TRENTON, NJ — The AARP wants New Jersey regulators to investigate Verizon’s plan not to bring wired phone lines back to one shore town badly battered by Hurricane Sandy.

The group made the request Monday to the state Board of Public Utilities.

“The New Jersey coast has been battered enough. The last thing we need is second-class phone service at the shore,” AARP lobbyist Douglas Johnston said.

He added that not bringing landlines back to the town of Mantoloking could “further the gap between the telecommunications haves and have-nots.”

Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski noted that Sandy damaged the old telephone copper-wire network in the community beyond repair.

He said the company does not intend to rebuild the lines or bring in a fiber-optic cable system.

“This is typical over-the-top, the-sky-is-falling rhetoric from the AARP,” he said.

“Verizon’s goal is to provide our customers with the best service, with the best technology.”