Aaron denies conflict in Green Acres proposal Residents see breach in partners' interest in oceanfront property BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer Some Long Branch residents are charging City Attorney James Aaron with conflict of interest in a recent proposal by the city to reopen portions of Ocean Avenue to vehicular traffic. The supposed conflict exists between Aaron's representation of the city while partners in his law firm have partial ownership in property that fronts a section of Ocean Avenue that is slated to be reopened to traffic. "Members of your firm own that property," Belmont Avenue resident James Keelen told Aaron at the June 12 council meeting, referring to the Diplomat apartment building at 560 Ocean Ave. "They applied for a beach club at the Diplomat," Keelen continued. "What is going on here?" Aaron confirmed that his law partners, David K. Ansell and Richard B. Ansell, are partners in ABAB Enterprises which, along with Brott Realty Co., in which John A. Brockriede is a principal, owns the Diplomat. Plans were submitted to the city's Planning Board last year by applicant Wharton Acquisition to construct two four-story, mid-rise buildings containing approximately 75 residential units with retail at the lower level at the site of the Diplomat. The project was denied. The Diplomat property is located between Brighton and West End Avenues and fronts one of the three sections of Ocean Avenue the city is proposing to remove from Green Acres inventory and re-open to vehicular traffic. Aaron stated at the meeting that he was unaware of any involvement his partners had in the Diplomat property. After the meeting, he said he looked into the matter and learned that the Ansells had partial ownership in the Diplomat. But, he insisted no conflict exists. "There has never been a matter involving the Diplomat that has been before the city," Aaron said in an interview last week. "And any application that has gone before the Planning Board, the Diplomat wasn't the applicant," he said. "The application was by a prospective purchaser." Aaron explained that several of his law partners invested in a number of properties throughout the city in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Diplomat. "I didn't join the firm until 1996," he said. "I haven't given any advice on the Diplomat and I wrote a letter [to the city] saying please do not ask any advice dealing with the property." Resident Denise Hoagland, Ocean Terrace, said at the meeting that she feels a conflict exists. "I am awestruck by the fact that I directly asked Mr. Aaron will, or can, or if, the city could sell the Green Acres property to a developer and he said all probability is unlikely," Hoagland said. "After I looked at this deed [for the Diplomat property] and the application to the planning board ... I can't believe that he would have the audacity to answer my question with this conflict." Council voted 4-0 at its May 8 municipal meeting to support an application to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to re-open sections of Ocean Avenue. For more than 20 years, 3.10 acres of Ocean Avenue has been listed as Green Acres and has been used as a recreational area along the oceanfront. In exchange for the roadway, the city plans to donate 6.19 acres of city owned "green" parcels to be listed as Green Acres. Councilman Brian Unger was absent from that meeting, but said in a press release this month that he does not back the city's proposal for the green acres swap at this point. "As much as I would like to see Ocean Avenue improved and spruced up, I think the city's plan is fraught with too many downside risks," Unger said. "For one, private development is pending at the southern end of the zone at Brighton Avenue and I can't commit to opening a road for commercial development there. "Secondly, we don't have a firm commitment on boardwalk funding, which is roughly a $12 million price tag," he said in the release. Several city residents, lead by Ocean Avenue resident Bill McLaughlin, agree with Unger and say that the roadway is flooded with joggers, walkers, cyclists and families. According to McLaughlin, residents opposed to the city's proposal have garnered more than 3,800 signatures on petitions and also have met with the Department of Environmental Protection in an effort to defeat the city's swap application. In addition to re-opening Ocean Avenue at the Diplomat, the city's proposal also calls for re-opening the roadway between Howland Avenue to South Bath Avenue and between Madison to Ocean Terrace. The city is proposing to swap approximately four acres of property at the Great Lawn in Pier Village and approximately two acres of the walking and bicycle path on the east side of Ocean Boulevard for the roadway sections that it wants removed from the Green Acres program.