Middletown’s Mayor Shares Insights On Development

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By Joseph Sapia
MIDDLETOWN – Mayor Gerard P. Scharfenberger held court at the recent township Land Development Forum – combining thoughts on land-use planning, outlining development and answering questions.
“Middletown is a large town,” Scharfenberger said. “But it’s not growing as you may think.”
Scharfenberger said the population remains flat – an estimated 66,000 in 2015, according to the state Department of Labor.
About 35 people attended the township Land Development Forum, held Wednesday, May 25, at the township Arts Center.
“How we go forward is going to have an impact on how our town looks and feels,” said Laura Orriols, who lives in the Chapel Hill section.
Steve Lunanuova, 41, who lives in the Ivy Hill section, said he attended the forum because he was “concerned about the overdevelopment’’ in the township.
Both Lunanuova and John Krug, 35, also of the Ivy Hill section, expressed a concern about how development may impact overcrowding in the schools The two have young children, ranging from pre-kindergarten age to 2nd grade.
The number of school children has declined, now about about 9,800 compared with about 13,000 in the 1970s, Scharfenberger said.
The mayor said municipalities are not allowed to zone out property to the point it diminishes value to where nothing can be done with it. He said the township includes 5,000 to 6,000 acres of preserved land owned by the township, county or state. Sandy Hook, owned by the federal government, would be approximately another 2,000 acres.
An issue that came up was development versus redevelopment. Some questioned why to allow more while buildings stand vacant.
But Scharfenberger said the township cannot stop a developer from coming in with new projects. “Bad business models are not against the law,” Scharfenberger said.
“This is my favorite question, ‘Why doesn’t Middletown prohibit the building of new office buildings or retail space until all existing vacant spaces are filled?’” Scharfenberger said. “If you want to build a stagecoach repair shop on Route 35, you can do that.”
Also, Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante said state law does not allow Planning Boards to determine development by traffic. However, developers may have to make traffic improvements.
On the table now, according to Scharfenberger are:
— The former Pathmark supermarket site on Route 35 is being redeveloped with Bed, Bath and Beyond and TJ Maxx stores coming in. “Everything is going to be re-done, landscaping,” Scharfenberger said. “It’s going to be beautiful.”
— The Four Ponds’ 228 townhouses are being developed on the former Avaya property on Middletown-Lincroft Road.
— The Estates at Bamm Hollow, a development of 190 homes, is being developed in the Sunnyside Road area.
— Middletown, as are other towns, is waiting to see how state Superior Court rules on affordable housing mandates for municipalities. The township’s position is it already has more than enough affordable housing units to meet state requirements.
— Part of the problem with redeveloping Route 36 is that good part of the customer-reach radius is open water, meaning no customers living there. The township is doing a Route 36 study, using $70,000 from the federal government for post-Super Storm Sandy relief, and it should be done by the end of the year.
— Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital is in the process of moving into the former Lucent site on Red Hill Road and operating outpatient services.
— The township is working on redevelopment plans for the corner of Port Monmouth Road and Ocean Avenue and at the Belford Seaport.
One of the things Schargenberger said could not be discussed was John Orrico/Village 35 LP’s Shoppes at Middletown, a proposed 340,000 square feet of commercial space at Route 35 North and Kings Highway, because it is before the township Planning Board. An application by Toll Brothers has also been made for 350 townhouses on the tract to complement the commercial proposal.
Although Jersey Central Power and Light Company’s $75 million proposal to upgrade its transmission lines between Aberdeen and Red Bank was not on the agenda, Lunanuova and Krug raised concerns.
“Some say it’s a (health) concern, others say it’s not,” Krug said. “We’d rather not be guinea pigs.”
JCP&L proposes the new transmission line along the North Jersey Coast Line railroad right-of-way.
JCP&L is to conduct information sessions: Tuesday, June 7, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., in the Student Life Center’s Navesink Rooms 1 and 2 at Brookdale Community College, Route 520, Middletown; Wednesday, June 8, 10 a.m. to noon, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2179, Middletown; and Wednesday, June 8, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the North Centerville Fire Company No. 1, 372 Middle Road, Hazlet.
“Alternative power sources can be used and they’re not,” Lunanuova said.