Feds Subpoena Seaside Heights Over Carousel-Beach Swap: Report

SEASIDE HEIGHTS - The U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark wants to see all records dealing with a 2015 beach-swap between the borough and the owners of Casino Pier.

Seaside Heights received the subpoena on June 20. The borough has until 9:30 a.m. on July 13, to turn the records over, according to app.com

The swap involved the 1.37-acre beach parcel between Sheridan and Sherman avenues that abutted the north side of the Casino Pier property. That parcel went to the owners of Casino Pier — AFMV, LLC, the company of the Storino family, according to earlier Patch reports.

In exchange, Seaside Heights received the historic Dentzel Looff carousel that was built in 1910 and has been in the borough since 1932, plus a parcel of land at Sampson and Carteret avenues. Additionally, a 67-acre piece of land just west of the Garden State Parkway and north of Route 37 became protected open space.

The American Littoral Society and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging the transfer of 1.37 acres of beach to a private developer and called the proposal "outrageous."

"This is the first time any of us can remember a recreational, public beach being traded away to a private developer," Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, has said. "The Green Acres program is intended to preserve such natural resources and recreational opportunities for everyone, not to place them into the hands of private developers."

The transfer was approved in late June 2016 by the State House Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The Dentzel/Loof Carousel at Casino Pier. By Karen Wall, Patch Staff