By Chris Rotolo
LITTLE SILVER – A herd of deer moves vigilantly along the tree line as one brave animal moseys away from the heavily forested plot of land and across the front lawn of a borough residence. In a community as densely developed as Little Silver, this property is one of the few remaining safe havens for wildlife to thrive.
The wooded site, surrounded by a sprawl of single-family residences, has become a topic of interest for neighboring property owners after it hit the real estate market late in the summer with a $2.8 million asking price.
The parcel has an odd lot shape – almost resembling the state of Oklahoma – with a long, slender extension reaching out to White Road. The opposite corner of the lot has frontage along Standish Road.
In its listing, the property – which measures about 3.9 acres – is marketed to developers who may be interested in subdividing the parcel into “five potential residential lots.”
The notion prompted Little Silver resident Matt Letinski to draft and distribute a digital petition that has garnered approximately 190 signatures. The goal of the petition is to persuade borough officials to make their own play for the parcel.
Mayor Robert Neff left the possibility of an acquisition open during an Oct. 18 interview with The Two River Times, but indicated that anything short of a public/ private funding partnership will leave too many impediments in the way of striking a deal, most notably the seven-figure price tag.
“At this point, the price is certainly prohibitive. As the property is currently listed, the borough would not be able to afford a tract of land like that,” Neff said. “In the past, we have looked into potential funding for a parcel, but the problem is that funding for these types of acquisitions is scarce. Funding is typically not available to satisfy this kind of price point. And if you were to come up with the funding, the property comes with all kinds of restrictions.”
From a municipal planning perspective, Neff said a purchase would require the borough to create public access points to the property, which would prove difficult among the dense collection of adjacent single-family homes.
If a borough-funded natural preserve with any type of infrastructure or a residential construction project were to occur on the property, Neff noted that a permitting process with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) would need to occur to ensure the conservation of the natural wetlands on site.
Running through the parcel is a tributary of the Little Silver Creek, which is fed by waters from the nearby Shrewsbury River. A communication between Letinski and the NJDEP acquired by The Two River Times confirms that construction on site for municipal purposes – or a private residential development – would require approval to build within 300 feet of the tributary’s riparian buffer zone. The riparian buffer zone is the area of natural forest growth surrounding the tributary that provides organic protection for the wetlands from adjacent residential property uses.
Letinski believes the existence of the 300-foot buffer would make the lot essentially undevelopable without state approval, explaining that the riparian zone “encompasses almost all of the property. So, without permission, you probably cannot build anywhere on it.”
Neff said the natural buffer likely means that if the land were to be developed, fewer than five residential lots would fit. With that said, no one has purchased the land, nor has a development application come before the borough planning board.
“If a concrete proposal were to be submitted, the planning board does have to keep an open mind. But it’s all hypothetical at this point,” Neff said. “I think everyone in town would like to see that property remain wooded, especially the community members who are right next to it, but it is zoned residential.”
In March the borough council took steps to acquire a .69-acre Birch Avenue property with the intention of adding it to the municipality’s affordable housing inventory. With unanimous approval, the governing body adopted a measure to bond for $500,000 to fund the full cost of that property acquisition.
Neff said the governing body would explore any possible grant funding opportunities that may be available for a possible acquisition of the White Road property.
The article originally appeared in the October 20 – 26, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
