ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – The group looking to construct 17 luxury condos on one of the last pieces of undeveloped land on the Bayshore waterfront said it does not intend to alter its site plan ahead of Monday’s anticipated planning board meeting.
The plan proposed by Denholtz Custom Homes (DCH) for a 7-acre parcel overlooking the Sandy Hook Bay was up in the air following a contentious March 25 meeting in which members of a resident opposition group – Neighbors for Waterfront Preservation – laid out detailed arguments about potential environmental and social impacts which could result from developing the plot, better known as the McConnell Tract.
That hearing concluded just before midnight and was expected to continue the following evening but a continuation was granted until April to allow DCH time to consider the public’s input.
DCH CEO Steven Denholtz said the plans have already been scaled back significantly since initially being brought before the board more than a year ago.
“We can’t go any further,” Denholtz said, noting that the plans have been altered three times in consideration of resident feedback.
“We have a good project with no variances that we hope will get approved.”
Neighbors for Waterfront Preservation leader and Atlantic Highlands resident Benson Chiles said DCH hasn’t done enough, referencing finalized plans which do not include any public lands or access to the waterfront.
“We’re not happy about this,” Chiles said. “At the last hearing, the developer said they needed time to consider feedback, but they seem to be deaf to the concerns that the community has raised.”
The previous meeting was highlighted by a 30-minute presentation from borough resident Mark Fisher, who provided the results of a lengthy independent environmental study, including the health of the groundwater for residential housing built on lands first owned and developed in 1929 by Standard Oil, and later Exxon, for industrial operations.
“Knowing what took place there, I would never allow my children to live there,” Fisher said during his remarks.
The hearing is expected to conclude at the planning board’s April 29 meeting, a date Chiles referred to as a strategic maneuver on the part of DCH.
Chiles explained that the day after the March 25 meeting, Neighbors for Waterfront Preservation attorney Kevin I. Assadi of the Red Bank-based firm Zager Fuchs notified the board’s attorney, Michael Steib, and the developer’s attorney, John Giunco, that he would be unavailable the week of April 29 due to a previously scheduled family vacation.
“The process smells fishy to me and I hope the board will take all of these concerns into account for its final determination,” Chiles said.
Denholtz said he was “disheartened, disappointed and surprised” by the allegations, and that he and his organization have attempted to maintain a positive relationship with the objectors.
DHC initially proposed 21 lots on the site and cut that number to accommodate requests for a public boardwalk and open public green space spanning the length of the property.
Denholtz said the proposed public portion of the plan was removed from the scope of the work when discussions about public funding broke down.
“After meeting with them (the objectors), we received a strong feeling that they didn’t want to bear the cost to maintain the public facilities. And if it’s going to be for the public it has to be maintained by the public. So we’ve cut back,” Denholtz said.
Chiles said an initial meeting about public sources of funding options was held in December 2018, where such resources as the borough’s open space acquisition fund, county open space grants and green acres funding from the state were discussed.
“There are other sources, too, and to my knowledge he (Denholtz) has not pursued any of them, nor has he asked that we pursue them. In some ways it feels as though he was just leading us on with these discussions,” Chiles said.
Denholtz said that in the last two months it did not appear that the opposition group had pursued any sources of public funding.
“We’re happy to cut back the lots and include the public green space and boardwalk, but it comes down to, ‘Do you have the funding?’ I assume they don’t. So we’re proceeding with the plan we’ve submitted. But I’m perfectly happy to sit back down with them and to try and work it out,” Denholtz said.
The continuation of the hearing is scheduled for Monday, April 29 at 7 p.m. in the Atlantic Highlands Elementary School auditorium.
