By Sunayana Prabhu
COLTS NECK – Not many residents are gushing over an additional water tower being proposed by Gordon’s Corner Water company on the Colts Neck-Marlboro township border. The water company is seeking variance approvals from the Marlboro Zoning Board to construct a new tower in order to complete maintenance on the existing one. But some residents claim that is only a cover-up and the new tower will be used to pump water down Route 537 to Colts Neck Manor, a proposed residential project by Colts Neck Building Associates – a subsidiary of Kushner Companies, owned by Jared Kushner.
“Nobody – no municipality – builds a new water tank just for maintenance of its existing tank,” said Marlboro resident Marcos Caspento, whose property on School Road abuts the existing water tower property and the site where the new water tower construction is proposed at 9 Mohawk Drive, Marlboro.
While the existing water tower is surrounded by trees, the new one is going to stick out like “a sore thumb,” said Caspento, who built his house last year. “It is going to impact me and my neighbors’ property value.”
In the business of construction and water main work himself, Caspento explained there are “other means to do maintenance of tanks,” which usually requires emptying the tank to check for corrosion or contamination and then repainting it from the inside. The whole process takes roughly three months. In those three months, the town undergoing water tank maintenance borrows water from interconnected waterlines of neighboring towns.
In August, Gordon’s Corner Water applied for a variance to construct the additional water tower in Marlboro Township. The application indicated the purpose for the water tower was maintenance requirements of the existing tower.
Since then, “Gordon Water has started installing 12-inch water main pipe down School Road towards Colts Neck,” said Caspento, who insists the only reason Gordon’s Corner Water is asking Marlboro for a variance to erect another tower is “so that they can feed water to Colts Neck because they’re adding 300 homes for Kushner’s project.
“They’re saying that they need it for maintenance and fire protection, but it’s not true because they need to supply water down the road or else they won’t have the pressure,” he said.
The Colts Neck Planning Board approved Colts Neck Manor, a 360-unit residential development situated on a 40-acre parcel along Route 537, in December 2021, despite pushback from residents, in part because the township is required to comply with state-mandated affordable housing obligations. The board approved the application in a 7-to-2 vote, with board chair Andrea D’Eletto and vice chair John Tobia casting the dissenting votes.
However, it is not affordable housing but responsible development that concerns certain environmental agencies. “We officially support affordable housing, but this site is not a good site for anything,” said Kip Cherry, conservation chair of the Sierra Club Central Jersey executive committee. Cherry said the Kushner site has “major safety problems.”
Environmentalists have voiced concerns over the potential environmental impacts of construction on the long-vacant property that is deemed “sensitive,” in close proximity to streams like Yellow Brook and tributaries of the Swimming River Reservoir which provides drinking water for 300,000 people in Monmouth County. The large amount of impervious groundcover at Colts Neck Manor could contaminate surrounding water, including the most sensitive C1 tributary which forms the water supply, with automotive fluids, salts and other contaminants, causing pollution of the reservoir, local ground waters and, ultimately, private wells.
Colts Neck is essentially a “steward of water,” Cherry noted. The township has high water tables and a number of residents depend on underground wells. “If there was a contamination that got into the underground water system, it would be a major problem for Colts Neck,” she said.
Cherry further added that the water supply lines are being installed by Gordon’s Corner Water without responsive mitigation from the Department of Environmental Protection or Marlboro Township. She also explained that the project developer withdrew from connecting to a public wastewater treatment facility in Freehold – or any other town – to cut expenses and instead set up a “package plant” that would manage wastewater from the development right on the property. If there is any damage to the operational facility or flooding, there will be major water contamination and “all towns are going to be negatively impacted,” Cherry said.
Gordon’s Corner Water’s chief operational officer Erik Olsen did not respond to repeated requests for comment by press time and, because representatives were not present at the Oct. 25 Marlboro Zoning Board meeting, the water company’s application was carried forward to January 2023.
The proposed construction of Colts Neck Manor entails 360 one- and two-bedroom residential units, 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.
“We have essentially a war going on in the Southwest where there is no water,” Cherry said, citing reports of a water crisis in Arizona as the Colorado River sinks to its lowest levels and the area enters the second decade of a megadrought. Homeowners in some Arizona towns have been notified by the government they will have no water supply from Jan. 1, 2023.
While the situation may not be as dire in Colts Neck, “water is a very limited resource,” Cherry said. “It needs to be stewarded. It needs to be taken care of.”
The article originally appeared in the November 3 – 9, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
