By Sunayana Prabhu
MIDDLETOWN – Preservation of open space took center stage at the latest township committee meeting as the governing body unanimously authorized the acquisition of four properties near Garden State Parkway Exit 114 and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
The township’s efforts to acquire the wooded area came after a developer eyeing these properties for a high-density development threatened the township with a lawsuit under the state’s affordable housing act. While residents commended these efforts, some from neighboring Tinton Falls implored the committee to practice similar restraint with certain redevelopment plans in part of the township that abuts their borough.
When a developer proposed the construction of 500 housing units on the properties located on West Nut Swamp, “I knew that we were most likely going to face… a builder’s remedy fight,” Mayor Tony Perry said at the township committee meeting June 5.
To maintain open spaces in the township for public recreational opportunities, the committee voted unanimously at the Monday meeting on an ordinance that would grant them the authority to acquire these properties using eminent domain if “good faith negotiations” with the developer were unsuccessful, Perry said. The ordinance was originally introduced at the May 15 meeting.
Appraised by the township for $1.26 million, the properties approved for acquisition include four lots on Red Hill Road, West Nut Swamp Road, Nut Swamp Road and Dwight Road. According to the ordinance, the properties are largely comprised of “undeveloped,” “environmentally-sensitive,” wooded areas, and “lack access to sewer infrastructure, jobs, and public transportation,” and therefore are deemed suitable for preservation as open space and/or recreational opportunities within the township.
Some residents were relieved that the township averted hundreds of housing units that would cause “tremendous” drainage problems, putting an “Olympic-sized pool in my backyard,” said Joseph Siclari of Willow Drive. Tim King from Cypress Neck Road was flabbergasted: “How on earth could a developer propose to build 500 units of high density on land that I’m assuming is zoned for low density?”
“They (the developer) threatened us with a lawsuit if we didn’t rezone the property for what they wanted to build there,” said township attorney Brian Nelson – in the “guise of affordable housing,” added Perry. But “what that really translates to is overdevelopment,” he said. In order to build a single affordable unit, Perry explained, a developer needs to build four market rate units, “which is absolutely atrocious.”
Referring to new developments like the Village 35 project and the apartment complex across from Target on Route 35 that were greenlit by the previous administration, Perry assured residents that the current township committee is working to protect open space while encouraging development where it belongs. In 2022, the township acquired Fairview Fields, owned by Fairview Cemetery, to prevent it from being developed, instead preserving it as recreational space for youth.
In 2022, the township began collecting a voter-approved tax increase to bolster the open space fund and build financial resources to enhance these opportunities within the township. Perry reminded the public that their tax dollars are being put to use. “Each year, based on the assessments of the town, we bring in approximately $3 1⁄2 million,” Perry said. “For everyone that asked me what we were going to do with that money, today is your answer. We are spending that money to prevent these 500 units.”
The governing body recently endorsed modifications to the Master Plan made by the planning board in the Master Plan Reexamination Report dated April 3. The report details projects to “help preserve undeveloped open space, prioritize recreational opportunities, and promote smart growth in redevelopment areas where existing infrastructure such as utilities, public transportation, and jobs exist.”
While many applauded the township’s commitment to open space during the Monday meeting, Lora Smith-Staines, a resident of Tinton Falls, dampened the “celebrating” over “triumphant, wonderful acquisition of open space on the north end of town.” She implored the governing body to apply the same criteria to protect environmentally sensitive areas in the southern part of town, particularly in Lincroft.
The Exit 109 Redevelopment Plan is listed on page 16 of the report and pertains to the proposed redevelopment of the River Center Office Complex located at 331 Newman Springs Road, by Exit 109 of the Garden State Parkway. The environmentally sensitive property is located along the Swimming River and includes wetlands that provide wildlife habitat, saltwater marshes, and more. Smith-Staines and her neighbors have been urging the governments of Tinton Falls and Middletown to put restraints on redevelopment plans on the property that sits along wetlands and 200 feet from their homes.
At a meeting with her neighbors, Smith-Staines clarified an agenda item that included approval of a request by FM RED Owners LLC, to rectify sewer lines on the property at River Center. Anticipating high-density redevelopment on the property, Smith-Staines argued, “I don’t understand why the government of Middletown is taking time to rectify maps for very small parcel of property for the sewer if there aren’t plans to build something there.”
“You are conflating a developed piece of property with an undeveloped piece of property and that is in no way, shape or form not even close to the comparison that you just referred to,” Perry refuted.
Tony Mercantante, township administrator intervened to clarify that sewer lines were amended on the property before it was developed and need to be rectified as the property “evolved.”
“The plan contemplates potential redevelopment of that property,” Mercantante said, “but nothing has been filed to do that yet.” He further noted that redevelopment plans have to fit certain criteria where “only the developed portions of the property can be redeveloped,” which includes paved portions of a property, like existing parking areas and office structures.
Perry assured Smith-Staines that the township will “not allow for any type of expanded development into the Swimming River area.”
Criticizing the state’s affordable housing policy as “reckless and irresponsible,” Perry said, “Unfortunately, there are no rules, guidance or even an inkling as to what is technically allowed and what isn’t allowed.”
The township plans to curb overdevelopment by allocating open space funds toward the preservation of undeveloped areas and by making strategic decisions about what areas to develop.
The article originally appeared in the June 8 – 14, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
