1960-2000
In the 1960s, Brant Beach was embroiled in controversy over a plan to enlarge and develop Flat Island, which lies in the bay just off 30th to 45th Streets. “Brant Beach Key” was to feature homes, apartments, a shopping center, an eighteen-hole golf course, and a toll bridge extending from 44th Street. Environmental groups rallied, partly due to the massive dredging required. A referendum to stop the project was passed by a slim majority, and the plan was abandoned.
Until the 1970s, Brant Beach’s Ocean Blvd from 31st Street to 55th Street had mostly unobstructed ocean views because there were very few oceanfront buildings. The sand dunes were low or nonexistent, and winter storms often sent waves rolling across the road toward the bay.
It was common for these owners to build three-foot-high cinderblock walls along the property line to deflect the waves which occasionally washed across the road and to protect against the major storms and hurricanes which tore through the island every few decades, such as those in 1903, 1923, 1938, 1944, 1962, and 1991.
Many homeowners on the west side of Ocean Boulevard had deeded rights to the facing oceanfront lots. When Long Beach Township filled in this land east of Ocean Boulevard, dozens of new oceanfront homes were constructed. Some homeowners sold their cottages on the west side of the road and built new homes on their land directly across the street. The rows of homes tended to block the ocean breezes from reaching the bayside, and for this and other reasons, home air conditioning became more common.
Empty lots were becoming scarce in Brant Beach, but the era of tear-downs had not yet begun.
The census shows that the population of Long Beach Township increased from 1561 permanent residents in 1960 to 2910 in 1970, and then stayed stable around 3400 residents until 2000. Brant Beach probably represented a quarter of the township population.