Planners explain airport
rezoning plan to council
By karl vilacoba
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — The addition of several lots to the Marlboro Airport property in a proposed age-restricted community zone could protect the township from less desirable developments, according to Planning Board Chairman Mario Giudice.
A special Q&A session was held with Giudice and fellow board member Stanley Young, the two men most closely associated with the controversial proposal, at Thursday’s Township Council meeting. The 151-acre zone proposal begins with the airport, crosses Harbor Road and ends at Tennent Road.
The discussion was prompted, in part, because of some residents complained that an additional 100 acres were added to the 51-acre airport late in the master plan amendment hearings without any opportunity for public comment on the change.
Giudice defended his decision with a copied letter from Board Attorney Dennis Collins stating that the board had no obligation to reopen the meeting for public comment at the time. Although Councilman Barry Denkensohn called this a "poor decision," Giudice said that the public would have further chance to comment on the proposed rezoning when it comes before the council for final consideration.
Zoning requirements demanded that an area of surrounding properties known as "the airport fly hazard zone" remain low-density residential lots. The property owners would be within their rights to develop the land in its current 2-acre residential zoning. But in letters to Giudice and the council, airport owners Marlboro Holdings, LLC stated their wishes to cease operations and develop 7,200-square-foot lots of age-restricted housing on the property.
Council President Dr. Paul Kovalski Jr., who preferred to see the airport remain, said the board and Mayor Matthew Scannapieco’s public enthusiasm for the potential project and rezoning may have discouraged Marlboro Holdings, LLC from making any attempt to resell the property as an airport. Kovalski commented several times that the mayor sounded like "a developer’s lobbyist."
However, Scannapieco and the board members held steadfast to their belief that the development would be beneficial to the township, and might even be harmful if the council rejected the plan. Without the airport fly hazard zone’s protection, builders could sue the township for low-density housing that would weigh on municipal services and raise taxes. Scannapieco said the latest round of Mount Laurel commitments are due soon, which could entail lawsuits demanding low-income housing requirements in that area, "and there’s almost no defense against these."
Kovalski, bothered by the number of homes that would be built in the proposed zone, said after the meeting that he would prefer the township to take its chances and allow the developers to build only what would be allowed in its current low-density zoning.
"Let them sue. Are you telling me we should be concerned about angering the builders? We should be concerned about the residents of Marlboro," Kovalski said. "Let them not make any money on it, then."
Kovalski estimated that the zoning changes could be worth millions of dollars to the property owners and developers.
Municipal records show the largest non-airport owners of property within the proposed zone, with two lots equaling 47 acres, are Dominick and Carmella Manzo. According to court documents obtained by the News Transcript via a Freedom of Information Request to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Manzos are involved in long-standing litigation with the federal government for their alleged liability in the Burnt Fly Bog Superfund site’s polluted condition.
In a 1997 complaint filed by the Justice Department, the government alleged the Manzos, owners of Ace-Manzo Inc., operated "a portion of the site at the time of the disposal of hazardous substances," including waste oil, lead and PCBs. The complaint alleges the defendants operated a landfill on the uplands area of the property in the 1960s, "leveling several of the lagoons and building a road. … These actions exacerbated the contamination by spreading it over the uncontaminated areas of the site."
In the defendants’ counterclaim and third party complaint, close to 100 third parties were named as possibly liable due to their involvement as area property owners, generators of wastes, transporters of wastes, and other levels of involvement. Among those named in the complaint were several gas/service/auto repair stations, the townships of Marlboro, Matawan and Aberdeen, and the U.S. Department of the Navy. Because of the Navy’s alleged involvement, the complaint said, the "plaintiff is barred from seeking relief because it ‘lacks clean hands’ " and was "a generator of wastes disposed of at the Burnt Fly Bog site."
The trial of United States v. Dominick Manzo, et al. resumed in June. A post-trial brief by the defendants and the government’s reply are expected to be filed by mid-October, according to Wynne Cathcart, of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Possible developer lawsuits aside, Scannapieco and the board members spoke in detail about the benefits of senior housing as a tax ratable. Such developments typically produce low rush-hour traffic, are self-sufficient in many municipal services, and produce no school-age children. Young said the Greenbriar senior development is the township’s greatest ratable.
Kovalski worried about the demand for age-restricted housing in Marlboro, citing another area project that failed and led to requests to allow younger residents as occupants. Scannapieco countered that the airport development would have an amenities package that the other lacked, making it a better draw for prospective buyers.
"A lot of people are not moving to Florida anymore. They’re staying here on the East Coast," Giudice said, adding that weather patterns have become warmer in New Jersey.
Unconvinced, council Vice President Ellen Karcher asked for any "viable, empirical data" proving the demand existed in Marlboro rather than "if you build it, they will come" theories. The councilwoman also brought up the possibility of lowering current zoning densities, as Manalapan recently did.
At the discussion’s close, Kovalski thanked Giudice and Young for their help and said, "You’ve added some new light, but I’m further away from making a rezone."