Vacant property at 37-45 Leonardville Road in Middletown will soon become a space for affordable housing for veterans.
Photo by Allison Perrine
MIDDLETOWN – A vacant lot in the Belford section of Middletown has been selected by the township as a future home for veterans.
As approved by the township committee Tuesday night, Jan. 21, Middletown will purchase the vacant lot at 37-45 Leonardville Road for $335,000 to provide 100 percent affordable housing units for income-eligible veterans. It will be paid for entirely through the township’s affordable housing trust fund with no borrowing, the township said. The town has not yet closed on the property.
Middletown is currently pushing back against state-mandated Mount Laurel affordable housing obligations that the township believes are unreasonable. In July 2019 the township attorney applied for an order of dismissal in Middletown’s New Jersey Superior Court proceedings, which began in July 2015. It leaves the township vulnerable to builder’s remedy lawsuits.
“When we withdrew from the Fair Share Housing negotiations…I promised and stated emphatically that I would not turn my back on those in need,” said Mayor Tony Perry. But he said he wouldn’t let a nonprofit that has never “stepped foot” in Middletown dictate what the town needs to do.
“This is a great project,” and it “should be emulated across the county and across the state.”
The site is close to Campbell’s Junction, churches, restaurants, a bank, a bus stop, convenience stores and the Carvel ice cream shop, which makes it the “perfect location” for the housing, said Deputy Mayor Tony Fiore. “I think we get a bad rep about affordable housing. We’re not opposed to affordable housing. We’re for affordable housing, especially when it makes great sense,” he said. “New Jersey is not an easy place to afford as you age,” Fiore added, “and I think this can have a tremendous impact to keep them here.”
The property is currently owned by EZ Quick Food Store, Inc. It is the former site of a gas station that has long been abandoned and overgrown.Once the township closes on the property the existing building will be demolished. The township expects to be able to share a rendering of the planned building around Memorial Day.
The exact number and design of the units have not yet been determined, but township administrator Tony Mercantante estimated that there will be about eight to 12 units with a mixture of single and double bedrooms. The township plans to partner with the Middletown Housing Authority to manage the site. They currently manage hundreds of affordable housing units, he said.
Perry added that while this is not finalized, the township is planning to offer the housing to township area veterans first, then to Monmouth County veterans and then to state veterans. But nothing is set in stone yet in terms of who is eligible.
Current income limits are: one person of low income, $36,082; one person of moderate income, $57,732; two-person low, $38,660; and two-person moderate, $65,979. They change slightly each year, Mercantante added.
Committeeman Rick Hibell, who lives nearby in the Belford section of Middletown, said the property “has been an eyesore” since he was a young child. “This is a big thing, a great thing for this town, so I’m excited to see this happening.”
Nearby resident Don Watson warned the committee that the site was at one time a hazardous wetland, but Perry said the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued a letter before 2009 stating that the site had been cleaned up.
“The current owner has provided us a copy of that (letter),” he said, and they are working with the NJDEP to ensure that everything is clean and up to par. “We’ll obviously do the proper due diligence on all the other environmental aspects of that piece of property,” said Perry. He made the motion to approve the ordinance, which passed unanimously.
Port Monmouth section resident Carmen Peterson expressed her approval. She is the president of the VFW Auxiliary Department of New Jersey and her father served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. “Housing for our veterans is very important, especially for those with low income. It’s a shame that a country like this lets our veterans stay homeless now in the streets. And I’m very happy that we’re doing this,” she said.
Earlier in the meeting the committee took the time to honor two Middletown residents.
The honors started with Robert Clancy, who on the morning of Dec. 18 saved his neighbor, a disabled veteran, from a house fire in their North Middletown neighborhood. Clancy accomplished this at great personal risk and without the protection of proper equipment.
“Despite the danger that that was going to bring upon him potentially, Mr. Clancy went into that home and ensured the safety of his neighbor and pulled him to safety,” said Perry. He awarded Clancy a Life Saving Valor Award for his efforts.
Next, veteran Dennis Beauregard was honored as the 2019 Distinguished Citizen of the Year. He has been the president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 12 for 26 years and he was the state president for four years. He has been an active community member supporting local VFWs, veterans monuments in town, veterans job fairs and much more.
“The Township Committee is honored to have this opportunity to recognize Dennis Beauregard for his unwavering commitment to Middletown Township and his fellow veterans. His faithful, community-minded spirit continues to pave a pathway for those who should and never will be forgotten,” the award reads.
