Military veterans and active-duty personnel will have free access to Brick beaches, regardless of where they live, while everyone else will pay the same $8 fee, under an ordinance adopted this week that originally intended to give a discount to non-military residents compared to their out-of-town counterparts.

The Brick Township Council adopted the ordinance on second and final reading Tuesday night, after striking the provision that would have given residents a discount, the mayor and the township attorney said Wednesday.

They said the provision would have violated the so-called Public Trust Doctrine, an ancient legal principle dating back to Roman times that provides universal access to the sea.

Mayor John Ducey, a lawyer, said the ordinance was approved by the council upon introduction on Oct. 9 with the residents' discount included. But Ducey, who does not vote with the council, said it had been drafted by the business administrator's office in conjunction with the township's recreation commission, and that he only saw the text of the ordinance following its introduction.

It was then that Ducey said he informed fellow officials of a 1972 New Jersey Supreme Court case, Borough of Neptune City v. Borough of Avon-by-the-Sea, that successfully invoked the Public Trust Doctrine to bar Avon from giving its residents preferential beach access over non-residents.

The Public Trust Doctrine has also been invoked to prevent condominium associations and other private property owners from denying beach access to the general public.

A bipartisan bill codifying the rights of all people to swim, fish, and otherwise use tidal waters and beaches under the Public Trust Doctrine is now awaiting a hearing by the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The bill, S-1074, has already passed the full Senate after having been introduced in January by Senators Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, and Christopher "Kip" Bateman, R-Somerset.

The township attorney, Kevin Starkey, who concurred with the mayor's opinion, said the solution was to remove any distinction giving residents preference.

"It was pretty simple," he said. "We deleted the line for non-residents."

Ducey said the main reason officials revisited the beach ordinance was to do something for military beachgoers, whose granting of free-access by the ordinance is legally permissible because it applies to all veterans or active service members, regardless of their residence.

Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, a Highlands-based group that advocates for beach access, said he was unaware of any challenges ever having been raised to free or discounted beach access for veterans or active-duty military personnel.

"I don't have a problem with it," Dillingham said, adding that there were too few veterans and active-duty personnel to mean that a preference for them would effectively discriminate against others. But, he added, "In the best of all worlds, everybody would get on the beach free."

Ducey said the idea of a residents' discount had been an afterthought of the military preference, following requests by residents that they pay less for beach badges because it was their property taxes alone, not those of out-of-towners, that were paying the lifeguards, beach attendants and other costs of operating Brick beaches.

Other provisions of the amended beach ordinance that will remain in effect include an increase in the cost of one-day beach badges, from $5 to $8, though the price of seasonal passes will remain at $25 if purchased before June 15, or $30 after that.

While the ordinance may please veterans, service members and advocates for universal beach access, Ducey harbored no illusions that his taxpaying constituents might be consoled by the knowledge that they would not, or at least should not, pay more than residents of other towns when going to the beach outside of Brick.

"I don't think they're going to look at it that way," he said.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook