BY LAUREN MATTHEW
Staff Writer
OLD BRIDGE — A court has overturned the township’s denial in 2003 of a plan that would see nearly 1,500 homes built near Route 9.
The plan, called Oaks and Glenwood, will now return to the township Planning Board Feb. 1.
Builder John J. Brunetti’s Oaks plan, for single-family homes, townhouses and apartments on a 453-acre tract, was first heard by the Planning Board in 2001. In the fall of 2003, the board voted in a 4-4 tie on the application. The tie resulted in the rejection of the application.
Brunetti then took the township to court, citing prejudice against the application as a reason for rejection. Brunetti’s side contended that the application submitted was in accordance with a general development plan (GDP) previously approved by the Planning Board.
In a Dec. 21 decision, state Superior Court Judge Edward J. Ryan ordered the Planning Board to approve the application with “reasonable conditions.”
The ruling holds that Brunetti will eliminate 58 housing units from his most recent application. As a result, no variance relief or design waivers would be needed from the board, while in previous plans such relief was required. Ryan said the site plan will now be “fully conforming.”
There would be no reason for the application not to be approved, pending these changes, according to the ruling.
Attempts to reach Brunetti attorney Michael Fitzgerald or another representative of the organization were unsuccessful yesterday.
“This decision is a loss for Old Bridge,” Mayor Jim Phillips said this week.
Planning Board Chairman Lawrence Redmond noted that when the application was heard, it was by a largely different board with a different board attorney.
Now, Redmond said, almost three years of previous testimony from Brunetti must be reviewed by the current board members and looked at in depth. Former Board Attorney Tom Norman will brief the current board during an executive session, Redmond explained.
“There’s an enormous amount of testimony that has to be gone through,” he said. “We have to rule on what has already been testified to.
“From my standpoint, it’s like getting hit in the stomach with an old shoe. Someone else’s old shoe,” he said.
Brunetti’s most recent application would see 1,462 homes built near Perrine Road and 600,000 square feet of commercial space, according to figures from 2003.
None of that housing is slated to be age-restricted, Redmond said. A statement issued by Brunetti several years ago stated that the development would generate about 300 schoolchildren. The new housing would bring in about 3,000 new residents, according to an impact study conducted during the hearing process.
“This would require a lot of resources from the township,” Redmond noted.
“A lot of work needs to be done here to make sure the citizens of Old Bridge are represented well,” he continued.
Brunetti’s application was already scaled back several times over the course of many hearings before the 2003 vote.
Phillips noted the Brunetti application came into being before his administration, but new building and environmental guidelines would make it irresponsible for the township to accept the application as is. New stormwater regulations have been created in the past two years, Phillips said, and a wetlands area is close to and part of the proposed building site.
Former Planning Board officials and former Mayor Barbara Cannon cited drainage, soil, and traffic and safety, as issues with the plans during hearings.
While the court ruling states that the Planning Board cannot hear any new testimony, township officials say that Brunetti’s application would have to be changed in order to get it up to speed with new guidelines.
“I respect the judge’s decision, but I’m more of a believer in the laws of Mother Nature,” Phillips said.