By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – A development proposed for vacant farmland across from the former Vonage corporate office complex on County Route 520 is on the township’s planning board agenda after a two-year pause, but the application is facing more scrutiny now as it navigates Holmdel’s complicated zoning regulations.
Developer Victory Estate Management LLC has proposed a residential community called Heavenly Estates on nearly 92 acres at 26 Main St. According to the planning board’s June 18 agenda, the developer is seeking approval to subdivide two existing lots into 16 residential lots, three open space lots, and one large lot which will remain undeveloped. One of the 16 residential lots belongs to an existing, possibly historic farmhouse. There is also a smaller secondary dwelling, a garage, a barn and stable at the rear of the property.
The property is within the Rural Conservation District (R-4R) Zone with its western, southern and eastern property lines bound by Willow Brook and its tributary. These are state-designated Category 1 waterways requiring 300-foot buffers. They ultimately feed into the Swimming River Reservoir, which provides drinking water to Monmouth County residents.
The western and southern property lines also form Holmdel’s boundary with Colts Neck Township.
Several constraints keep the property from fully complying with the township’s 2005 Master Plan.
Brian Murphy, the applicant’s engineer, testified the developer has agreed to preserve over 64% of the property for open space where the master plan mandates 60%, but other variances are required.
The applicant’s attorney, Salvatore Alfieri, said the subdivision’s layout has been impacted by two codes adopted in 2005. Even though the master plan requires a 150-foot buffer since the state redesignated Willow Brook, the developer must comply with the 300-foot buffer, which “kind of pinched the usable land in,” Alfieri said at the planning board meeting in May. Additionally, the placement of the road proposed in the master plan, which assumes future development on the property, must be moved. “Monmouth County Planning Board wants our road to align with the Vonage road across the street. So, those two changes have resulted in some changes that we cannot fully comply with the master plan,” Alfieri said.
Kate Keller, the township planner, noted that the master plan mandates an approximately 500-foot setback from 520 “but that is not an exact number,” she clarified.
This property is in a “unique zone within the township,” she said, providing context on the zoning history of the property. She noted the zoning was developed about 20 years ago to conserve large undeveloped tracts of land.
Alfieri said the developer is working to balance development goals with conservation needs on the land. He also mentioned ongoing discussions with Monmouth County to dedicate a large portion of the land for preservation and to create a public trail along Willow Brook.
Regardless of the assurances, board members, residents and environmental advocates expressed concerns about backyards encroaching on Willow Brook’s 300-foot conservation easement.
“That’s all in the watershed of the category-1 streams that run into the reservoir, which is our drinking water resource for over 300,000 people in Monmouth County,” said Karen Strickland, chair of the Holmdel Environmental Commission during a call with The Two River Times June 24. Strickland argued that “cluster zoning is a good idea environmentally, as long as the preserved areas are protected.” In the Heavenly Estates current design proposal, “It seems like the developer is being greedy because the houses are in the preservation area,” she said.
Additionally, she echoed a worry the township’s planning board chair Scott Silberman raised during the May meeting that future homeowners of those lots might want to expand their backyards with pools, fences or gazebos. If denied, they could “just build into it” regardless of preservation constraints or “hire a lawyer and come after the township to change the law,” Strickland said. As Silberman noted, “It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
In an official letter to the planning board dated May 10, 2024, the Holmdel Environmental Commission advocated for strict adherence to preservation regulations and expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the Heavenly Estates development on the Swimming River watershed and potential risks to water quality. According to township documents, a similar development was proposed by Inverness Estates in 2007 and approved in 2012 with 18 single-family residential lots. Heavenly Estates proposed in 2018 was neither filed nor officially recorded but has now returned to the board with fewer homes. For the planning board, weighing conservation and flexibility remains challenging with this non-traditional zoning.
Kimberly LaMountain, a township committee member who also serves on the planning board, questioned whether reducing the front setback on Newman Springs Road from 500 to 300 feet “was reasonable.”
“I want to see for myself – how much of a difference it does make,” LaMountain said, requesting a site visit. Murphy agreed to stake out boundaries and mark both 300-foot and 500-foot setbacks on the property for a site visit for the board members.
While assessments from the site visit could help evaluate if reducing setbacks from 500 to 300 feet is reasonable, board member Wes Fagan said he was more concerned about small buildable lots encroaching on the wetlands that feed into Swimming River Reservoir.
After nearly three hours of discussion, the board scheduled a May 21 site visit. A June 18 meeting to discuss the matter was canceled and rescheduled for the regular planning board meeting Sept. 3.
The article originally appeared in the July 4 – July 10, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
