TOMS RIVER, NJ – A provision in Phil Murphy’s pandemic emergency order has allowed Toms River officials to enact a curfew in their Seaside communities. When Murphy’s executive orders ended, so did the ability of Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill to piggyback on the Murphy pandemic executive order.
The curfews that have been enacted for public health measures on the barrier island expired after two years of lockdowns this spring, leaving the community once again under the constitutional rules of freedom.
Now, Hill and township leaders want to reimpose strict curfews in their community. Residents came out last week to complain of rowdy young adults and teenage beachgoers visiting the public beaches in some of the more privatized sections of the barrier island.
The curfew enacted under Murphy’s pandemic lockdown executive orders allowed the town to ban anyone under the age of 17 from being in public areas of the town between 9pm and 5 am.
Township Business Administrator Lou Amoruso said in an Asbury Park Press interview that he and Police Chief Mitch Little are still deciding on rolling out a new curfew in the community.