The 172-acre WellSpring Stables property, located at 318-322 Route 537 across from Eastmont Orchards in Colts Neck, abuts Naval Weapons Station Earle’s Normandy Road. VIA GOOGLEMAPS
By Sunayana Prabhu
COLTS NECK – Three large parcels in the township have been rezoned to comply with the state’s affordable housing obligations.
The three parcels, which include 68 Obre Road, 318- 322 Route 537 (WellSpring Stables) and 151 Dutch Lane Road, will together bring 864 residential units in the township; 171 of those will be affordable.
Rezoning of the Dutch Lane Road and the WellSpring Stables property was adopted “under protest,” to be appealed at a compliance hearing scheduled for Dec. 6.
The township committee voted during the Sept. 23 special meeting to adopt the three rezoning ordinances to comply with a court deadline set to expire at the end of September. Missing the deadline would mean losing the state’s immunity from builder’s remedy lawsuits that allow developers to bypass municipal zoning powers. Overriding local zoning restrictions can result in more development.
“We don’t want to do this. We have to do this,” Mayor Michael Viola said. “If we don’t, we lose immunity. Every other property beyond these three will be developed. There are developers who are chomping at the bit to come into Colts Neck and build on 537 and Phalanx and Montrose and everywhere else.”
COURT ORDER SETS TIMELINE
New Jersey’s Fair Share Housing Act stems from the Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel doctrine of the 1980s. It requires municipalities to plan for affordable housing in 10-year cycles called “rounds.”
For the fourth round, covering 2026 through 2035, Colts Neck must provide 101 new affordable units. Township officials have opposed high-density development, citing the community’s rural character and lack of sewer and water infrastructure.
Township special affordable housing counsel Michael Collins explained that the township’s existing immunity from builder’s remedy lawsuits was set to expire Sept. 30 unless the court determined that Colts Neck had complied with its order to rezone the three sites.
“It’s always been the committee’s mindset that maintaining immunity is essential so that the township committee can continue to exercise the zoning power and not have that power pierced by the courts through builder’s remedy litigation,” Collins said.
A Dec. 6 compliance hearing is scheduled after the township receives a compliance certification. Officials plan to appeal the inclusion of the Dutch Lane and WellSpring properties in the affordable housing obligations.
68 OBRE ROAD
The nearly 36-acre tract at 68 Obre Road would have 212 units, 50 of which would be affordable. Developers typically use an 80% market-rate, 20% affordable mix to make inclusionary projects financially viable, township officials said. For the Obre Road parcel, committee member Tara Torchia Buss said the governing body negotiated with the developer, March Associates Construction Inc., for a higher percentage, resulting in an approximately 25% set-aside, along with additional buffers and open space.
WELLSPRING STABLES
Developer Active Acquisitions has proposed high-density development at both the WellSpring Stables and Dutch Lane Road properties. WellSpring Stables is a 172-acre equestrian farm that would hold 263 units, 53 of them affordable. Rezoning this farmland for development drew a lengthy argument due to its proximity to Naval Weapons Station Earle and its rail line.
Viola said the Navy had worked with the township for years on a 3,000-foot setback for high-density residential development and recently expanded its recommended buffer to 1 mile along the rail corridor because of national security and public safety concerns.
“Presumably, the Navy could have attempted under federal law to try and blunt the operation of the Mount Laurel Doctrine and the unique circumstance here in Colts Neck, but they did not do that,” Collins said. Nevertheless, he said the township has included in the ordinance that “land within 3,000 feet of Naval Weapons Station Earl or Normandy Road shall not be developed with townhouse, stacked townhouse, or multifamily housing, except as may reasonably be required to permit up to 263 units.”
Residents who live directly opposite the farm, in the historic Scobeyville section, warned that regrading and paving the site could worsen flooding, threaten shallow wells and permanently alter the township’s agricultural core.
“Our house is literally right in front of WellSpring,” resident Stephanie Wardius said. “That’s the heart of the farmland of this whole community.”
151 DUTCH LANE ROAD
The Dutch Lane Road parcel was among one of the most contentious. The 38.9 acre site will see 389 units, 78 of which will be affordable. The parcel is connected to an existing subdivision near Mockingbird Drive. That subdivision was approved years ago with a “bonus lot” that, according to township officials and neighbors, was intended to remain as farmland or open space, or possibly hold a single affordable unit in the existing farmhouse.
A group of Mockingbird Drive residents have hired attorney Stuart Lieberman to oppose the rezoning. Lieberman told the committee the filed subdivision map adopted under the township’s own cluster zoning ordinance effectively created a deed restriction against further residential development on the remaining farm parcel.
The residents “never anticipated in their wildest dreams that there would be almost 400 homes built here. This is an unintentional betrayal,” Lieberman said.
Collins said township officials intend to raise the issues about the Dutch Lane parcel at the December compliance appeal.
Residents also had environmental concerns and submitted an engineer’s report. According to the report, wetlands, a C-1 stream and related buffers on site could potentially leave as much as half the property undevelopable.
MAJORITY VOTE UNDER PROTEST
The nearly four-hour meeting ended with a 4-1 vote to rezone the three parcels. Tobia voted no on all three ordinances, noting deed restrictions and environmental constraints, among other concerns.
The remaining four members, including Viola, Buss, Frank Rizzuto and Deputy Mayor Dan Buzzetta, said they were also deeply opposed to dense development, but felt they had no realistic choice if they hoped to preserve township wide immunity and then fight the issue in appellate court.
Collins said township officials intend to raise the issues about the Dutch Lane parcel at the December compliance appeal.
“For the record, I am ashamed that I am going to vote yes on this,” Buss said. “But I do have hope that by doing this it gets us to where we need to be in the future as a group.”
Viola called the state’s affordable housing obligations “a travesty,” but said refusing to adopt the ordinances would lead to worse outcomes.
“If we vote no, tomorrow morning the developer is going to march into court and say ‘builder’s remedy,’ ” Viola said. “We may have won the battle, but we would have lost the war.”
This article originally appeared in the October 1-7, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
