Residents oppose city's land swap
DEP asked to keep Ocean Ave. parcels as Green Acres
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

A group of Long Branch residents is asking the state Department of Environmental Protection to turn down the city's request to swap Green Acres parcels.

The residents traveled to Trenton Monday to present petitions bearing almost 4,000 signatures of people opposed to the opening of portions of Ocean Avenue to vehicular traffic.

Bill McLaughlin, Ocean Avenue, along with five other city residents, met with a representative of DEP's Green Acres program June 4 to ask that the department turn down the city's application to permit traffic flow along the oceanfront on portions of Ocean Avenue that are now closed to traffic and used as recreational space.

"People use this space," said McLaughlin Tuesday. "We don't want it open."

McLaughlin has been instrumental in circulating a petition to rescind resolution 130-07, which was adopted by the City Council in May. The resolution authorizes the city to request that the DEP remove portions of Ocean Avenue from the Green Acres open space inventory.

The roadway, which has been listed as green acres and closed to vehicular traffic for more than 20 years, currently serves as a community recreational area for walking, running and biking, according to McLaughlin.

On Monday, McLaughlin and James Keelen, Vincent Lepore, Dennis Sherman, Stuart Bockler and Robert Kenyon met with the DEP's David Smith, of the Green Acres program, to present a petition bearing more than 3,800 signatures in support of having resolution 130-07 rescinded. "

The petitions show you how many people are against this," McLaughlin said. "That piece of property is considered a jewel.

"We showed [Smith] everything," McLaughlin said, adding, "We showed who uses [Ocean Avenue], the mothers with their children, the handicapped. We were told that is what Green Acres is all about."

McLaughlin said the group also presented a plan to keep the roadway closed and provide parking on side streets along Ocean Avenue to allow for better access to the oceanfront.

Smith could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

According to McLaughlin, Smith said at the meeting that he also received more than 1,500 e-mails and a number of phone calls protesting the proposal to open the beachfront stretch to traffic.

"We left there feeling very positive," McLaughlin said.

Currently the DEP is reviewing a pre-application from Long Branch to remove 3.10 acres of Ocean Avenue from Green Acres status and in return, replace them with 6.19 acres of city-owned parcels to be listed as Green Acres.

In exchange for portions of Ocean Avenue, the city is proposing to donate approximately four acres of the Great Lawn in Pier Village and approximately two acres of the walking and bicycle path on the east side of Ocean Boulevard.

"This is not what the public wants," McLaughlin said.

According to McLaughlin, the DEP was scheduled to hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss the application.

A public hearing on the proposal could be held in the fall, McLaughlin said.