Property transfer details in Highlands unearthed ALYSSA PASSEGGIO, Senior Staff Writer,The Courier, May 8 Posted:05/09/08
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When the Highlands Council transferred the South Bay Beach to the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) last fall something seemed to slip under the radar: some extra properties.
The council adopted the ordinance conveying the beach, also known as Parcel 123, on Sept. 27, 2007. Three deeds were referenced in the ordinance and were listed as "Exhibits 1, 2 and 3" on the document.
Although the ordinance only authorized the conveyance of Parcel 123, the properties under the north side of the bridge, or Parcel 122, were also transferred to the state agency. There is no ordinance on record authorizing the transfer of Parcel 122 to the DOT, according to borough officials.
Borough Clerk Nina Light Flannery said she did not write the ordinance or the transfer and, therefore, could not answer a question regarding the transfer.
The referenced deeds, which should have been attached to the ordinance in September, were unsigned and undated. But Flannery and former Mayor Richard O’Neil had already signed two of the original deeds. The deeds were dated Aug. 17 and were recorded in the Monmouth County Clerk's Office on Aug. 28.
Councilwoman Nancy Burton said she did not remember seeing the signed deeds before the vote to convey the property to the DOT. She had voted against the transfer.
Flannery said that, as exhibits, the documents would not have been signed or dated. Traditionally, the deeds would not have been signed before an ordinance was adopted, as council authorization is required for the transfer of borough property.
The undated and unsigned documents produced as exhibits did have a fax report on the top of the page dated Sept. 12, 2007 from a number that matches a fax number on DOT letterhead.
DOT Director of Communications Erin Phalon said she could not answer questions relating to the property due to current litigation.
The Parcel 122 properties have been the focus of attention since its transfer to the DOT, without an authorizing ordinance, last August. Members of a grassroots group objecting to the DOT's replacement of the Route 36 bridge also filed a request for summary relief that characterized the Parcel 122 deed as “void.”
The lawyer representing the group, Stuart Lieberman, requested the DOT be evicted from the property. The summary judgment is scheduled to be heard at the Monmouth County Superior Court on May 30 at 9 a.m.
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