By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – Citizens, the township and the developer have all said they want to preserve the historic Horn Antenna, but where it will be located has created a conundrum, putting the groups at odds with each other.
The Holmdel Horn Antenna, a significant piece in the cosmic discovery that proved the Big Bang theory of the universe’s origins, has sat perched atop Crawford Hill on a 43-acre site at 791 Holmdel Road since the 1960s. The site, previously owned by Bell Laboratories, Lucent, Alcatel and Nokia, was sold in 2021 to Crawford Hill Holdings LLC.
Now decades after Nobel-winning physicists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson heard the hiss from the Big Bang with the antenna, the Horn they worked on is hitting headlines again, after Holmdel Township authorized a study for the property’s redevelopment in 2022 following the owner’s application to develop the site for nearly 80 townhomes.
Soon after, a coalition of concerned citizens from Friends of Holmdel Open Space (FOHOS) and Preserve Holmdel, led by Citizens for Informed Land Use (CILU), launched a worldwide petition Save Holmdel’s Horn Antenna, stating the property “is in danger of becoming a high-density residential development and the future of the Horn Antenna is at stake.”
Township proceedings ever since have been peppered with public comments raising a spectrum of concerns and including speeches full of inspiration and outrage, urging the governing body to preserve the Horn Antenna at its existing spot. Following public outcry, the township committee in April filed a lawsuit against Crawford Hill Holdings in Superior court to determine ownership of the Horn Antenna, information the township alleges was not provided even after months of negotiations with the owner. According to litigation papers provided by the township, Crawford Hill Holdings is the principal owner and developer of the property but two other entities have rights: Nokia, the previous owner of the site, which retained certain rights to the Horn Antenna, and Burke Contracting of Ocean Township, the company contracted to build the townhomes.
In the latest updates, preservation of the Horn Antenna has now come down to two distinct visions for its future, one from Crawford Hill Holdings’ principal Rakesh Antala and the other from CILU.
On April 25, CILU released three concept plans for the Horn Antenna property that it obtained from Holmdel Township via the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The concept plans released to the media included site renderings dated Jan. 27, 2022, April 12, 2022, and Nov. 11, 2022. While the first site plans show the Horn Antenna in its existing location, on the November 2022 plan the Horn Antenna is missing.
Holmdel Mayor DJ Luccarelli told The Two River Times April 25 that he “was told” about the November concept plan with the missing Horn, but he had not seen it, stating the November plans were “not the latest.”
On May 1, Antala sent a press release through his media contact Thom Ammirato, which included a concept plan dated Feb. 16, 2023, which shows the Horn Antenna relocated on the property and an allocation for a proposed museum building.
The Concept Plans
The newest concept plan has added to the debate, with CILU saying in a statement that the document could not have been filed with the township as it was not included with the other documents the group requested multiple times through OPRA.
When The Two River Times asked Holmdel Township officials May 2 about the availability of the latest plans, the township responded with an email linking to Holmdel’s official website where all the documents, including the Feb. 16 plans, are now available.
Ammirato said the November concept plan – that doesn’t show the Horn – was created after a “request by the former township administration that wanted to see what the redevelopment proposal would look like without the antenna on site.”
The National Historic Landmark Status
“The historic Horn Antenna in Holmdel is not at risk, never was at risk and will remain accessible to the public,” said Antala in the May 1 statement.
“Regardless, the plans the owner has provided are not permitted under current zoning and depict the horn in a new location, which would forfeit its national landmark status,” CILU said in a rebuttal statement.
Ammirato said this is untrue. “This idea that it’s going lose its historic significance just by moving it 200 yards, that’s nonsensical.”
According to the National Historic Landmarks Program (NHL) website, moving a landmark does not necessarily forfeit its status but there can be other factors at play. The Two River Times reached out to the Northeast Region office of NHL, a division of the National Parks Service, which handles historic landmarks, and the state’s Historic Preservation Office in Trenton to clarify but did not hear back by press time.
High-Density And Current Zoning
The Crawford Hill property – and the Horn – are currently in an RL-40 zone, limiting its use to research laboratories, and a PA5 Zone, designated as environmentally sensitive according to the New Jersey State Planning Act.
The Holmdel Municipal Code and the Master Plan’s current zoning for Crawford Hill does not permit residential housing development. Therefore, to approve any development on the site, township officials would have to rezone the property.
Residents, environmental groups, scientists and elected officials from both political parties are urging the Holmdel Township Committee not to relocate the Horn or rezone the property.
When asked April 25, Luccarelli said “no action” has been taken on the application yet and pending the active litigation against Crawford Hill Holdings, the township is not able to comment further.
But Ammirato insisted “there is nothing high density about two units per acre. I mean, check the average lot in Holmdel; it’s about a half-acre. They’re (CILU is) just misleading people.”
“I think he’s the one misleading,” said Jennifer Ashkar, vice president of CILU in a phone call with The Two River Times May 1.
“Two units per acre? That’s only if you consider the entire property. These units, as you can see (on the concept plan), are very much cramped together,” she said.
While she allowed that there is more acreage around the Horn Antenna on the new plan, that acreage is undevelopable due to its steep slopes.
“If you look at just the developable area, it’s very much high density,” said Ashkar.
Future Of The Horn Antenna
“I am respectful of the antenna’s place in history and my partners, and I would do nothing to diminish access to the Horn Antenna,” said Antala in his statement. A Holmdel resident, Antala previously worked for Lucent Technologies and has advanced degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in engineering and the Wharton School, according to the statement.
In that same statement, Bill Stuckey, an executive at Burke Contracting said, “My firm never would have gotten involved with this redevelopment project if the Horn Antenna was not preserved.”
Burke said Crawford Hill Holdings’ plans are for the construction of a low-density, age-restricted active adult community.
“The fact that Crawford Hill lies in an environmentally sensitive zone is reason enough to protect the area,” said CILU in its statement. “Add to that the fact that a national landmark of cosmic significance sits on the site, and it begs the question of why development is even on the table. It’s time for Holmdel Township to step up and state that re-zoning is not an option.”
Holmdel resident Kin Gee, active in the community, weighed in on the matter in an email to The Two River Times.
“From Holmdel’s perspective and scientists from around the world, we believe that the best use of that property is to save the Horn Antenna at its current location and to preserve the property as a historic public park,” he said.
Holmdel residents voted to increase the township’s tax levy for Holmdel’s Open Space Trust Fund in November 2021 to acquire and preserve open space.
The article originally appeared in the May 4 – 10, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
