By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – Another commercial project proposed at the gateway of the town at exit 114 of the Garden State Parkway has sparked strong criticism from some residents. The property, located at 125/127 Red Hill Road, housed a historic farmhouse that was demolished by new owner Kip-20 LLC. Now plans have been filed with the zoning board for Holmdel Hoop House, an indoor recreation facility that some feel adds even more commercialization to a neighborhood already under threat.
News of the application comes on the heels of a proposed dementia facility currently being considered for Potter’s Farm, also on Red Hill Road. Both properties are across the street from the sprawling Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center campus. Residents who raised concerns over the Potter’s Farm development have banded together again to oppose further development by making proposed site plans public on holmdelhoophouse.org, a local citizens’ group initiated by longtime resident Elizabeth Urbanski. The Urbanski family has been living on their farm adjacent to the 5-acre property being considered for the recreation facility for four generations.
According to details listed on the group’s website, the proposed development will mean the paving over of five acres of land currently zoned for residential/agricultural use, replacing them with a 2-acre parking lot and a 3-acre high-ceilinged commercial building. Urbanski has put up photographs of all the variances the developers will need which she believes will directly impact the quality of life and property values of everyone in the neighborhood.
“They’re asking for a largely inappropriate use of the property (and) requesting huge numbers of variances for change in use,” Urbanki said.
“It’s a large-scale gym – 75 cars in peak hours coming in and out of a single lane which is right along my property line. Their septic field is right along my property line where I have two wells and each one of the wells gets potable water to the barn,” she explained.
“The immediate threat is a very dangerous legal precedent because once they (Holmdel Zoning Board) allow this to happen, then all of the zoning is null and void and anyone could go and ask for variances, and no one is actually protected.”
The property was purchased by Kip-20 LLC, a construction company owned by Mikhail Kipnis, a Holmdel resident, who said it was too early in the process to comment. “I’m not ready to discuss anything because my application still is not approved. I may be able to give more information in a month or two,” he told The Two River Times.
According to Loretta Coscia, secretary of the Holmdel Zoning Board, the application is under review by zoning board professionals and all documentation will ultimately be accessible online.
In a letter sent to The Two River Times, 30-year resident Dave Inglis said the local community is bracing for yet another fight against excess commercialization after losing Potter’s Farm to The Enclave, an expansive memory care facility. Inglis said he isn’t averse to development as long as it is correctly zoned. “They have already torn down a really beautiful old historic house on the property and tons of really large old-growth trees. So as far as the noise and lights and everything from the parkway, we see those much more than we used to,” he said, reiterating Urbanski’s concerns.
“Extensive and numerous variances would be required as this property was never zoned for commercial use. Holmdel residents hate to see the rural character of their community changed by urban sprawl when there are so many, much more appropriate and already properly zoned, properties located along Route 35,” Inglis said, noting the “Kohl’s building would be perfect for this sports facility.”
The citizens’ petition to oppose Holmdel Hoop House on Change.org has garnered more than 300 signatures from local residents in less than a week. Residents are expected to attend the upcoming Holmdel Zoning Board meeting June 15 to urge board officials to preserve the idyllic character of Holmdel and stop any further construction, even though Coscia confirmed the matter is not on the meeting agenda.
The article originally appeared in the June 9 – 15, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
