Egg Harbor, New Jersey, United States

🇺🇸 Egg Harbor Township is a township in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States.

Egg Harbor Township was first mentioned as part of Gloucester County in records dating back to March 20, 1693, and at times was called New Weymouth. The township's western boundary was established on May 13, 1761, with the area called Great Egg-Harbour Township. Portions of the township were taken to form Galloway Township, which was established by Royal charter on April 4, 1774. Additional portions were taken to form Weymouth Township on February 12, 1798. On February 21, 1798, the area was incorporated as Egg-Harbour Township. Over the ensuing centuries, portions of the township were taken to create many new municipalities: Hamilton Township on February 5, 1813; Atlantic City on May 1, 1854; Absecon on May 1, 1854; South Atlantic City (now Margate City) on September 7, 1885; Pleasantville on January 10, 1889; Linwood on February 20, 1889; Somers Point on April 24, 1886; Longport on March 7, 1898; Ventnor City on March 17, 1903; and Northfield on March 21, 1905. Geographically, the township, and all of Atlantic County, is part of the South Jersey region and of the Atlantic City-Hammonton metropolitan statistical area, which in turn is included in the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and the Delaware Valley.

Great Egg Harbor got its name from Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen Mey. In 1614, Mey came upon the inlet to the Great Egg Harbor River. The meadows were so covered with the eggs of waterfowl and shorebirds that he called it "Eieren Haven" (Egg Harbor).

History The first residents of what would become Egg Harbor Township were the Lenni Lenape Native Americans, who would spend their summers on the elevated land around the cedar swamp that is now Bargaintown Lake, as well as along the banks of Patcong Creek, where they made use of the abundant fish, shellfish, wild berries, and bird's eggs in the area and collected shells that could be carved to make wampum.

Great Egg Harbor was part of Gloucester County, West Jersey. On May 17, 1694 a law was passed that made this official, reading: And forasmuch as there are some families settled upon Egg Harbour, and of right ought to be under some jurisdiction. Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of the said Egg Harbour, shall be and belong to the jurisdiction of Gloucester county, to all intents and purposes, till such time as they shall be capable, by a copetent [sic] number of inhabitants, to be erected into a county, any former act to the contrary notwithstanding.

— An Act for regulating Bounds of Cape May County, and for Egg Harbour Inhabitants to belong to Gloucester County

The same Act set the legal boundaries of Gloucester County from the Delaware River, along the Burlington County line to the sea and back up the Great Egg Harbor River to the Delaware River. At that time Great Egg Harbor encompassed all of present-day Atlantic County. In 1837, Atlantic County was set apart from Gloucester County and the Townships were Egg Harbor, Galloway, Hamilton and Weymouth.

Since 1837, ten municipalities have separated from the original Egg Harbor Township, including Atlantic City (1854), Absecon (1872), South Atlantic City (1885; now Margate City), Somers Point (1886), Pleasantville (1888), Linwood (1889), Longport (1898), Brigantine (1903), Ventnor City (1903) and Northfield (1905).

In 2017, Egg Harbor township joined Bellmawr, Cranbury, Montclair, and Woodbridge Township as one of the first five municipalities in New Jersey to authorize medical cannabis dispensaries.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 75.47 square miles (195.48 km²), including 67.05 square miles (173.65 km²) of land and 8.43 square miles (21.82 km²) of water (11.16%).

Portions of the township, notably the West Atlantic City and Anchorage Poynte areas, are not contiguous to the main body of the municipality, having been separated from the mainland portion of the township as municipalities were formed, largely since the boroughitis phenomenon in the 1890s.

The township is one of 56 South Jersey municipalities that are included within the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, a protected natural area of unique ecology covering 1,100,000 acres (450,000 ha), that has been classified as a United States Biosphere Reserve and established by Congress in 1978 as the nation's first National Reserve. Part of the township is included in the state-designated Pinelands Area, which includes portions of Atlantic County, along with areas in Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean counties.

Egg Harbor Township includes the unincorporated communities of Bargaintown (the township's seat of government), Cardiff, English Creek, Farmington, Scullville (formerly known as Jeffers), Steelmanville and West Atlantic City, as well as part of McKee City. Other localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Devenshire, English Creek Landing, Greenwood, Idlewood, Jeffers Landing, Jobs Point, Jones Island, McKee City Station, Mount Calvary, Pleasantville Terrace, Pork Island, Rainbow Islands, Sculls Landing, and Seaview Harbor.

The township borders the municipalities of Absecon, Atlantic City, Corbin City, Estell Manor, Galloway Township, Hamilton Township, Linwood, Longport, Margate City, Northfield, Pleasantville, Somers Point, Ventnor City and Weymouth Township in Atlantic County; and Ocean City and Upper Township in Cape May County.

Parks and protected areas There are three wildlife management areas (WMAs) in Egg Harbor Township, two of them in the eastern discontinuous segment of the township. Malibu Beach WMA is located on marshlands between the Great Egg Harbor Bay and Broad Thorofare, covering 95.7 acres (38.7 ha), and bifurcated by Ocean Drive and NJ 152. It serves as the habitat for several birds, including migratory species in the spring and fall. Known locally as "Dog Beach", the WMA consists of a back-bay pond, dunes, and one of the only beaches in New Jersey that permits dogs. From the 1930s to the early 2000s, Malibu Beach lost about 1,000 ft (300 m) of sand due to erosion. The Environmental Protection Agency designated the beach as a priority wetland in 1994. From 2002 to 2004, the state Department of Environmental Protection purchased Malibu Beach for $975,000 to make it available to the public, with funding from the Federal Highway Administration related to the NJ 52 causeway replacement project. About 40,000 cu yd (31,000 m3) of clean sand was dredged from nearby waterways and placed on Malibu Beach. The state also restored the beach's wetlands, and removed rubble and invasive plant species. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy severely eroded the beach, as did Winter Storm Jonas in 2015. In 2017, the city of Ocean City began collecting trash from the site, after the Cape May County Bridge Commission ended collection in Fall 2016, and the state considered shutting down the park.

Adjacent to Malibu Beach WMA is Pork Island WMA, which covers 867.2 acres (350.9 ha) of land on four marshy islands between NJ 152 and Margate Blvd, and between Absecon Island and the mainland. It is inaccessible by car. In the southern part of Egg Harbor Township are scattered plots of wetland near the Great Egg Harbor River that consist of about 1,039 acres (420 ha), or 5.9%, of the Lester G. MacNamara WMA, previously known as Tuckahoe WMA. Established in 1933, the WMA is the oldest in the state, and spreads across four municipalities in Atlantic and Cape May counties.

Demographics The 2010 United States census counted 43,323 people, 15,250 households, and 11,316 families in the township. The population density was 650.5 per square mile (251.2/km²). There were 16,347 housing units at an average density of 245.5 per square mile (94.8/km²). The racial makeup was 69.78% (30,230) White, 9.58% (4,152) Black or African American, 0.38% (163) Native American, 11.76% (5,096) Asian, 0.02% (8) Pacific Islander, 5.20% (2,253) from other races, and 3.28% (1,421) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.00% (5,630) of the population.

Of the 15,250 households, 36.5% had children under the age of 18; 56.1% were married couples living together; 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present and 25.8% were non-families. Of all households, 20.3% were made up of individuals and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.29.

26.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 29.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.2 years. For every 100 females, the population had 95.4 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 92.1 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $69,754 (with a margin of error of +/− $4,024) and the median family income was $78,259 (+/− $4,966). Males had a median income of $52,615 (+/− $3,434) versus $42,227 (+/− $2,127) for females. The per capita income for the township was $29,114 (+/− $1,241). About 4.0% of families and 6.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.8% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.

Economy Harbor Square (formerly the Shore Mall) is a redesigned regional mall that had originally opened in 1968, located on U.S. Route 40 / U.S. Route 322.

Development and the Pine Barrens Egg Harbor Township (along with Hamilton and Galloway Townships) were designated as Regional Growth Areas" by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission resulting in increased residential development. In exchange for the development in Egg Harbor Township, no trees are demolished for housing and other buildings in the Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands. The "Regional Growth Area" designation was, and remains, tantamount to a state mandate to construct +/-30,000 additional housing units in Egg Harbor Township. Neighboring communities, Galloway Township (to the north) and Hamilton Township (to the West) were also designated as "Growth Areas" by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission.

Atlantic City International Airport, which, in addition to functioning as a full service airport, is home to the 177th wing of the Air National Guard, the FAA Technical Center, a Homeland Security Department Training Center as well as the Atlantic City base of Operations for the United States Coast Guard.

The Atlantic County Municipal Utility Authority (ACMUA), operates a site where all local municipalities bring their trash and recycle.

Local government The Township of Egg Harbor is governed under the Township form of New Jersey municipal government, one of 141 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form, the second-most commonly used form of government in the state. The Township Committee is comprised of five members, who are elected directly by the voters at-large in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year as part of the November general election in a three-year cycle. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen by the Township Committee from among its members during the Reorganization meeting each January. The members of Township Committee are part-time elected officials.

Education The Egg Harbor Township Schools serve public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising seven schools, had an enrollment of 7,432 students and 604.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.3:1. Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Clayton J. Davenport Elementary School Complex with 753 students in grades K–3, E. H. Slaybaugh Elementary School Complex with 851 students in grades Pre-K–3, H. Russell Swift Elementary School with 438 students in grades K–3, Dr. Joyanne D. Miller Elementary School with 1,110 students in grade 4–5, Alder Avenue Middle School with 877 students in grade 6–8, Fernwood Avenue Middle School with 970 students in grade 6–8 and Egg Harbor Township High School with 2,357 students in grade 9–12.

Township public school students are also eligible to attend the Atlantic County Institute of Technology in the Mays Landing section of Hamilton Township or the Charter-Tech High School for the Performing Arts, located in Somers Point.

The Islamic Academy of South Jersey (Arabic: کادیمیه سوث جيرزي الإسلامیة) is an Islamic elementary day school located in Egg Harbor Township.

As of 2020 Bishop McHugh Regional School in Dennis Township in Cape May County accepts students from Egg Harbor Township. The school is under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden.

Transport: Road As of May 2010, the township had a total of 297.22 miles (478.33 km) of roadways, of which 206.73 miles (332.70 km) were maintained by the municipality, 65.46 miles (105.35 km) by Atlantic County, 10.10 miles (16.25 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 14.93 miles (24.03 km) by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and South Jersey Transportation Authority.

The township is traversed by several major roadways. The Atlantic City Expressway runs through east–west for 5.3 miles (8.5 km) connecting Pleasantville in the east to Hamilton Township in the west and connects at Interchange 7 with the Garden State Parkway (at Interchange 38) that runs through north–south for 8.6 miles (13.8 km) connecting Somers Point in the south to Galloway Township in the north.

Major county roads that pass through include CR 559, CR 563, CR 575 and CR 585. U.S. Route 40 / 322 run concurrent with each other while going from east to west. U.S. Route 9 also runs through, although very briefly concurrent with the Parkway as it crosses over the Great Egg Harbor.

Transport: Public NJ Transit provides bus service between Egg Harbor Township and Atlantic City on routes 502 (from Atlantic Cape Community College), 507 (from Ocean City), 508 (from Hamilton Mall) and 509 (from Ocean City).

A majority of the Atlantic City International Airport is located in the northern area of the township.

Points of interest • The Atlantic County Bikeway stretches for 7.5 miles (12.1 km) from the Shore Mall to the Atlantic County Institute of Technology in Hamilton Township. • Storybook Land is a park for children on a site covering 20 acres (8.1 ha) that was opened in 1955, featuring storybook characters such as Mother Goose and the Three Little Pigs. • Jersey Shore Children's Museum provided an environment for children to stimulate creativity, imagination, and learning through interactive play. The museum closed at the end of 2017 in the wake of declining contributions.