SANDY HOOK - Looking to kick back on the beach with a cold beer this summer? Not anymore.

Park officials have banned alcoholic beverages on Sandy Hook ahead of the summer season, citing issues with excessive drinking that have caused a number of incidents in the park in recent years.

"Sandy Hook has become a party beach," Chief Ranger Greg Norman said in a news release. "People don't come here for a beer, they come here for a six pack."

The new restriction was announced Tuesday in a news release from the Gateway National Recreation Area, the federally owned park that includes Sandy Hook. Sandy Hook's shore was the last public beach in New Jersey that still allowed alcoholic beverages, officials said.

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To justify the new restrictions, officials said people have been badly hurt in alcohol-related incidents within the last three years.

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A man who had been drinking fell 4 feet off a loading dock, believing it was a shortcut between the snack area and the bathroom. Waves washed over a man's head after he passed out in the sand. A motor vehicle accident injured four people at the park; two were hurt so severely they had to be airlifted to the hospital.

The incidents all occurred between 2016 and 2018, officials said. In all, there were some 328 alcohol-related issues on Sandy Hook over that three-year span.

“Alcohol consumption in combination with summer heat and water-based activities can present a deadly situation for visitors,” Gateway Superintendent Jen Nersesian said in a statement. “The safety of our visitors is our number one priority, and we feel this change will help promote this.”

The change will not affect weddings at the Sandy Hook Chapel or others who obtain permits for private events.

Park spokeswoman Daphne Yun said officials will primarily "focus on education" in the first summer of the ban and violators will most likely only receive a warning. But Yun said repeat offenders will be issued a citation, a $50 fine on the first offense and a $100 fine on the second offense.

Yun said park officials had been discussing implementing the ban for the last few years.

The park also banned smoking on Sandy Hook, except in designated smoking areas in all parking lots.

Officials said the new restrictions bring the park in line with other public beaches in New Jersey. Last year, Gov. Phil Murphy enacted a smoking ban for all local and state-owned beaches in the state.

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Andrew Goudsward: @AGoudsward; 732-897-4555; agoudsward@gannettnj.com

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