Group continues to fight Monmouth U expansion
Residents petition N.J. Supreme Court to reverse lower courts
BY CHRISTINE VARNP
Staff Writer

A group of West Long Branch residents have taken their opposition to a Monmouth University expansion project to the state Supreme Court.

After losing their case in state Superior Court, and most recently failing in the state Appellate Division, some 35 borough residents are asking the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court rulings upholding the West Long Branch Zoning Board's approval of the university's expansion plans.

In the brief filed in support of their petition for certification, the residents claim that the potential for conflicts of interest existed among several members of the Zoning Board who voted and ultimately approved the project.

"We are arguing that this is a question of general public importance," said Joseph Hughes of Pinewood Avenue, one of the plaintiffs, in an interview last week.

"The Supreme Court does not have to look at the case," he said. "If they say yes, then they will look at the record of the Appellate Division. They can grant oral arguments, in addition, but they don't have to."

"We are not anti-university," Hughes added. "This is about having confidence in our government."

The residents are being represented by James M. Siciliano of West Long Branch, and Hughes, who is also an attorney, said he assisted in preparing the brief.

Monmouth University released a statement in response to the Supreme Court petition last week, stating that Monmouth officials are "surprised" by the action.

"We understand it is [Hughes'] right to try to convince the Supreme Court to hear this case," the statement reads.

"We believe that the Zoning Board decision will stand and are committed to moving forward with plans for the new residence hall that considers the needs of our current student population and our neighbors."

The residents are seeking that the higher court determine whether the relationships of several of the Zoning Board members to the university are "personal involvements" that "might reasonably be expected to impair his or her objectivity or independence of judgment," according to the brief filed.

Such conflicts include Board Chairman Rocco Christopher, who the plaintiffs claim had a financial involvement with the university at the time he presided over the hearings.

"Christopher's tuition payment to the university for his daughter's attendance at the school in 2003 was reduced by approximately one-third," according the brief. "In addition, Christopher acknowledged that he made ongoing payments to the applicant during the course of the hearings."

Another member with a potential conflict, according to the brief, is board Secretary Irven Miller, who made contributions to the university alumni association in the past and continued to do so during the course of the hearings, the brief states.

"Miller's personal involvement is established through a series of checks written to the applicant; his deposition testimony; and his admission during the hearings that he is a current contributor to the applicant," the brief states.

Additionally, the brief states that members of Miller's family hold four degrees from Monmouth University. Miller was also once employed by the university and is a donator, according to the brief.

Further, board member Robert Springman, along with Christopher and Miller, are graduates of Monmouth University.

"The personal involvement of both Secretary Miller and Chairman Christopher revealed in the record clearly establish that the potential for conflict existed sufficient to create suspicion in the minds of the residents of West Long Branch, inasmuch as these residents attended the hearings and raised their specific concerns regarding these conflicts," according to the brief.

"The residents of West Long Branch are entitled to feel confident that their officials will recuse themselves if they are in a position which would create a potential for conflict," the brief states.

In a 5-1 vote, the borough Zoning Board granted approval to Monmouth University in August 2005 to build a 196-bed dormitory residence hall at the corner of Cedar and Pinewood avenues near three existing dormitories.

Plans also include a 21-stall parking lot, six tennis courts and a detention basin to be constructed on the site of the former Kilkare Farm off Beechwood Avenue, which the university purchased to accommodate its planned expansion.

The sites of the expansion fall within a residential R-22 zone.

In January 2006, the group of residents filed a suit against the Zoning Board and the university, and Judge Alexander Lehrer ruled in October 2006, giving the university the green light on the project.

In the suit, the residents argued the potential for conflicts and additionally claimed that the expansion project would have a detrimental effect on the quality of life in the neighborhood.

"[Kilkare Farm] is a beautiful piece of open space in West Long Branch," Hughes said. "We do not have much open space in West Long Branch.

"The proposed uses of the university are inconsistent with [the zoning] of the borough," he explained. "[The plans] are an attack on the quality of life.

"It is important to preserve open space," Hughes said.

Hughes said the residents additionally recommended that rather than expand on its campus, the university should expand through satellite campuses.

The residents appealed Lehrer's decision in December 2006, and earlier this month the appellate court upheld the trial court decision in favor of the project.

"Both the trial court and the Appellate Division erred in concluding that none of the involvements could reasonably be expected to impair the board members' objectivity or independence of judgment," the brief states.

Hughes added, "We want good things for the university. But we want good things for the town and we want to have confidence in our officials."