By Allison Perrine
COLTS NECK – Despite much pushback from township residents, environmental groups and some planning board members, a proposal to construct 360 residential units atop vacant land along Route 537 was approved last Wednesday.
The project brought by Colts Neck Building Associates – a subsidiary of Kushner Companies – was met with reluctance by board members for several reasons: proposed density, location, an unfamiliar underground septic system under asphalt and traffic. Dozens of members of the public also objected to it.
But because the township is required to comply with state-mandated affordable housing obligations, the board approved the application in a 7-to-2 vote, rejected only by board chairwoman Andrea D’Eletto and vice chairman John Tobia.
“I’m trying to keep my emotions at bay and listen to what I’m being asked to vote on, and my emotions are very, very high,” said Deputy Mayor J.P. Bartolomeo before voting in favor of the application. “Everything is conforming to what can be built there,” he said. He couldn’t “find another reason to combat” the plans despite his concerns about the number of buildings proposed, elevators within them and more.
In 2015, the applicant proposed to build 48 upscale townhomes at the site but complications arose due to the township’s lack of water and sewer lines necessary for the project. The latest proposal for the project, dubbed The Colts Neck Manor, now calls for the construction of 360 one- and two-bedroom residential units on the 39.575-acre property, as well as a pool and clubhouse. The units will be divided among 15 residential buildings with eight units per level and 24 units per building. Of the total units, 72 will be deemed affordable and could go for about $1,000 to $1,300 a month, depending on size, judging by current standards. The market-rate rentals could go for between $2,200 and $2,700 per month.
The long-vacant property sits near streams like Yellow Brook and tributaries of a reservoir, which is why several residents, organizations and board members voiced concerns about the potential environmental impacts the construction could present. As part of the plans, the applicant will install an Amphidrome wastewater treatment system under pavement. According to the Amphidrome manual, is “a submerged attached growth bioreactor process operating in a batch mode” which is “a deep-bed sand filter designed for the simultaneous removal of soluble organic matter, nitrogen and suspended solids within a single reactor.” It will be the first known system of its kind under pavement in New Jersey but it is used elsewhere, including in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Resident Kedar Phadke said he and other township residents alike are “extremely concerned” that the board has not hired any external engineers to come look at the plan “to ensure” that such a system is safe.
“This is our drinking water,” he said. “We’re all your neighbors and if you want hard evidence as to how we feel about this, just look at the last election; our two board members ran unopposed and they got less than 50 percent of the vote. More than half the people in this town are so displeased they would rather vote for a blank line than vote for people who supported this plan.”
Similarly, resident Anthony Costa said he was shocked to learn that the board did not hire an independent engineer to analyze the underground system proposed. He suggested that the project be “delayed until more emphatic information is obtained” by an independent engineer.
“There’s no reason why we have to have 360 units on property that is so close to wetlands and subject to the Swimming River tributaries,” Costa said.
Organizations have also taken issue with the proposed system, including Sierra Club New Jersey. In a letter to the board signed by club legislative committee member Christopher Hitchcock, he stated that the group is “very concerned about the environmental impacts of the development.” He suggested that, should the board approve the application, the applicant should be required to carry environmental impairment liability insurance coverage of $20 million to cover potential repairs and related costs; conduct periodic testing to measure any parking lot runoff of contaminants such as oils or brake fluids; ensure FEMA requirements are met; and request that FEMA update the flood mapping for Yellow Brook.
“After multiple hearings, Kushner has elected to offer very little to prove the reliability and durability of Colts Neck Manor’s onsite Amphidrome wastewater treatment facility. In fact, what we have learned is disturbing,” the letter states.
Board member David Kostka, who chairs the township’s environmental commission, said while the decision was “very difficult” and he did not agree with “many aspects” of the plan, the township must provide affordable housing through a court-approved settlement agreement that if not met could open the township to builder’s remedy lawsuits.
“It’s not a pleasant situation for any of us but we’re residents of this town as well and there’s nobody more concerned about the environmental aspects and water than I am as chairperson of the environmental commission,” said Kostka. “We also have to realize that this entire community is an environmentally sensitive area and just about any place we place an affordable housing situation, we’re going to have some of the same concerns.”
Aside from environmental impacts, traffic was another major point of concern voiced at the Dec. 1 meeting. Resident Marie Tilton, for example, fears the project will bring a significant increase in vehicles to the already busy Route 537 county road near her home.
“You’re going to introduce tons of more cars onto the highway? We already have accidents. I have to be careful when I call delivery drivers because I’ve had accidents when people are coming in and out of my driveway without additional traffic,” she said.
Attorney John Giunco, who represented the applicant, said because Route 537 is a county road, the project will “comply with county requirements” and suggested that she direct her questions to the county.
At the end of a four-plus-hour meeting, board members cast their votes that led to the 7-2 decision. Before opting against the plans, Tobia said during previous testimony the applicant’s team was “hiding behind” the township’s requirement to provide affordable housing and using it as an excuse to not implement some of the suggested changes to the plans from the board or residents. Specifically, he called out the team’s unwillingness to modify the site layout to address ingress and egress traffic concerns.
“I believe that the current configuration of the layout is going to create an unsafe condition for residents of the new facility along with existing residents in the town,” said Tobia, adding that the applicant’s traffic expert “was substandard” and did not go far enough “to address some of the blatant safety concerns that are going to be created in this section of the township” which he believes local police will have to deal with in the future.
Mayor Michael Viola said, “like everyone in Colts Neck,” he too is “very concerned about this project,” specifically its magnitude, potential public safety issues and underground septic system. “But I have to keep this in a nonemotional state,” he said, and voted yes.
The article originally appeared in the December 9 – 15, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
