By linda denicola
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — A public hearing on an application for a proposed 172-lot subdivision will be continued by the Planning Board at the July 17 meeting.
The contract purchaser of the 161-acre property, Centex Homes LLC, Manalapan, wants to construct 165 homes and leave seven lots for open space on the property on East Freehold and Kozloski roads.
The applicant is also seeking approval for a second section which would contain 69 lots for homes and three detention basin lots in the Lake Topanemus Watershed zone.
Section two lies primarily to the north of East Freehold Road but also includes the southeast corner of Route 79 at the intersection with East Freehold Road.
The area is bounded to the north by the Saxon Estates and Four Maples developments and to the east by an old railroad right-of-way that is being developed by Monmouth County into an extension to the Henry Hudson Trail.
According to Guy Leighton, the township’s assistant planner, a 22,495-square-foot parcel adjacent to the East Freehold Fire Company, Dutch Lane Road, will be dedicated to the fire company.
In addition, the steep slopes and wetlands along streams will be included in open space land dedicated to the township with 15 acres, or 8 percent of the property, left in its natural state.
A number of residents who live near the proposed development, which is to be called Freehold Pointe, came to the hearing last month, but the meeting ended before most of them could voice their concerns. They will have another chance at the next hearing, Leighton said.
Most of the June 24 meeting was spent listening to testimony by the company’s experts, he added.
At the next hearing, the discussion will continue with a focus on the proposed drainage, trees and berms.
Leighton explained in a memo to the Planning Board that the vacant land at the intersection of East Freehold Road and Route 79 consists of approximately 317 acres and has been known as the Opatut Tract or "Four Corners."
It has been the subject of various proposals over the years.
In 1997, the property was rezoned from R-40 (one home per acre) to R-80 (one home per 2 acres) and R-120 (one home per 3 acres) as part of the creation of the Lake Topanemus Watershed Conservation District.
Shortly thereafter, the zoning change was challenged by the Opatut family and the resulting settlement provided the township with 136 acres at the southwest corner of the intersection to be developed as Opatut Park, while providing a rezoning of the remaining land to LTW-40, which provides for a maximum number of 165 buildings lots.