Concerns Aired About Potters Farm Plans

2096

By Allison Perrine

ALLISON PERRINE
At a Dec. 1 meeting of the Holmdel Township Zoning Board of Adjustment, officials gathered to discuss the latest plans for a memory care facility at the former Potter’s Farm property on Red Hill Road near the Garden State Parkway exit 114.

HOLMDEL – After getting a true vision for the proposed development at the former Potter’s Farm site on Red Hill Road last month, zoning board officials are asking that the plans be revised to capture a more “farmhouse-like” feel.

Last month, six zoning board members and several township residents toured the property alongside three representatives of The Enclave at Holmdel, a nonprofit currently seeking approval to construct a memory care facility at the site with 105 residential units. The open grounds were staked to help attendees visualize the buildings and roads that would be constructed. Last Wednesday, the board reconvened in municipal chambers and shared their takeaways from the inspection. One common concern was that the buildings with dark exteriors will stick out and take away from the “charming” feel the property has today. “These buildings that they’re going to put up… will be very visible and affect the view of everybody coming into Holmdel and Middletown off the parkway. As far as having pastures or keeping it looking natural, I don’t see any way that it’s going to look that way once this goes in,” said board vice chair Demetri Orfanitopoulos. “Unless there’s something done all along the perimeter of the complex” to screen the buildings, he said, the construction “will stick out and be seen for miles away. You’ll know it’s there.”

Board member Valerie Avrin-Marchiano echoed similar sentiments. After touring the property, Marchiano fears the design does not maintain “the rural nature” of Holmdel and suggested that the exterior of the buildings be redesigned to look more “farmhouse-like” and “less barracks-looking” to make it “warmer and more charming to a neighborhood.” “There’s not too many farmhouses anymore in Holmdel, but OK,” asserted board chairman Ralph Blumenthal. He had a more positive takeaway after the visit. “In general, the property has a rural appearance which I suggest should be preserved and part of the plan seems to do that,” said Blumenthal. He later cited another residential development in Holmdel that includes preserved farmland visible from the road. “As you drive past, you pretty much see the farm and you don’t see the houses behind it. There is some limited landscaping along the road… the plants are done in clusters leaving spaces in between so as when (driving) by, one can continue to see the farm fields and (it) maintains the overall rural appearance of Holmdel.” Landscape architect Jeff Roach, who represented Enclave, assured that the applicant is “still trying to maintain the pastoral character” of the land. “As we add more trees that gets a little bit harder but there are places I think where we can keep that sense of openness, at least partially, on the site.”

To achieve this, Roach noted that the revised plans now include enhanced landscape buffers. Along the northern edge of the property specifically, closest to a residential development, the plans include a “solid evergreen screen” with 124 evergreen trees that will extend about 700 feet. Additionally, the applicant will plant another 35 trees that are more woodland-like to “block the massing” of the evergreen screen. The trees will be planted 12 feet apart in rows and each row will be 15 feet apart to allow the trees room to grow. “I don’t believe there are going to be any negative impacts, especially now that we’ve enhanced this buffer. It’s a very dense evergreen buffer along the northern edge,” said Roach. Orfanitopoulos questioned if, aside from the shrubbery, a berm could be considered to raise the grounds and hide the buildings better. Board member Anthony Pesce agreed and said there should “certainly” be a berm of some kind, whether it be five or six feet along the stretch of homes on the north end of the property. “I think from an elevation standpoint, regardless of whatever trees are planted there… I don’t think it would ever block what you would ultimately see in the development,” said Pesce. Roach said he is “not a big fan of berms” and that “typically they’re not a good idea,” especially with trees because it makes the roots more susceptible to drought when they’re raised above the net normal grade.

Reflecting on the presentation, Orfanitopoulos said the latest plans for the project have “definitely improved” since first presented, but there’s still “a long way to go.” “You’re about a quarter into how I would envision this,” he said. Eventually, the plans should be enhanced “so when you come off the parkway you can say ‘Wow, that really looks nice.’” While the board only took questions and comments from the public about the landscape architecture presented at the Dec. 1 meeting, residents have not been shy to share their concerns about the overall design at other meetings. Take 16-year-old township resident Jacob Samardin, for example, the Holmdel High School student who established the Preserve Potter’s Farm For Open Space petition. To date, it has garnered 1,374 signatures. “I care deeply about the environment and the welfare of the animals on Potter’s Farm,” Jacob wrote on the petition website. “My goal is to preserve Potter’s Farm as a working farm or to have it preserved as a park or sanctuary for the animals and birds or as Open Space… One of the most important lessons we learned from Covid was the importance of parks and Open Space for people to be able to spread out and enjoy nature as a therapeutic outlet. It is my hope to inspire others to take action to preserve Potter’s Farm before it’s too late.” The hearing will continue after the board’s Jan. 12 reorganization meeting when members will set a meeting schedule for the new year.

The article originally appeared in the December 9 – 15, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.