HOLMDEL — The Township Committee is expected to vote on an ordinance at its Jan. 19 meeting that would authorize the sale of township-owned property in anticipation of a shortfall in next year’s municipal budget.
At the Jan. 3 reorganization meeting, the committee introduced an ordinance that would allow the township to sell all or portions of more than 100 acres of townshipowned property.
“This is just giving us the opportunity to put [the land] out there. We don’t have to sell it, but we can’t do anything with it if we don’t have this ordinance on the books,” Deputy Mayor Serena DiMaso said at the meeting.
Under the ordinance, more than 100 acres of Cross Farm would become available for sale to a developer, in addition to lots on Plum Lane.
Committeeman Larry Fink cast the sole nay vote on the ordinance.
“These lots [on Plum Lane] are wooded lots and they’ve effectively served as a buffer and neighborhood woods in the neighborhood of the Plum Lane homes,” Fink said.
“I understand the goal in selling this land is to generate much-needed revenue to help with our budget situation this year, but I think we should look more carefully at the ramifications both to the people living in these neighborhoods as well as the longterm fiscal outlay.”
Fink added that residential lots rarely generate more in taxes than it costs for the school district to educate any children and the township to provide services.
“So while we may get a short-term, oneshot boost this year, if we sell those lots year after year, they will be [detrimental]. I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do.”
Mayor Patrick Impreveduto replied that the amount of development on the 3 acres would not bring about such effects.
“I don’t see it as a cost to the township. Plum Lane is already plowed. As far as putting three or four homes on this acreage, I don’t think it’s going to have a tremendous impact on the schools,” he said.
“They have empty classrooms in the schools as is. I tend to think it’s a win-win for the township.”
Fink referred to lots previously sold on Middle Road, which a developer quickly clear-cut, ruining their wooded nature.
“I think most of these lots are heavily wooded and arguably the last wooded lots in that area because it’s a very heavily developed and high-density residential area,” he said.
“You might want to ensure that, if we go forward with this, that there are restrictions put in place, perhaps, above and beyond our normal ordinances,” he said.
“[The Plum Lane lots provide] a little island of quiet for the people that live there, and we owe it to them not to destroy it,” Fink continued.
The Cross Farm acreage includes a his- toric barn complex and is near a centuriesold cemetery featuring the graves of soldiers who served in the American Revolution, Fink said.
“I don’t think we should get into the mindset that we will fix our fiscal problems by selling off township land,” he said.
In August, Fink revealed that the 2012 budget would start with $2 million owed to the Holmdel Township Public School District after the township had used a portion of funds owed to the district in the last year’s budget.
Last year, Fink warned that the 2012 budget might start out at a $2.6 million loss because of the deferred school taxes. Under state law, the township is allowed to use up to 50 percent of the school tax revenues to fund the municipal budget before paying it over to the school district. However, that option is not available this year.
Past fiscal decisions and other factors are also impacting the 2012 budget process.
In May, township planner Jennifer Beahm said the Alcatel-Lucent property currently generates about $520,000 in tax revenues. The property previously generated as much as $4 million.
Also, according to township auditor Bill Antonides, the township paid back more than $600,000 in tax appeals over the last two years
One option not available this year is offsetting any shortage with sewer funds. In 2011 the Township Committee voted to increase sewer rates twice to restore the solvency of the sewer fund, whose surplus funds had been used to shore up the municipal budget in 2006 and 2007. There was general agreement among committee members that that would not happen again.
At the Jan. 3 meeting, Fink said that selling off rural land would ruin the work that many dedicated Holmdel residents had done.
“Over the years, people like myself and others worked very hard to protect the rural character of our town by buying and preserving farmland, providing recreational space and by protecting the woods, wetlands and everything in between,” Fink said .
He expressed concern that any development on the property, such as parking lots or infrastructure, would create runoff toward the Ramanessin Brook, just upstream from the township’s drinking water supply at the Swimming River Reservoir.
“I wouldn’t want to do anything that’s going to make a significant impact. But I would want to take a look to see if there are potential solutions out there that fit within the criteria,” Hinds responded.
“I’m not talking about building five houses or putting a McDonald’s there. It’s looking at, ‘[Are] there potential private recreational uses that would not impact [in a negative way] yet create the revenue stream?’ That’s what I would like to see.”