Over the last year or so, more public interest and discussion have surfaced in keeping the Stone Road Meadows tract open space and having it turned into a county park. Stone Road Meadows is a 26- acre tract that is bordered on the south by the old Bradlees store, which has been vacant for at least the last 10 years; Poole Avenue on the west; Route 36 to the southeast; and a senior housing complex, which is being built on the old Van Mater (Stone Road Meadows) homestead property across Route 216 from the Union Beach municipal building.
As far back as 2006, the Hazlet municipal government passed a resolution to preserve Stone Road Meadows. Since then, both political parties — when they have been in the majority — have failed to go forward with this initiative. Through the ongoing efforts of the Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance (HAQLA), the Monmouth County freeholders and its park commission have come to realize that a county park on this site in northern Monmouth County makes excellent sense.
In addition to HAQLA’s efforts, the township’s own Environmental Commission recently submitted a letter requesting that the township re-issue the 2006 resolution. Van Mater is on Hazlet’s Open Space Council’s “To Be Preserved List.” Furthermore, both Keyport and Union Beach have recently passed resolutions in support of this initiative and advised the county freeholders accordingly. The Bayshore Regional Watershed Council has been on record for some years in support of the open space initiative. Even the Monmouth County Strategic Plan references this tract. It is my understanding that the Hazlet municipal government has — for far too many years, in its ongoing quest for ratables, even though the township is already overbuilt — kept this open space initiative from coming to fruition. A county park adjacent to Route 36 would enhance its ambience and be a magnet for housing development nearby, as well as retail businesses.
It is beyond my comprehension why both political parties would not be in favor of Stone Road Meadows becoming open space and then a county park in Hazlet, since its funding would come from Monmouth County, which already collects open space funds via our taxes.
But, more importantly, the county will not go forward with this initiative until the Hazlet municipal government openly supports it. It is time for Hazlet voters to contact our elected officials on the street to demand that they throw their full weight behind the idea of a county park in Hazlet.
Retired Navy Capt. C.E. Hoffman Jr.
Hazlet