impact of proposed
adult community
Residents question
impact of proposed
adult community
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
Area residents told Howell Planning Board members at a recent meeting that they are concerned about the impact a proposed "upscale" retirement community will have on Howell and neighboring Farmingdale.
The applicant, Terry Sherman of Crawford Holdings, Holmdel, wants to build 500 single-family homes in a gated community on 334 acres off Route 33 that now houses the Flame motel. The site is bounded by Cranberry and Colts Neck roads.
Testimony on the application is expected to resume at tonight’s Planning Board meeting.
In addition to the homes, Sherman is also seeking approval to build a clubhouse and a number of recreation areas that would be scattered throughout the site, which he plans to call Colts Neck Crossings. He first pitched the idea to the Township Council in November 2001.
Barbara Dixel, who lives in The Villages, an adult community off Route 9, asked if the builder would provide additional amenities such as an emergency services building for the community. She said 500 homes equates to at least 1,000 new residents with inadequate fire and first aid service availability.
"You’re going to make a lot of money," Dixel said. "You should be willing to do it as a matter of conscience."
Pauline Smith, the Planning Board’s chairwoman, agreed such a building was necessary in an area so far from existing emergency services.
Farmingdale resident Paulette Brodow said any vehicles traveling to and from the planned community would severely impact Farmingdale’s infrastructure. Farming-dale, she said, is "the hole in the doughnut" due its geographic location in the center of Howell.
As senior citizens, Brodow said, residents of Colts Neck Crossing would likely need to have ambulances available for emergencies.
"You’re putting 1,000 people into our community who have no hope of getting emergency assistance during the day," Brodow said.
Dixel added that at The Villages, ambulances are "in and out of there all the time."
Brodow suggested that the board get the statistics from The Villages to see how often police officers, fire companies and first aid squads are called into that adult community.
"You need to be willing to pony up before you put 1,000 people in an isolated area," Brodow told Sherman.
Another concern is the fate of the low-income families who currently reside at the Flame motel, which would be demolished to make way for the construction of the new adult community. The families in need of housing were placed at the motel by the state.
Sharon Carpenter-Migliaccio, the head of the citizens group Residents Against Irresponsible Development and also chairwoman of the town’s new Affordable Housing Committee, has said that Howell has a moral obligation to find housing for any residents of the Flame who will be misplaced once the motel is razed.
At a separate meeting, Deputy Mayor Peter Tobasco and councilmen Joseph M. DiBella and Juan Malave acknowledged that once the state placed the residents at the Flame they became Howell residents.
"We need the state to assist us to find housing that is not disruptive to the children," DiBella said, noting that children who live at the motel are residents and attend Howell’s schools.
Malave said the state needs to provide housing by working in with Howell.
"If these residents wish to remain in Howell, the primary responsibility [for relocation] lies with the state, not the township," Malave said. "But the township will assist in every possible way."
Tobasco said Howell taxpayers should not have to shoulder the burden of a state decree.
"Until the state comes up with a solution for the property tax problem, we shouldn’t have to bear the burden of more taxation," Tobasco said.
Mayor Timothy J. Konopka agreed.
"Howell has always provided for its residents, but the burden for this obligation rests with the state," Konopka said.
Planning Board members must also decide whether to grant a buffer zone waiver that has been requested for the site.
Board member William Trethewey told Sherman that if he were to eliminate two or three building lots the project could meet the buffer ordinance and not require a waiver.
Sherman’s attorney said they would review Trethewey’s suggestion.