Residents of Sea Bright should be happy about the state’s latest bureaucratic meddling in the borough.

Because the state Department of Environmental Protection has stepped in to hold up the deal, the borough has been — at least temporarily — prevented from making a land swap that could only be considered a good deal if your last name is Mulheren.

The Borough Council has spent nearly a year trying to give Chapel Beach Club owners, John and Nancy Mulheren, of Rumson, a 1.34-acre stretch of prime land that they can use to expand their business.

In exchange, the borough would receive a parcel less than half that size and $300,000 in cash. Council members say they want Mulheren’s property because it is particularly well-suited for a new municipal complex.

What they have not explained is why they think the land swap is the right way to go about this, and why the value of the land they are seeking to give seems to be significantly undervalued.

In total, the Mulherens seem to be paying about $975,000 for a piece of land that, based on recent real estate transactions in the borough, is probably worth close to $3 million.

Such a seemingly lopsided transaction raises uncomfortable questions about borough officials at a time when many residents are already uncomfortable with their conduct.

At the council’s last meeting, the members finally did away with a redevelopment plan that had many residents questioning their integrity.

Regarding that plan, recently appointed Councilwoman Dina Long said, "I’ve been following this for six months, and it’s very clear that people are not confident about their government and thought there were backroom deals."

It does not seem unreasonable that residents would put this attempted land swap into the same category.

The parcel the council wants to trade was carved out of an existing lot months before any deal was made public.

A few months after the deal was disclosed, the borough changed the zoning on the land to specifically permit use as a beach club.

Because the deal was structured as a trade rather than a sale of borough land, there was no competitive bidding for the parcel.

The only thing keeping the deal from going through so far has been the borough’s arrangement with the DEP that the land remain public as a condition of beach replenishment.