknj.org\/community\/annexation_impact_study_.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seaside Park website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> once it\u2019s complete, and a public meeting will be scheduled to allow the public to ask questions and make comments. The community already had the opportunity to provide feedback to the consulting firm during t<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@seasidepark3643\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wo meetings held in November 2025<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>See More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hobokengirl.com\/beaches-hoboken-jersey-city-new-york-public-transit-trains-bus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">16 Beaches Accessible by Public Transit from Hoboken + Jersey City<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mayor John A. Peterson Jr. told <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.app.com\/story\/news\/local\/toms-river-area\/seaside-park\/2026\/02\/12\/will-seaside-park-take-over-south-seaside-park-report-could-decide\/88622210007\/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=true&amp;gca-epti=z115836p119050n00----c00----v115836d--54--b--54--&amp;gca-ft=218&amp;gca-ds=sophi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asbury Park Press<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the report on the merger should be released \u201cin the near future.\u201d&nbsp;<em>The Jersey Shore Girl<\/em> reached out to Seaside Park officials for comment and will update this piece when we hear back.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Have Towns In New Jersey Merged Before?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s rare, but there have been times when New Jersey towns have merged. In 2021, t<\/span>he borough of <a href=\"https:\/\/nj1015.com\/nj-about-to-subtract-one-of-its-tiniest-towns-in-rare-merger\/?utm_source=tsmclip&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pine Valley in Camden County<\/a> voted to consolidate into Pine Hill. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2013, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/articles\/towns-schools\/steve-adubato-only-in-nj\/the-merger-revisited-consolidation-princeton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Princeton Borough and Princeton Township<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> merged, creating an 18-square-mile municipality. In 1997, Pahaquarry Township dissolved and merged with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hardwicktwp.com\/about-hardwick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hardwick<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Warren County after the federal government acquired most of its land. In the late 19th century, Bergen City, Hudson City, and Greenville Township all merged with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jerseydigs.com\/history-of-jersey-city-part-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jersey City<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, expanding Jersey City\u2019s size. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Follow <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/thejerseyshoregirl_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">@thejerseyshoregirl_<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Instagram for the latest Jersey Shore updates, sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twilight-lion-90332.myflodesk.com\/jrf4qhj7qk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">weekly newsletter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and check out our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">events calendar<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> featuring 40+ local events every week.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"categories\"><a class=\"button\" href=\"#\">Stories<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NewsSouth Seaside Park residents could become Seaside Park residents in the near future. It took over a decade, but the New Jersey&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":390,"featured_media":231802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9479,9660,9593],"tags":[9673,9678,9707,9755],"class_list":["post-231733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-events-news","category-news","category-local-girl-rss-feed","tag-jersey-shore","tag-new-jersey","tag-news","tag-tlg"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>South Seaside Park Could Merge With Seaside Park After Decade-Long Legal Battle - The Jersey Shore Girl<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Seaside Park is waiting for the results of a study about the impacts of seceding from Berkeley Township and merging with Seaside Park.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Seaside Park Could Merge With Seaside Park After Decade-Long Legal Battle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Seaside Park is waiting for the results of a study about the impacts of seceding from Berkeley Township and merging with Seaside Park.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Jersey Shore Girl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T15:57:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-24T23:08:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/jerseyshore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erin Lanahan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Lanahan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelocalgirl.com\\\/jerseyshore\\\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelocalgirl.com\\\/jerseyshore\\\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erin Lanahan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelocalgirl.com\\\/jerseyshore\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7255d3fa506660a49a28b5e9b795319\"},\"headline\":\"South Seaside Park Could Merge With Seaside Park After Decade-Long Legal Battle\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T15:57:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-24T23:08:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelocalgirl.com\\\/jerseyshore\\\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":831,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelocalgirl.com\\\/jerseyshore\\\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelocalgirl.com\\\/jerseyshore\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/south-seaside-park-merge-seaside-park-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Jersey Shore\",\"New Jersey\",\"News\",\"The Local Girl\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Events + News\",\"News\",\"The Local Girl\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelocalgirl.com\\\/jerseyshore\\\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelocalgirl.com\\\/jerseyshore\\\/south-seaside-park-seaside-park-merger-2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"South Seaside Park Could Merge With Seaside Park After Decade-Long Legal Battle - 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