By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – At its Feb. 13 meeting, the township committee adopted an ordinance authorizing the establishment of Dr. Robert Wilson Park at Crawford Hill, ending a months-long battle over proposed development of the site, which contains the historic Horn antenna.
The 35-acre park is named for Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Robert Wilson, a longtime resident of the township whose discoveries expanded our understanding of the origins of the universe.
With the aid of the Horn Antenna, Wilson, along with research partner Dr. Arno Penzias, discovered irrefutable evidence of the expanding universe known as the Big Bang theory.
The establishment of the park ensures that the Horn Antenna will remain on Crawford Hill for posterity.
The township announced it had taken ownership of the Crawford Hill property including the legendary Holmdel Horn, Jan. 23.
Wilson has been an active member of the Holmdel community for many years. According to the ordinance adopted Tuesday, the Holmdel Township committee “believes it is appropriate to name this new municipal park in honor of Dr. Wilson, one of the Township’s most dedicated residents, whose immeasurable contributions to science have given the Crawford Hill property its historic status.”
Wilson and Penzias received a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978 for their discovery supporting the Big Bang theory; a discovery accomplished with the aid of the Horn Antenna on Crawford Hill, which intercepted the hiss of cosmic microwave radiation generated by the birth of the universe nearly 13.7 billion years ago.
During public comments at last week’s meeting, resident Patrick Trischitta, suggested incorporating an icon of the Horn Antenna in the township’s flag to commemorate the historic event. “We’ll take a look,” Mayor Rocco Impreveduto responded.
The area to become Dr. Robert Wilson Park is comprised of property listed on the official tax map of Holmdel as Block 27, Lots 6 and 6.01, which includes the Horn Antenna, located on the same site at 791 Holmdel Road. The township acquired the property for the public park from Crawford Hill Holdings LLC., (CHH) for a net sale price of $4.75 million. The transaction involved a purchase price of $5.5 million, with CHH donating $750,000 back to the township for improvements to Crawford Hill. The money will be used to preserve the Horn Antenna, repave access roads and complete potential improvements such as a visitor center.
The township estimated a cost of $1.68 million for a preliminary project budget that includes construction of the proposed park and other components such as repaving the existing access road and parking facilities, demolition of obsolete structures, among other improvements for security and public use. The township is also applying for an additional $700,000 in grant money from the New Jersey Green Acres program as well as a loan to cover the projected expenditures.
In other business, the governing body provided an update on the newly formed Ad-Hoc Redevelopment and Economic Development Advisory Committee (REDAC) that had its first meeting Feb. 12 to consider future plans for the former Vonage property at 23 Main St. along Newman Springs Road and Holmdel Road.
Almost 87 acres of the global cloud communications company is being considered for redevelopment, but its commercial or residential use has not yet been determined. The company relocated within the township in 2022, moving just a few miles north to the metroburb complex in the historic former Bell Works building.
Last month, the township committee established an ad hoc committee to solicit citizen input regarding economic development and redevelopment issues facing Holmdel.
Impreveduto shared details of the first “level setting meeting” of the ad hoc committee, which he said was attended by “a good mix” of “actively involved” residents selected by the governing body. Holmdel’s Affordable Housing attorney Andrew Bayer and Township Administrator Jay Delaney also participated.
Committee members studied facts related to the Vonage property including its background and history, and also worked through the “fundamentals” involved in conducting a blight study or redevelopment study and a review of the state’s Council on Affordable Housing mandates.
The committee is in the nascent stages of considering uses for the property “that frankly, we don’t think are extremely beneficial to our town,” Impreveduto said, referring to the idea of affordable housing on the site, an idea opposed by several residents during previous township committee meetings. Resident Jay Yannello, one of the members on the newly formed REDAC, urged the committee to “be very well aware as we move forward with that Vonage study,” of recently built and proposed developments in the area, including the Life Time fitness club located across Newman Springs Road by the Garden State Parkway Exit 109 where additional high-density apartments have been proposed. “There’s going to be much different traffic patterns in the next five to 10 years and we really need to consider what’s being proposed all around that property.”
According to New Jersey property tax records, the Vonage property was sold Oct. 10, 2023, by Mack-Cali Corp to 23 Main Street Propco LLC for $17.5 million. The latest records indicate the property incurs $596,341.06 annually in taxes. The corporate building, which is roughly 350,000 square feet, was built in 1977. While Vonage, the biggest tenant of the building, moved its corporate offices into Bell Works, some of the offices in the building are still subleased to VNA Health Group. The site is currently zoned OL2 (Office/Laboratory).
The article originally appeared in the February 22 –28, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
